I dig me some big screen MIAMI VICE! It's a solid, gritty, dark (in mood AND in palette), and gorgeous Michael Mann update to the TV series we know and love.
Beware that it IS humorless, and its unfolding story of undercover identities, loyalty, and betrayal, appears to be set against a South Floridian Ragnarok, the end of the world. That is, almost every suspenseful scene happens at twilight or midnight, and is punctuated by flashes of lightning in the skies.
The story is pretty classic, I think, and decently layered for the undercover detective set-up. Crockett and Tubbs get pulled into an F.B.I. investigation of an international drug and arms supplier. In a vicious and violent meet-gone-bad, the F.B.I. discover that their deep cover agents have been compromised by someone in the intelligence community. Detectives Crockett and Tubb are brought in because they are Miami local law enforcement, and as intelligence outsiders are sure to be "clean." However, in order to keep them from being compromised by the unknown mole, only a select few can know that they're working the case undercover. It's pretty much the ultimate take on the MIAMI VICE undercover theme...
Y'know, without the suspension of disbelief part where you have to buy that these two shady characters—who pretty much invented metrosexual with their flashy duds, one who lives on his boat with a pet alligator named Elvis, ex-mascot of the Gators, the other his partner who typically plays the Caribbean businessman from New York—are supposed to be inconspicuous, and never remembered, recognized, or "made."
I'm reminded of a little bit of dialogue from the VICE TV pilot, between Gina and Sonny on his boat...
Gina: Do you ever wake up in the morning and forget who you are...?
Sonny: Darlin, sometimes I wake up and REMEMBER who I am...
I gotta say, Don Johnson could really sell that "darlin'."
Man, I'd love to get Michael Mann and John Woo in a room together talking about some undercover detective/buddy cop screenplay collaboration. Tony Leung's undercover triad in HARDBOILED lived on a boat in Hong Kong. No gator, but dozens of cranes. That living arrangement for me instantly helped build the Leung's character as it drew on my many TV-hours of VICE's Crockett/Burnett.
"Let's make a paper toad for Johnny Wong!"
Back to the movie... The boys establish their cred by setting themselves up as freelancing smugglers who can move big bad's merchandise more securely than the previous crew, whom Crockett and Tubbs bust in record time. They start out dealing with big bad's snivelling lieutenant, but when they deliver such an impressive performance as big volume transporters, they work the leverage to gain an audience with the power couple who run it all - big bad and his missus, played by Gong Li.
Of course, Crockett makes a move on her. And of course, she finds him irresistible. Bleah. Just the thought of Colin's wretched, unclean, funky flesh mingling with hers makes me queasy. Forcing the nausea down to the smallest gurgle of bile at the back of my throat, objectively, I gotta say the movie had to work hard at building the chemistry between the two, which should have been easy and free flowing. For me, the story had to build the connection *for* them, and *around* them, in spite of them, y'know? It put them in situations that a decently conditioned movie audience is meant to read as romantic, whirlwind, passionate... And with the help of just enough dialogue and concern from partner Tubbs, it does ultimately succeed. It's just much more of a struggle than it ought to be.
I don't want to drop a bunch of spoilers here, but I think you can see all the conflict and story potential here, right? Think of HEAT and COLLATERAL, only, without the laughs.
The music in the flick is excellent. Thank the Space Pope I didn't have to listen to the suckage of that "In The Air Tonight" cover until the end credits rolled! I recognized some Moby, or Moby-ness, at least, in parts. I give Michael Mann's HEAT most of the credit for putting Moby on my musical map. "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters" I think was the title of the first Moby track I really fell in love with. Throughout VICE, there were great musical bits that felt very much like the best of Jan Hammer's scoring for the TV show. Melodic and moody piano and keyboard riffs, just the right well-placed notes. Alas, I couldn't spot Hammer's name in the credits. I wonder what he's up to these days...
Altho I do not think they topped Edward James Olmos's Lieutenant Castillo from the TV series, I will say they made a good casting decision for movie Castillo, a fella I don't immediately recognize from other roles, but handled playing the heavy, even opposite his cowboy detectives. Olmos's Castillo was my first memorable TV/entertainment encounter with gravitas in a character. He taught me how someone could create a strong personality and build a character of strong will and principles with only the most minimal brushstrokes in a thrifty amount of screen time. If you're familiar with his character, you've got to know what I mean. I think he brings those same skills to the C in C of the Galactica, too. Only, y'know, paunchier.
=)
Does anyone else remember the VICE episode where Olmos's Castillo singlehandedly storms a drug kingpin's waterfront compound, starting from the shore in some skiff or whatnot and working his way across the grounds, disappearing into the shadows of palm trees and topiaries, steadily and expertly dispatching a legion of gunmen, super-feckin-special-ops-ninja style, until he gets to the big boss inside his manor...? That was the most amazing bit of stealth action I'd seen on the tube until then. I wonder if it was a Michael Mann directed episode...
I always gave Michael Mann full credit (others might call it blame : P) for the MIAMI VICE phenomenon. Only when I see the credits on the big screen of the film do I finally get that VICE was created by some Anthony Yerkovich guy, who also got credit, I'm pretty sure, at the start of every episode of the TV show. I guess I hafta blame the eMpTyVee pop-art-y Michael Mann Productions bumper that appeared at the end of every episode.
Also, he followed up VICE with CRIME STORY (my first wonderful encounters with Dennis "Jimmy Cyrano" Farina and Anthony "THE CLOSER" Denison), and I just saw Mann as the common factor and figured he must be responsible for the coolness. I would LOVE to see CRIME STORY brought to the big screen. It would be Michael Mann doing THE UNTOUCHABLES meets L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.
The show co-opted a beautiful theme song and had a great intro sequence.
I'm a-walkin' in the rain
Tears are fallin' and I feel the pain
Wishin' you were here by me
To end this misery
And I wonder—
I wah- wah- wah- wah- wonder
Why—
Why why why why why—
She ran away
And I wonder where she will stay
My little runaway
A-run- run- run- run- runaway
Frack. I realize now that I can only remember the intro from the Vegas seasons, dominated by the lights on the strip at night reflected in the chrome of fenders and curves of 50s hot rods. I wonder what the Chicago intro was like.
They feckin dropped an a-bomb on a gangster on that show! =)
Kickass!
Keep on keepin on~
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