Opening on what turns out to be an irrelevant sting operation in a Miami nightclub, characters are introduced too quickly to matter. Then, long before any resolution comes on the sting, a phone call from a former confidential police informant turns Crockett and Tubbs onto a more urgent case. Along with two undercover F.B.I. agents, the informant’s woman is murdered by a dangerous group of Aryan gangsters. Though the incidents were originally out of their jurisdiction, the Miami Vice squad is federally deputized by an F.B.I. director and sent undercover to unearth a deep-cover mole as they tackle the Aryans head on. Through machine gun like dialogue, Crockett and Tubbs brainstorm a way to penetrate the Aryan organization. It is curious then, that the white supremacists aren’t seen or heard from for the greater part of the rest of the film. Nevertheless, the films rolls forward following a long, overly natural love scene between Tubbs and his girlfriend. It is then that Crockett and Tubbs become drug runners for the Aryan’s suppliers and seemingly jump headfirst into a different story altogether.

For at least the next hour, the vaguely Latin drug cartel becomes the focus during which Crockett begins a dangerous love affair with a woman very high up in the supplier’s organization. Between boating to Cuba and quick-talking through million dollar drug deals, “Miami Vice” begins to stall. Only when Crockett’s affair is discovered and the Aryans are reintroduced to the story does the film once again pick up the pace. No more coherent than it was earlier, “Miami Vice” nonetheless allows the audience to root for Crockett and Tubbs more obviously than at any other point in the film in one life or death action scene at a trailer park. It is this exact scene that keeps the film from becoming a total disappointment.

Like an old knitted sweater, “Miami Vice” has its good moments and bad, but in the end all it leaves behind is a bunch of loose strings. Whether it is a sign that Michael Mann is saving some threads for the sequel or simply throwing in the towel, only time or Entertainment Weekly will tell. As it stands, the only thing this film recalls of the 80’s series is a penchant for showing characters’ long moments of intense thought played out over depressing background music. Given little opportunity to shine the script, neither Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, nor the numerous supporting actors deliver anything unique or captivating from their Spartan dialogue. Crying out for the fast forward button, or a decent editor, “Miami Vice” is only just tolerable, revealing the motivation for the studio’s lackluster marketing effort behind this late July release.

Write Comment
Name:	Guest
Title:
Comment:
Code:*

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!