I was left utterly cold by Michael Mann's Miami Vice back in 2006 - now I think it's one of his best works. Michael Mann's movies tend to follow a certain formula. Most belong to the crime genre, they're extensively researched and tend to feature at least at least a couple of stunning setpieces.
They're also surprisingly existential and emotional, where their antihero characters ponder their own place in the universe. The Heat shootout is the most iconic sequence of Mann's career, of course, but every one of his movies has something to recommend it - even his bizarre Nazi horror The Keep rocks.
Mann was also heavily involved with Miami Vice, the '80s cop show that transformed television. Its likable leads and slick, cinematic presentation gave viewers a mini-movie each week, and it felt ripe for a film adaptation. Superfan Jamie Foxx (who worked with Mann on Ali and Collateral ) eventually convinced the director to mount a film reboot.
I Was Left Totally Cold By Michael Mann's 2006 Miami Vice Movie
Jamie Foxx pointing his gun as Tubbs in Miami Vice
Jamie Foxx pointing his gun as Tubbs in Miami Vice.
Being a big fan of Mann's work and having liked the few episodes of Miami Vice I'd seen, I was pumped for the movie in the summer of 2006. The trailer looked great, it had a fantastic cast, and there was no reason to think it wouldn't work. Regardless, I walked out totally underwhelmed.
I didn't like its digital look, its mumbly dialogue, or the lack of any real friendship between Colin Farrell's Crockett and Foxx's Tubbs. The action was great when it arrived, but it sure made audiences wait for it. The tepid critical and commercial response felt in step with my thoughts on it, too.
Miami Vice made around $164 million worldwide, on an estimated budget of $135 million. Critics were real mixed too, as it stands at 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. In a summer that saw the release of hits like X-Men: The Last Stand or The Da Vince Code, Miami Vice didn't make much of a dent.
Miami Vice Had A Troubled Production
Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star as Detectives Crockett and Tubbs in Michael Mann's 2006 movie version of Miami Vice.
Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star as Detectives Crockett and Tubbs in Michael Mann's 2006 movie version of Miami Vice.
Being a gritty, R-rated thriller with a hefty budget was always going to work against Miami Vice, but stories of its turbulent production didn't help. It's said that Foxx and Farrell didn't get along at all, and that the former - having just won an Academy Award for Ray - walked onto set with quite the ego.
Foxx is said to have demanded top billing, complained that Farrell wasn't a big enough star to work alongside him, and refused to shoot scenes on a boat or plane. The production was also shot on location in some dangerous parts of the world, like the infamous Ciudad del Este in Paraguay.
Filming on Miami Vice was also interrupted by several hurricanes, and Mann's unrelenting perfectionism is said to have added millions to the budget while adding to the stressed-out vibes of the set. Foxx, fearing for his safety in the Dominican Republic, also left the country and refused to return when gunshots were heard near the set.
Foxx's exit then forced Mann to move Miami Vice's finale back to Miami, a move the director later admitted to regretting. In short, it wasn't a fun shoot for anybody, and there was a general sense that it was a troubled film before it arrived.
Miami Vice Is Now One Of My Favorite Michael Mann Movies
Director Michael Mann smiling in an interview
An image of Michael Mann smiling in an interview
Despite not particularly liking it on first viewing, Miami Vice 2006 would really grow on me as the years passed. I realized that it was never intended as a slick, action-packed cop thriller; it's an art film wrapped in a blockbuster package.
Like all of Mann's work, the director has intensely researched the subject. He presents the crimes being committed in Miami Vice in an almost documentary style, but more than that, the director is fascinated with what undercover life is actually like and how moral lines get very blurry.
Case in point is Farrell's Crockett losing himself in his alter ego and falling for crime boss Isabella (Gong Li). Both characters throw themselves into something they already know is a fantasy, but the way it ends is no less bittersweet. Miami Vice moves at its own pace, and its beautiful digital photography is an asset instead of a burden.
Crockett's entire plotline in Miami Vice is a loose remake of a 2002 episode of cop series Robbery Homicide Division called "Life is Dust," which Michael Mann produced and penned the story for.
It would be nice if Crockett and Tubbs felt like they had more of a connection, but that's a forgivable sin. The trailer park standoff and the final shootout are classic Mann setpieces, and his use of music with imagery - especially with the opening scene's use of Linkin Park and Jay-Z's "Numb / Encore" - is second to none.
I've gone from thinking Miami Vice was Mann's weakest movie to ranking it behind the likes of Heat and Thief , which is a pretty strong turnaround. The critical reputation of the film has come a long way in the past 19 years too, with many critics having penned loving tributes and essays to it.
Of course, it never got a direct sequel, while Glen Powell and Michael B. Jordan are being reported as the leads of a Miami Vice film reboot, due in 2027. This will almost certainly be the stylish, slick buddy cop actioner audiences were expecting back in 2006. That move makes sense - but it's still less interesting than what Mann attempted.
Source: Box Office Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes