Miami Vice (2006) * *

Directed by:  Michael Mann

Starring:  Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, John Ortiz, Luis Tosar, Barry Shabaka Henley, Ciaran Hinds

Michael Mann's Miami Vice, based on his popular 1980s TV show, is far less flashy and colorful than his television creation.    Both are high on style, but the movie is darker, plodding, and very, very serious.    It moves slowly and there isn't a payoff for our patience.   

The Miami Vice TV series was slick, stylish television which highlighted the Miami lifestyle of fast cars and faster women.   Crockett (Don Johnson) and Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) could barely contain their smiles as they busted drug cartels week after week.    They seemed to be having a great time.    The Crockett and Tubbs of the movie, played respectively by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, are intense and I don't recall a smile between them.    The movie depicts their jobs as vice cops with much more seriousness.    Crockett drives a fast car, but hardly seems to be enjoying it.    

The opening scenes show the Miami skyline on a Saturday night.    Underneath the clouds which hover menacingly over the city, we see the lights and feel the pulsating beats of dance clubs.    Mann's exterior shots capture both the beauty and tempestuous nature of the city, sometimes in the same frame.    The film also travels to Havana and Colombia, with many days of gray skies and storms threatening to engulf everything.    It is one of the few movies depicting Miami which actually acknowledges the possibility of hurricanes.

Within the dancing, drinking, and partying, Crockett and Tubbs work undercover to expose a drug cartel.    Crockett is scruffy looking with a permanent five o'clock shadow.    Tubbs is clean cut and stylish.    Then Crockett receives a call from a scared informant that a drug deal will soon go very bad for the cops.    It does go bad.   Many cops and FBI undercover agents are killed and the FBI's involvement is compromised.

Crockett and Tubbs, both covers intact, are recruited by the FBI to continue exposing the cartel.    They go in deep with sinister guys who are suspicious of everything and do background checks.    Crockett, however, makes a play on a woman who is the cartel leader's lover and a power broker within the organization.    They hook up, but soon fall in love, which can lead to deadly consequences for both.   

There are numerous plot intricacies that add to the plot, but not the intrigue.    Miami Vice is a somber film.     The series may have been superficial, but at least it was somewhat cheesy fun, which can not be said for the movie version.    I wasn't an avid watcher of the series, but when I did tune in I had a pretty good time.    Did Mann attempt to do the opposite of everything from the series, including tone?     Why did he throw a wet blanket over the proceedings?     The only connection to the series is the names of three of the characters.    Mann could have easily just changed those names and created a whole new enterprise.     By throwing Miami Vice in as the title, we expect more and don't get it.