Miami Vice Review

Yes the 80's series that made wearing t- shirts and flashy suit jackets cool was made into a multi million blockbuster starring Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell. The capable directorial hands of Michael Mann - of Collateral and Ali movie fame was enlisted and before you know it, I'm sitting in the Empire cinema in Leicester square for the exclusive pre- premier of the film. Not too bad indeed.....

My thoughts exactly, until I watched this 146 minute (that’s over 2 hours and 20 minutes if your trying to figure it out) of pure cinematic nonsense!

The film had a grainy effect in keeping with the original series and was set against a ridiculously wealthy backdrop of fast cars, expensive boats and million dollar fire arms. The storyline involves Miami Vice detectives Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) and James Crockett (Colin Farrell) going undercover as drug smugglers trying to take on the Cuban drug lords. However, the lines between the two become blurred when Crockett ends up falling for the drug lord’s partner, and the Cuban's henchmen attack Tubbs love interest and fellow detective, Trudy Joplin (Naomie Harris).

The film needed some Vaseline intensive care’ because it was dry like back feet and although it was beautifully shot, it was seriously lacking in crucial places. The movie failed to take the time to explain the relationship between Tubbs and Crockett and therefore if you weren’t familiar with the original 80's series then you were left dazed and confused trying to figure it out. Adding to this was the dizzying editing effect which meant that the movie would switch from action scenes to romantic scenes without explanation. The love interest between Crockett and Isabella (played by Gong Li) was unconvincing and had no chemistry to it what so ever. Her acting was also embarrassingly shocking as her half Cuban, half Chinese accent was more difficult to understand then my Jamaican barber.

Overall I think that the movie was much like a roller coaster ride. Highs included the scene where Tubbs and Crockett rescued Detective Joplin from a trailer park and lows included the rest of the film! However, the hype around the movie and the superstar actors involved will probably mean that it will be a box office success. Whether this is deserved is a resounding no from me but only time will tell!

Miami Vice is released on 4th August at a cinemas world wide
Boywonder Ent