Miami Vice (Drama)

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Colin

Farrell, Gong Li

Direction: Micheal Mann

Showing at: Kumari

Cinema

Kathmandu :

Is this the quintessential Hollywood cop-robber show? You might wonder, putting pieces together and trying to make something out of Michael Mann’s mindless machination of the of the popular 1980’s television series. You’d, of course, think twice before you question Mann’s faculty for films, who is branded for his seminal films like Collateral and Heat. Nevertheless, you can’t forgive him for the excruciating two-odd hours watching a film that fails to elevate to any other category but ‘BUNK’.

For those who have high expectations about the celluloid version, Miami Vice is an absolute let down.

The movie begins with a scene in a nightclub and before you get to understand what’s going on, the scuffle that ensues suggests (you’d have to make it out yourself) something’s wrong. And then you’re brought into the lives of Buddy Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) and ‘Sonny’ (Colin Farrell), who are on an undercover operation to bust up an international drug cartel. And then, while you expect the cops to show some stunts and put up some impressive fireworks show, all you get is the unlikely cop buddies sporting their fancy cars and sparring with their superiors, when not taking steamy showers with their girlfriends.

What’s more, you have Sonny fall for a vixen Isabella (Gong Li), the money minder of the mafia so that Sonny can slither down the nefarious nexus of the international band of brothers. But even before he gets any closer, you have the camera panning to more of rumpy-pumpy and diabolical dialogues that drags and drawls, without making much sense.

The major action sequence comes only during the cathartic climax, perhaps the only credible crack throughout the enterprise that you get to see some of Foxx’s panache for a power-packed punch and Mann’s morbid passion for mean violence. Right from the start while you doubt the chemistry between the two cops, it’s the dialogue, which under the multilingual pretext, bamboozles the most.

However, the visuals are fabulous. You might even find yourself wondering if it’s a travel show taking you to the underbellies of Miami, Cuba, and where not; because you

find yourself in Miami almost as instantaneously as the dingy slums or to the breathtaking waterfalls in strange locations (Uruguay, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic).

But that’s what the movie excels at — throwing oddballs when you least expect it.