Miami Vice (2006) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the 2006 film, Miami Vice.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe.  New content dropping every week.   For Exclusive Content: https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation  Rumble: https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee: https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e  Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation  Help Support Me At:  https://www.PayPal.me/beaucarter91

Transcript

00:00hey guys welcome back to another cult movie review with me Beau here on the

00:18film scene investigation channel I hope everyone is doing good in today's video

00:23I'm gonna be reviewing the 2006 Michael Mann movie Miami Vice so I should start

00:34by saying first and foremost I love the original Miami Vice TV show that aired

00:42back in the 1980s I wasn't born when the show aired originally but back in the

00:50early 2000s I managed to obtain a DVD box set of the whole five seasons and yeah

00:59instantly became a fan I've seen all 111 episodes of the show so without sounding

01:09too egotistical I guess I yeah kind of consider myself a die-hard fan of the

01:17show I know all about the storylines the actors the characters all the show's

01:24history so when it came to the 2006 movie adaptation yeah my expectations were

01:33pretty high but after watching the film I must say it really disappointed me so

01:42yeah after seeing it I pretty much lost interest quite quickly and tried to

01:48pretend that it didn't exist and then a few months ago I ended up revisiting the

01:56film for the first time in over a decade this time around I was able to get my

02:03hands on the extended edition director's cut basically a longer version with an

02:10alternative opening I had heard about this additional footage and alternative

02:16opening but yeah I'd never seen it before this extended version I believe was

02:23released back in 2008 in the American markets but there was no special extended

02:30edition for Europe ie region 2 so yeah the likes of me missed out on watching this

02:39extended cut so lucky for me I was able to get my hands on it watched it and that

02:45will be the version I'll be reviewing today written and directed by the

02:50legendary Michael Mann actors Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx starred as vice cops

02:56Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs both actors were arguably at the height of their

03:04careers with Jamie Foxx having just won an Oscar for the movie Ray Colin Farrell had

03:13found success at the box office with films like minority reports and phone booth

03:18which made him an established leading man I thought the actor Jamie Foxx was more

03:27suited to play Riccardo Tubbs compared to Colin Farrell playing Sonny Crockett Foxx had

03:35that natural charisma that he brought to the character when it comes to Colin Farrell you

03:43know he is an Irish actor playing a character that is originally from the deep south and yeah that was

03:52definitely a challenge for him for the most part I thought that Farrell did okay but

03:57the he haha the gruff deep voice that he decided to use yeah that was a bad idea

04:04Michael Mann was one of the central figures behind creating the Miami Vice

04:10television show for NBC back in 1984 he would go on to serve as executive producer

04:19for the whole of the five seasons having Michael Mann come back all these years later this time as a

04:26director was definitely a very intriguing aspect to the production when it came to the show Michael

04:35Mann had involved himself with some of the writing duties but yeah he'd never actually directed an episode

04:44I mean yeah that would have been pretty amazing if Michael Mann had taken the helm as director but

04:53he was sadly too busy with projects like Manhunter back in 1986 years later while working on the 2004 movie

05:03collateral Michael Mann discussed the potential possibility of a film adaptation with Jamie Foxx

05:11the talks would ultimately lead to the Miami Vice movie getting greenlit by Universal Studios

05:21so let's run down some of the story here for a moment

05:26Crockett and Tubbs are tasked to go undercover as high-level drug dealers travel to Colombia in an effort

05:33to bring down the cartel leader Jose Yero played by actor John Ortiz but once their mission began

05:44they realized that Yero was simply just a middleman and the real drug lord was Jesus Montoya played by actor

05:53Luis Torcer Montoya was skeptical from the get-go about Sonny and Rico's abilities

06:00and so he gave them a test run if Sonny and Rico were successful then more opportunities would basically

06:09come their way separately to all of this there was also a love story going on between Crockett and the

06:18character Isabella played by actress Gong Li Isabella was Montoya's lover and heavily involved in his drug

06:29operation what started out as a simple flirtation soon turned into something more between Crockett

06:39and Isabella but their lustful affair would only start to jeopardize their lives as the undercover

06:48operation escalated I will say I thought both actors Gong Li and Colin Farrell had pretty decent

06:56on-screen chemistry together you know it didn't seem forced it felt somewhat natural even though to a

07:05certain extent you had to question Isabella's motives the fact that she was getting involved with Sonny

07:13when honestly she was Montoya's lover while I didn't think their relationship was all that interesting to

07:22the story I did appreciate the fact that Michael Mann inserted some Crockett's love story drama into the film

07:32in the original series Sonny had several love interests one of which included his co-worker Gina Calabrese

07:41many of these flings that Crockett had basically only led to heartbreak but they did make for some great episodes

07:51Michael Mann carrying over that tradition of Crockett having a love interest and adding that into the film

08:01was indeed a nice touch now the majority of the movie was heavily based on the Miami Vice season one episode

08:12smugglers blues from the undercover mission to Trudy's abduction and rescue it was pretty much copy and pasted but

08:24sadly to a more subpar level now while I do have a lot of negatives for the film and we'll get to that in a few moments

08:34I do want to praise the movie's opening 20 minutes

08:39it began with an eye-opening sequence which involved Crockett and Tubbs boat racing across the bay

08:47there were some lovely visuals of the speed boats racing across the ocean while music from composer

08:54John Murphy played out as the race progressed the track featured this bluesy guitar riff which sounded

09:03similar to the type of material we heard from musician Tim Truman in season five of Miami Vice

09:11the boat sequence was reminiscent of the season one episode The Great McCarthy which also involved a boat race

09:20now up until very recently i'd never seen this bow sequence before and yeah straight up i really enjoyed it

09:29simply because

09:31yeah it definitely felt kind of like Miami Vice

09:35it's hard to put into words but uh

09:38i don't know it's like the spirit of the show was there

09:41i mean this was a vastly improved opening which should have been included in the original theatrical version

09:50after the boat race we were transported to a flashy nightclub scene where the whole of the team at OCB

09:57were investigating a pimp called Neptune this location was uh very similar to your

10:04standard nightclub setting with a busy dance floor and strobe lighting a realistic depiction of what

10:14Miami nightlife had become in the early 2000s a fight broke out on the dance floor that saw both

10:23Crockett and Tubbs subdue two henchmen of Neptune's while everything played out accordingly i couldn't help

10:30but think of Michael Mann's previous film collateral where a similar fight took place on a dance floor

10:38this then led to a scene involving Crockett and Tubbs atop the club's rooftop speaking to their informant

10:45over the phone you had the Miami tower located in the background as the two detectives trying to keep

10:52their informant calm all of this was great stuff yes it was a different time yes the 80s were over but

11:03the opening of the movie showed a lot of potential in what could have been an epic crime story

11:11but as the story continued i thought things became very muddled and the poor editing choices didn't help

11:21either the acting remained solid so i can't fault that but that wasn't really enough to keep my interest

11:32and so dislikes for Miami Vice 2006 first and foremost i have a lot of dislikes that i want to discuss

11:45i'll try to lean more on the positives than the negatives but yeah bottom line this is a letdown

11:53so yeah let's get into it i guess we could start with the film's overall look

11:59and michael man's use of the digital hd tv format the Miami Vice movie featured this digital grainy quality

12:10that was sadly present in many of michael man's projects at the time man had started using digital

12:18cameras for the majority of his film projects with the idea that it would capture more of a realistic

12:27atmosphere it certainly was a unique approach and i definitely appreciated man's eagerness to innovate

12:37it's just when it comes to Miami Vice this was a movie that should have retained its film-like qualities

12:47like the tv show had michael man's original concept for the show was to produce a high quality episode of

12:55television each week it was a key element that set Miami Vice apart from all the other tv shows

13:03at the time so it's ironic in a way that the same guy behind the show would be the one advocating the

13:11use of digital technology all these years later don't get me wrong the use of the digital photography

13:21absolutely can work and it did in michael man's previous movie collateral but here in this movie

13:29in Miami Vice ever it felt jarring the night footage we saw in particular gave off a very realistic vibe to the film

13:42it just wasn't Miami Vice another thing i have to say is that the film's color palette was way off

13:51i mean the original tv show was known for its vibrant colors and visual style man this time around decided to

14:02take a different approach and delivered a more dialed down variation which i basically hated i mean in the

14:11original series the vibrant color scheme was one of the key attractions to the show from the wardrobe to

14:20the set design it was all aesthetically pleasing and contributed to the show's overall vibe so when it comes to the film this aspect was completely lost

14:33yes the film did showcase some good cinematography here and there but nothing compared to what the tv show offered

14:43bottom line besides the boat sequences i would say that there's nothing really visually appealing that

14:51would make anyone want to go back and re-watch it another fundamental reason why the original tv show was

15:01so successful was due to the close bond that crockett and tumps shared both don johnson and philip michael thomas

15:11were a great duo that worked perfectly together on screen episodes like the maze or tale of the goat really showcased the

15:23strong bond sonny and rico had the actors made the audience care about their on-screen friendship

15:33but in the film there seemed to be a serious lack of partnership camaraderie between them this might sound

15:43strange but it almost seemed as if colin farrell and jamie fox were never really comfortable around each

15:52other it was almost like the two actors were jockeying over who could be the toughest no-nonsense detective

16:00their lack of on-screen chemistry was a major letdown considering that michael mann was man in charge

16:09yes visually the actors looked apart there's no doubt about that and you know individually they did

16:17well in their roles but together crockett and tubbs in this film they seemed like a mismatch

16:25it wasn't terrible and in some cases it was okay but compare this to the original partnership that we

16:36saw in the show i mean yeah it lacked some serious magic another important aspect of the show's popularity

16:46was its style and fashion choices the show literally paved the way for the mid to late 80s fashion trends

16:55unlike other television shows it mattered what these characters wore on screen especially the wardrobe

17:03of sonny crockett but the film seriously lacked in that department and yet again was a major letdown

17:14now in fairness at the start of the film i did like the stylings of both crockett and tubs especially

17:21crockett's gray suit and black shirt combo the ensemble was clearly inspired by crockett's season three style

17:29with the more darker colors and less use of pastels i thought it worked perfectly and this is the direction

17:38michael man should have taken with crockett's look for the film unfortunately as the movie went on both

17:46crockett and tubbs's fashion choices failed to meet expectations now i'm not saying that crockett

17:54had to wear the infamous white suit i understand you know michael man was going for a more modern approach

18:03that even i could have done a better job styling the actors i'm sorry but it's true the fashion

18:12fashion was a key element to the show michael man knows this so what happened i just don't understand

18:24why the whole fashion set design everything like that it kind of was treated like an afterthought

18:32why because it's those aspects that the you know real fans of the show would you want to see you

18:42know and major let down major let down and it's even more of a let down because michael man was the

18:50guy in charge i mean he should know better i mean he was the one that created this

18:55even now gets me pissed off man god what was he thinking i have a few more little nitpicks here and

19:06there but uh overall that was my dislikes for the film and yeah just um it's just you know hard to get

19:17your head around the fact that michael mann the guy that you know created that magic to begin with

19:23ended up producing such a diluted weak version years later and so ratings for mommy vice 2006

19:35i'm going to be rating this movie a strong four out of ten i mean look to be completely honest this

19:44isn't a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination it was a good story with some nice action mixed in

19:53fundamentally the biggest issue this movie has is the fact that it was labeled miami vice

20:01make no mistake if this movie was given a completely new title i'd be giving it more praise

20:08once someone tags a synonymous title like miami vice to their project

20:15automatically any audience would have their own expectations on what to expect i generally feel

20:23that michael mann should have just created a completely new original story and not used any

20:31miami vice connection the name miami vice to this day hold significance to take the name and present

20:41something so different to the original concepts it was a bad idea you know as i said it was a solid start

20:49with the speed boats and crockett and turbs conducting business on a rooftop car park but soon after that it just got really boring

20:58i just didn't feel invested with the plot and i think that ultimately comes down to the fact that

21:07i just didn't really care about this version of the characters the show had this

21:13lightning in a bottle it's hard to describe but if you've seen the show you know what i'm talking

21:20about it was dark it was bleak and it wasn't very fun now if you guys have seen this movie adaptation

21:29but never seen the original tv show i highly recommend you do especially season one 22 episodes of epic

21:3880s crime drama that you definitely need to watch so yeah that's my review i know some people

21:46love this film some people really hate it i'm leaning towards the hate you know i don't want to be

21:51negative but i guess i kind of thought that as the years have progressed it would have got better over

21:59time but the film still annoys me and um yeah local man what was he thinking hey

22:21while you're doing what was he's doing?

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