I caught a screening last night as well and I think I liked it better than most in this thread. The movie had more talk than action, but I dug it. The plot is rather straightforward, but engrossing, IMO.

Obviously the visuals are its strong point (read an article where Mann prohibited the color red from appearing anywhere in the movie) and the use of hi-def is quite effective.

I also enjoyed the cast. Ciarán Hinds, John Hawkes, Barry Shabaka Henley & Tom Towles (appeared in Mann's Robbery Homicide Division TV series) all had great supporting roles

Crockett and Tubbs in this movie are different from the TV show and shouldn't be compared because the movie itself is different and shouldn't be compared.

Not as grandiose as Heat, but on the same playing field as Collateral.

3 out of 4 stars.

from NY TIMES review:

"With "Miami Vice" he clearly had money to burn, and the flames are beautiful to behold. Mixing pop savvy with startling formal ambition, Mr. Mann transforms what is essentially a long, fairly predictable cop-show episode into a dazzling (and sometimes daft) Wagnerian spectacle. He fuses music, pulsating color and high drama into something that is occasionally nonsensical and frequently sublime. "Miami Vice" is an action picture for people who dig experimental art films, and vice versa.
I'm not exaggerating about the art. Some of the most captivating sequences have an abstract quality, as if Mr. Mann were paying homage to the avant-garde, anti-narrative cinema of Stan Brakhage."

Now Im looking forward to seeing this even more!

The review also mentions that the annual budget for the Miami Police Dept. is less than the budget of this movie!

New 'Miami Vice' deals action, not fashion
By Harper Barnes
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Jul. 28 2006

This is not your father's "Miami Vice." Michael Mann's updating of his hip,
style-setting TV series of the 1980s is not going to change the way men dress
across America, but the film is brutally effective, generally fast-paced summer
entertainment.

Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star as Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, Miami
undercover cops who tool around town in a Ferrari when they're not hanging out
in their multimillion-dollar waterfront pad. There's an explanation early in
the flick of how they got to be living so large, but it comes and goes faster
than the cigarette boats the boys also tool around in, and you might miss it.

Never mind. Trying to make rational sense of "Miami Vice" will only make your
head hurt. Just hang on for the ride.

As the movie begins, Crockett and Tubbs, for obscure reasons, are staking out a
fancy nightclub. Pretty soon, they're distracted. A few miles across town,
innocent people have been slaughtered by white supremacist dope dealers. Or
maybe it's Russian mobsters. Or perhaps some very unforgiving felons from Latin
America. Or an international cartel that can see past the petty boundaries of
race and nationality.

To find the killers, Crockett and Tubbs get work as high-priced smugglers for a
group of Colombian drug lords. And, as it turns out, one drug lady, the
steely-eyed Chinese-Cuban Isabella.

Despite her toughness and high position in a business where one slip means
death, Isabella succumbs to the unshaven charms of Sonny - hard to swallow, but
hey, it's Colin Farrell. She is played by the great Chinese actress Gong Li,
who, as usual, gives a magnetic performance. It's almost as if she is in a
different, better movie, and she gives "Miami Vice" more believability than
perhaps it deserves or needs. When Gong Li is not on screen, "Miami Vice"
barely pretends to be anything other than what it is: an exciting summer action
flick.

Mann uses lots of handheld cameras and a lot of fast cutting. You can see the
same style on countless TV crime shows. It's a style that he helped create. But
Mann also shrewdly throws in visual surprises from time to time to keep the
action fresh.

After Sonny gets back from an overlong dalliance in Cuba with Isabella, the
drug war resumes. Crockett and Tubbs, along with a few other good men and
women, battle what seems to be the entire population of a good-size
maximum-security prison. Because the drug lords also deal in arms, weapons are
no problem, at least for their side. The extended action scenes that take up
most of the second half of this long movie - occasionally interrupted by less
frenetic scenes of rising suspense - throb with energy.

A final comment for film buffs: I don't want to reveal the ending, but let's
just say that it is an interesting commentary on changing values in well-made
American crime movies in the past 65 years to compare what happens between
Colin Farrell and Gong Li at the end of "Miami Vice" with how existential hero
Humphrey Bogart treats Mary Astor at the end of "The Maltese Falcon."

'Miami Vice'

Grade: B+

Rating: R (for strong violence, language, some sex)

Running time: 2:12

Bottom line: Summer adrenaline pumper

Going this afternoon. All the reviews seem to have the consensus that this movie is not Mann's best work, but still delivers. I hope this proves to be Mann's most succesful movie financially, but I have a feeling the R rating might hinder it, as it did with Collateral. But then again, you never know as the target audience for this is most likely not the same as POTC. It just seems very difficult for rated R movies that aren't comedies to make it during the summer, or as a whole.

BTW: somehow, almost overnight, it seems this has plunged to about 50% at RT. Granted, it's only a few points below POTC2, but that had a built in audience. However, I am developing some reservations that this movie might actually blow, as Ali, which I thought rather dull and uneventful, wound up getting good notices overall.

I just got back from seeing this. I (still!) haven't seen Heat, so I'm only familiar with a few of Mann's movies; in order of personal preference: (Collateral, The Insider, Miami Vice, Ali, Manhunter).

The movie pumps up the style of Collateral to 11, but it does in such a way that the style almost never overpowers the story and plot. Mann simply finds ways to keep telling the story with interesting photography, without having it drag on --- the camera is not very self-aware.

I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the Miami Vice TV series. I saw it a few times in the 80s but I never cared much for it. As far as I can tell, the only similarity here is that the setting is in Miami and that each character's name, race and job remained the same.

I had a slight problem with the



in the story. In Collateral, it serves as a bookend but it takes a bit too much focus here and is a bit predictable.

I'll be picking this up on HD-DVD when it comes out.

I'd recommend it if you liked Collateral and have been itching to see a semi-smart action movie.

I was disappointed. The movie DOES indeed look great and has all the Mann signatures in it (including his flair for music use and meticulous attention to detail) but all of that goes to waste in a plot that is simplistic but presented in a way that over complicates it. Add in a near lack of action until the final 20 minutes and all the really IMPORTANT expository dialogue either being mumbled or said through HEAVY accents, and you'll just sit there wondering where the hell this movie is going.

Mann is really hit and miss with me. Some of his films, I absolutely love and count amongst my favourite films (Collateral, The Insider, Heat) and others just leave me cold (Manhunter, Ali, Miami Vice). I can appreciate the positives in those movies, but as a whole, they just don't work for me, and Miami, while parts of it are excellent and a few scenes really shine, as a whole, it just doesn't work. I was really looking forward to this and it let me down...

MATT

Not even CLOSE to being on the same field as Collateral as some others have stated...sure, stylistically they're close, but the comparisons end there.

I saw about 45 mins of it today ( clients kept buzzing my pocket ). From what I saw I liked. It felt like the show for a bit, especially how it began.

Borat trailer was a nice bonus.

Not sure if this was a good or bad suprise

here are the reviews from various critics at yahoo movies


Critics Reviews Average Grade: B-

Source Brief Review Grade*
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bob Longino "...almost jokeless and at times nearly incomprehensible..." more... C

Boston Globe
Wesley Morris "...seriously sexy and seriously entertaining." more... B

Chicago Sun-Times
Richard Roeper "...a gritty, ultra-dark thriller..." more... B

Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips "...a radical departure from the Reagan-era phenomenon that ran on TV..." more... B-

E! Online "...Mann's the man for creating foreboding environments and intense action sequences." more... B-

Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman "...so cool that it's almost too cool." more... B

filmcritic.com
Sean O'Connell "...will cure insomnia, set the advancement of digital cinematography back a few years, and unsuccessfully argue in favor of the mullet as an acceptable coif style." more... C-

Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen "...a frustratingly inert affair..." more... C-

New York Post
Kyle Smith "...my favorite Hollywood movie of the summer so far." more... A-

New York Times
A. O. Scott "This was not a job that anyone needed to do, but then again no one could have done it better." more... B

ReelViews
James Berardinelli "...unconnected to its previous incarnation." more... B

Rolling Stone
Peter Travers "Forget the TV show. Mann reinvents it for the movie." more... A-

San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle "...an OK picture with some superb things in it." more... B-

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold "...the movie is still very much about two well-dressed undercover cops who strike sexy poses..." more... B-

USA Today
Scott Bowles "...Mann has simply substituted one set of caricatures with another." more... C


here are some more


POSITIVE REVIEWS FOR MIAMI VICE
Chicago Tribune 2˝ stars/4 "… it has its moments."
Entertainment Weekly B "… so cool that it's almost too cool."
New York Magazine N/A "… gorgeous, gaga."
The New York Times N/A "… pulpy grandeur."
The Onion's A.V. Club B+ "… summer's least frivolous movie."
TV Guide 2˝ stars/4 "… a hard, icy sheen, but all that glitters isn't gold."
Variety N/A "… brimming with style …"
The Village Voice N/A "… dazzlingly elaborate …"
MIXED REVIEWS FOR MIAMI VICE
The New Yorker N/A "… darker, danker, dirtier, and much more violent."
Newsweek N/A "… stylish, hard-bitten cinema …"

Saw this movie today. Was an entertaining enough flick, but the characters were paper-thin. The lack of development of the romance was laughable, but it's still Love Story compared to, say, Underworld's out-of-nowhere romance.

Also, what's the point in giving prior Miami Vice character names to characters (Gina Calabrese and Stan Switek) aren't ever mentioned by name throughout the movie?

More drama than action, but it didn't make me sleepy like Ali did.

Saw it. Hate to say this, but Mann kind of let me down. Visually he delivered the goods, as he always does, and when there was some action, he delivered there as well. However, I fear this movie has to go next to Ali, though slightly better IMO on my list of his work. Maybe I need to see it again with my expectations in check.
FWIW, anybody who says this isn't like the TV show is full of crap. This movie emulated a TV episode of the series (well, it's early years) almost all the way, it just got rid of the colors and modified the music. The whole movie did everything to formula of a typical Vice story:

SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD

-Crockett and Tubbs are on the case and something goes awry to thicken the plot

-The FBI get involved and almost screw things up

-Crockett and Tubbs go undercover

-Crockett falls for the wrong girl

-Tubbs winds up getting the short end of the deal in some way or another, despite doing everything right.

-Music plays at parts to set the mood, even if it seems awkward (typically happens when Crockett is porking the girl).

-We end with a shootout.

For now I give the movie ** 1/2 out of ****, and I might raise it to *** after I see it again, perhaps on a DLP projector to smooth out the look.
Is the Soundtrack available? My Best Buy didn't have it though it was supposed to be out this past Tuesday. I thought the score was a good homage to Jan Hammer's work, and the music was a nice touch, though my parents, who were used to the 80s stuff, didn't think much of it.

One cool moment:

'Miami Vice' is arresting
By CHRIS GARCIA
Austin American-Statesman

Awash in the blacks and blues of a fresh bruise, Michael Mann's "Miami Vice" plays hard and mean to thrilling, often harrowing effect. Mann, who was an executive producer of the influential 1980s television series on which the movie is ever-so-loosely based, obliterates the glib sunshine and pastel glamour of the show to forge a dark, frighteningly real universe of undercover law enforcement and globalized crime. It delivers what no other movie this summer has or likely will: the pure pleasure of watching an intricate, perfectly calibrated machine kick, shoot and crank with dazzling power and efficiency.
Universal Pictures

'Miami Vice'

4 out of 5 stars

The verdict: Forget your memories of the old TV show: This film is about thrills, not nostalgia.

Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciarŕn Hinds
Run time: 132 minutes
Release date: July 28, 2006
Rating: R for strong violence, language and some sexual content.

That might sound oddly heady for a movie called "Miami Vice," a title that instantly evokes Reagan-era gilt and South Beach deco. Don Johnson in a white linen blazer/pink T-shirt ensemble and an equally suave Philip Michael Thomas amid a backdrop of neon, glass bricks and palm trees — those soft-rock memories should be dispensed with. Instead, brace for an unflinching contemporary crime drama that makes no concessions to pop nostalgia or mocking remakes such as the no-brow "Starsky and Hutch."

People forget that TV's "Miami Vice" was more than its stylish, trend-making veneer, but a crack cop drama presenting sophisticated criminal situations through intelligent, movie-worthy writing that delved deep into character and emotion. Mann takes that as his springboard for a surprisingly emotional character-driven thriller that takes itself so seriously, there's hardly a smile in the two-hour-plus epic.

While the plot is as rudimentary as a "Miami Vice" TV episode — vice cops Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) go undercover for the FBI to unravel a multi-tentacled, international drug ring — Mann laces it with the themes and macho philosophy he's so obsessively explored in similarly expert crime pictures "Manhunter," "Thief," "Heat" and "Collateral." His heroes are really antiheroes who dwell in the shadows of film noir, be it James Caan's riven criminal in "Thief," Tom Cruise's solitary hitman in "Collateral" or a superb Farrell as an undercover agent who drifts dangerously over the line.

The complicated loner wavering between the right and wrong — the blurring of human duality — fascinates Mann and has always been his subject. These men (Mann's is a fiercely male-centric universe) are vessels for ideas and themes about choosing a way of life and pursuing it with as much iron-willed integrity the world will allow.

This is the loner's existential struggle, which he carries out with a heavy heart and pensive mind. Working in either crime or law, he's acutely aware of his mortality and life's cruel vagaries. "Time is luck," Farrell tells the woman (Gong Li) he falls in love with, as her life skids out. The same line is said in "Manhunter" — "Time is luck. I know the value of our days" — as well as "Heat," when Robert De Niro's career thief muses, "I know life is short, whatever time you get is luck." (Sharp-eared Mann fans might also notice the reuse in "Vice" of the nicknames "sport," from "Manhunter," and "slick," from "Heat.")

Helicopters slash the skyline and power boats knife the ocean. High-tech surveillance gadgets crackle and heavy artillery blasts. Within the dizzying action and disorienting nation-hopping, a whip-fast Foxx and a brooding Farrell, who smolders with long, Johnsonesque hair and unchecked stubble, stand sturdy. The actors' chemistry is sufficient and both men cut intense, sympathetic figures, whether they are taking down scum — the movie crawls with furry creeps and bald thugs — or making passionate love to their women. Mann's lingering depictions of sex are the epitome of adult intimacy rarely seen in a Hollywood film.

There's not a dud in the superlative cast, including Li's flinty dragon lady, Naomie Harris as Foxx's cop girlfriend, John Ortiz as the drug middleman and Luis Tosar as the drug kingpin. Mann's dialogue, funny and profane, has a hard, urban pop, and the soundtrack is filled with interesting choices, from spare electric guitar and moody synthesizers to songs by Moby and Audioslave.

How "Miami Vice" is put together is as compelling as the story and characters. A notorious perfectionist, Mann demands technical verisimilitude, nailing the intricacies of how criminals and cops think and operate, down to their clothes, words and twitches.

He and cinematographer Dion Beebe return to the handheld high-definition video they used in "Collateral," bringing a grainy, documentary vibe to the action that's unnerving. It's non-style taken to high style, soaked in ocean blues and inky nocturnal blacks. There's not a wasted shot.

Since 1995's "Heat," Mann has been our greatest living action-crime director, edging ahead of past giants Sidney Lumet, William Friedkin and John Frankenheimer. The technical bravura and artistic depth Mann brings to his films has few rivals. He respects his craft and his audience. "I ain't playin'!" blurts a character in "Vice." Neither is Mann.

I watched a matinee this afternoon. As soon as I heard "Numb" I went "O shit, this isnt going to be good". Then after it quickly ended, the rest of the movie was great. I really enjoyed the last shootout and the o so beautiful shots of the plane in the sky. It truly is a beautiful film. Every shot was carefully planned as you can tell. It just looks great. Some flaws; the plot was total shit compared to Collateral and Heat. I really didnt get any satisfaction at the conclusion. Also, some of the words and sentences spoken I could not understand. I never watched an episode of Miami Vice in my life and so it was hard knowing ZERO background on the two main characters. I cant help but compare this to Jamie Foxx's emotional and deep character in Collateral. In this film I dont give a shit about the two main characters. That problem would have been different if I had watched the TV Series. I also was waiting for some nice shots of Mami in the day, but the entire movie was dark. Anyways, I know I stated alot of negatives, but I still enjoyed this movie very much. (7/10)

One word review: Droll.

Some scenes felt like COPS on a big budget, while other sequences overstayed their welcome (mainly Sonny's subplot in the 2nd act). Perhaps it was just too lowkey for my expectations, it needed a little more excitement throughout the film, not just for its climax. The characterizations felt thin to me as well. Afterwards, I overheard one viewer expressing his disappointment over the lack of "juice" (adrenaline) and fast cars, chase scenes, the "coolness" factor. Maybe it was played just too flat, too realistic for some viewer's expectations.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

I hated this movie to be honest. It's was one of the few movies that make the theater viewing feel almost like torture to me.

I haven't seen much of Mann's earlier work but i guess I'm not a fan of his style if this is considered some of his best camera work. Some shots were nice but for the most part I thought it was a pretty ugly movie. I know they were going for a gritty hand held look alot of the time but I don't think it was done well, even with that goal in mind.

I really enjoyed it. Nice to see a realistic action movie again. Mann did a great job focusing more on the characters than the cars and babes.

What little action there is was intense and gritty.

Solid B+.

I was wondering if something was wrong at my showing after hearing all the comments about how beautiful it looked. I also thought the nighttime scenes looked so ugly, destroying what should have been lovely shots of the city.

I was really disappointed in the film. Did Foxx and Farrell not get along, because that's the vibe I got from them. (I know Farrell admitted partying too much during the filming and went straight to rehab afterward.) To me, the shoot-outs come nowhere near the mastery of "Heat".

The movie was a letdown for me but I was expecting something great from Mann. The music was terrible, almost to the point of parody (especially during the sex scenes). It could have used an action scene somewhere in the dead hour and 45 mins in the middle. The actors also didn't seem up to the task. Jamie Foxx was awful, Farrel wasn't much better and that Asian lady needs a few more english classes. Another thing that bothered me was the dead-serious tone throughout the enitre movie. There's not one scene of levity.

As bad as all that sounds, I didn't hate it. It was decent. They should have kept the RZA score and cut about 40 mins of it.

Why is there so much hate for this song used in the film? Miami Vice was taking the most mainstream music of its time and pushing it with an image. For what it's worth, NUMB worked well for what it is being used for here.

I was expecting an action flick and got a drawn out romance with a little bit of shooting at the end. It was definitely disappointed and probably won't be buying it when it hits dvd.

Judging from the comments here, I suspect this will fade real fast at the box office.

When the location of the drop was changed and the undercover cops were driving to the new location, I was disappointed they didn't play "In the Air Tonight."

This film can't be compared with Mann's best stuff because it's simply an action movie with good style and nothing more. I thought it sounded like Farrell was trying to hard to do an American accent and he talked like more of a tough guy than he had to. After a confusing start, I thought it was enjoyable the rest of the way through.

B rating

This was my most anticipatee movie of they year and I was really disapointed by it. Pacing was way off. Okay Mann, we get that Farrell is in love, now stop showing the love scene. I went to the restroom after the Cuba scene and when I came back Farrell and Li were still lovey dubby.

After those scenes, I just couldn't get into the movie anymore. I don't know if the hispanic chick was in the tv series, but she did not look right holding a gun. Jamie Foxx's fight scenes seemed like a re hash from Collateral. The music used feel forced and shots did not look good to me at all. Grainy night shots, what's that all about? I am probably too critical of the movie because I expected too much from it. My brother said the gun shots sounded really good but to me it sounded flat.

There were seven characters in the movie with names from the TV series -- Sonny Crockett, Ricardo Tubbs, Martin Castillo, Gina Calabrese, Trudy Joplin, Stan Switek and Larry Zito. But in the TV show the women weren't really in on the action and the other cops were like comic relief.