Miami Vice

last updated 8 January 2015

There are no pastels in the new Miami Vice, said Bob Longino in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This movie version of the '80s TV show has more in common with Collateral, the Michael Mann movie that also starred Jamie Foxx and featured gritty cinematography by Dion Beebe. In grays, blues, and throbbing oranges, Beebe and Mann create a setting for a movie 'œso superserious and smoky thick it could be called Miasma Vice.' Colin Farrell and Foxx treat their city as 'œa stellar runway on which to model their preternatural cool,' said David Edelstein in New York. The pair hit crowded clubs and Latin neighborhoods to infiltrate a drug network, where they find themselves in increasingly sexy and violent situations. It's all in a day's work for these two, who dismantle cartels and whisk women away on speedboats with the same macho flair. If only we could figure out what the hell is going on, said John Podhoretz in The Weekly Standard. The plot is incomprehensible, and so is the dialogue. Chinese actress Gong Li, who plays Farrell's sultry love interest, seems to have 'œlearned her part phonetically.' Farrell and Foxx both garble their lines throughout. Of course, summer flicks like this one really needn't be more than a visual smash. On that count, the film definitely delivers.

Rating: R