This is NOT Miami Vice! All of the things that made the show fun and cool this does not have. MV was about vice cops in hot bright sunny Miami.
They should have called it something else. I hate the bastardization of original concepts for just name recognition.
Uh, it's the same story used in the show, Prodigal Son episodes. Even uses some of the exact terms like Vertically Integrated.
shareNo, the story is a combination of smuggler's blues and Robbery Homocide Division "life is dust"
shareMost of the story elements are from Prodigal Son, it's on Netflix streaming, go and check it out. From using the same terms of Vertical Integrated to a rich, nervous informant, in the movie in a condo to the series a combination of Gene Simmons on a Mega yacht and Penn Teller as the nervous guy setting up the deal. Both have a woman working for the bad guys Crockette falls for. Both have "crazy" bad guys, the movie has a character who called himself "crazy pig", the episode has "crazy" South American Indians. Might have some elements form other series but this has the theme of LE being infiltrated and only the Miami Vice isn't which is why Corckette and Tubs are thrust into an area they don't usually work.
shareAfter reading a whole bunch of reviews about how this movie version is SOOOOOO much different from the TV series, I'm convinced none of those critics has ever seen a full episode of Miami Vice. All they remember is the hokey jokes, corny songs, Ray-ban shades, pastel suits, and sockless white shoes.
This movie is EXACTLY like the series! I own, and recently watched all of the 1st and 2nd seasons of Vice, and I can even pinpoint specific shots that are identical in both versions. Matter of fact, in practically every scene of the Vice movie you can reference what episode the scene is more or less based on. Same exact themes, plots, and even set design!
The thing is, people don't remember the dark parts of the Miami Vice TV show, they only recall what was being made fun of in The Wedding Singer. Miami Vice was dark, violent, and seedy. I give Mann props for refusing to re-do the theme, and toning down the characters and visuals in the movie. Whereas the TV show glamorized and softened some of the serious issues that were going on, the movie is almost like the "Reality Show" version of what the TV show was eventually based on. The movie is Real. The TV show is the Hollywood version.
Those who pan this movie for not being like the TV show are just wrong. Think about it, if you're a undercover cop, and you just blew a hole through a drug lord's stomach with a shotgun, do you really feel like hearing "What's Love Got To Do With It?" by Tina Turner like the TV show? No. You want to say, "I hate this job." like the movie.
Leviticus: I agree with a lot of what you posted. I have been watching Miami Vice the t.v. show from the first episode. I remember the incredible popularity of the show. I mean it was really incredible to see these virtually unknown actors become huge stars not just in America but all over the world. And lets not forget what the show did for Miami the city. But you are right. When you say Miami Vice Ray Bans, Ferraris, fashionable suits, Phil Collins songs, and no socks are the first things that come to mind. Like I stated I watched Miami Vice from the first episode on and I was about 16 at that time. Over the years I have had the opportunity to watch the show as an adult and it is a very, very dark show about two men who are fighting battles they know they are not going to win. I do disagree with you about the show being totally Hollywood. You have to understand that the show premiered in the mid-80's and censorship was at an all time high. I was actually surprised with what NBC and censors did let the show do. There were some very risky story lines on the show and they did 'pretty' them up so to speak. But it was still amazing to see a show accuse the federal government, bank officials, and dirty cops of assisting in the importing of drugs into America. I also think the show depicted the anguish of being an undercover cop. After a while the cop is just as dirty as the people he's trying to catch in some cases. I have more respect for Miami Vice as an adult than I did 30 years ago. I think that now that I am an adult I don't just see all the glitz and glamour the way I did at 16. I see the darkness, the greed, and unfortunately the hopelessness of being an undercover cop
shareNo,it's not! I watched the whole five seasons of the show and then the movie right after,to compare,and I never felt like I was watching Miami Vice at all while watching the movie. I had to constantly remind myself that I was watching some kind of reimagined mini version of the show. Only clues were the names of the characters and some scenes resembling episodes of the show like "Smuggler's Blues" and "Prodigal Son" among others,and then it took me some minutes to notice them. Great filming but poor resemblance to the show if that is what you are looking for, which I was as a big purist fan of the original show.
shareI agree, it's NOT Miami Vice. It's a pretty cool stand alone movie but doesn't feel like anything Miami Vice what so ever. My personal opinion was that I wanted it to be set in the 80's just like the TV show was. Didn't care for it in the "cell phone" era. If they ever remade it I'd hope for an 80's look to it. I remember this being the year for disappointment with this movie and Superman Returns lol
shareThankfully Mann was able to make this movie and deliver his vision of Miami Vice free of censorship and network television formula.
The show was 75% stir fried bullsh!t and everyone knows it. From Day one it started a slow descent in camp.
A pet alligator? Blow me with that bullsh!t.
https://youtu.be/nzAHhZW0tQM?t=4m34s
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Micheal Mann is not the same "man" he was back then. You can kinda feel the MV vibe in teeny tiny doses throughout the film but, he just doesn't have it in him any more. We and he are living in an entirely different world, literally.
And how can you not see "Prodigal Son" in this movie..? Those were two of MV's best episodes.
Being the creator Mann's got every right to reboot how he pleases. But there is zero depth to the Crockett/Tubbs relationship we see onscreen. In fact for much of the time, they are apart. Ironically, it's almost as if Mann was expecting you to have watched the TV show, to kind of understand what was happening. Oh yeah! Gina gets to shoot some hardware and Switek and Zito are complete ciphers. It could have and should have been better, especially with $135 million thrown at it.🐭
shareIt's not a great movie but resembling or not resembling Miami Vice the TV series is not its problem. As others have noted, tonally it's exactly the same as the first two seasons. People don't remember that about the series, or the entire 80s for that matter... people mis-remember the 80s as a caricature of itself, down to the pastels, sockless loafers, etc.
The story closely resembles Prodigal Son and elements of Calderone's Return.... by the third season, pop culture had imitated only the fashion/music look and feel of Miami Vice, but never its ethos. The film doesn't cement the friendship between Crockett and Tubbs because reportedly Jamie Foxx was very problematic for Colin Farrell to work with.
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I loved the TV series but the movie was better. It was darker, the way you would expect a vice squad to be. Not bright and sunny. Vice is about the dark, seedy under belly of Miami. That is what makes this movie better than the series.
Also, you have to remember Crockett and Tubbs both had a dark side that truly could not be explored on the TV show in the 80's. These days it could be but not 30 years ago.
Well the TV series was also about the "dark, seedy underbelly of Miami" (or, rather, it wasn't really an underbelly those days as violent crime ran very visibly rampant), but this darkness was frequently diluted by pat resolutions and an overtly preachy, moralizing tone, telling us over and over that drugs - the recognized number one enemy of the state during the Reagan era - are bad.
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan