Miami Vice (Review)

Posted by ad on Jul 21, 2006 in Film | 0 comments

This post originally appeared on Screen*Play.

Clocking in at almost 2 1/2 hours, Miami Vice (Universal) is little more than a standard fare cop film whose characters happen to live in Miami and have the names Crockett and Tubbs.

The official site states the original series has been “enhanced by time” for its move to the big screen, something that may have taken away rather than improve.

The series was a cultural phenomenon of the 80s unleashing the inner fashionista in men and great music to boot. Only the latter was carried over in the enhancement.  Well, that’s not exactly true…Colin Farrell (Sunny Crockett) sort of looked like the original Crockett, but the style just doesn’t suit him – pun intended.

As the film opens, Crockett and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) get embroiled in a high-level investigation following the murder of an agent of the Joint Interagency Task Force, and a CI’s family. Brought in by the FBI, they go undercover as drug and arms traffickers for an international criminal organization based in Columbia suspected of the crimes. The story moves at a roller coaster pace of ups and downs as they try to take down the bad guys and Crockett romances the wrong woman.  I never thought I could be so bored watching sex between good looking people.

For me and most, on-screen chemistry is not just about romance but how characters play off each other and drive the story forward. Unfortunately, Farrell and Foxx have very little of it and at times you get the sense the two just don’t like each other as they barely acknowledge one another.

Of the four of us who caught the screening only one liked it. But, we all agree the soundtrack is the upside to an otherwise uninspired, disappointing film. Check it out here.