Events

Michael Mann's adaptation of the iconic 1980s TV show, Miami Vice finds Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx's Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs going undercover to stop drug smugglers. Though don't let it's 80s origins fool you, this is as far removed from it's source as could be. Rejecting the typical adptational route of nostalgia or self-aware comedy, Miami Vice finds itself sharing a name and key characters. Naturally this frustrated fans of the original, and others that saw it were frustrated that this 'action blockbuster' was in fact more closely tied to art house romance - Bad Boys by way of Terrence Malick.

Mann drops the audience right in his vision of 21st century Miami, opening in media res in a nightclub with no exposition or context. The remainder of the film follows suit, right up to the final shot. This immediacy is only enhanced by Dion Beebe's digital photography. Still the height of digital filmmaking, nothing else looks like Miami Vice. The hazy digital aesthetic is lyrical and seductive, with the modern jungle of Miami looking like an impending hurricane. The imagery, far removed from Mann's previous celluloid ventures in the crime genre, offer the audience an understanding of Crockett and Tubb's scenario, that of professional and personal conflict in an unfamiliar situation and world.