Miami Vice

After seeing Michael Mann's COLLATERAL--which was an absolutely terrific thriller and crime drama--I was quite excited to hear that he was collaborating again with Jamie Foxx on MIAMI VICE. I was further thrilled to hear that the director wanted to use the movie to explore the loss of identity when going too deep undercover. Unfortunately, the movie failed in its execution, providing us with a very lightweight story that would have been adequate had it been made for the original TV series, but is simply not as rewarding or 'big' as it should be for a big budget feature. Farrell and Foxx are good but the rather thin script fails to give them much to do other than brood and look grim for the better part of the film. John Ortiz comes off quite well as the villainous Jose Yero, making him a worthy adversary for Tubbs and Crockett. Gong Li's casting, however, was a complete mystery to me; her concern over not tripping over her dialogue was evidenced by her stronger performance during non-speaking scenes. Mann really should have gone with an actress who was comfortable with English and Spanish rather than someone who was just learning the languages. Overall, MIAMI VICE is not the disaster that some critics claim it is, but it definitely pales in comparison to some of Mann's earlier work. For better movies of this type, check out COLLATERAL or HEAT.