New ‘Miami Vice’ a gripping adaptation

Andrea: I was more than a little apprehensive when I first heard that Miami Vice was up for a feature film adaptation. How could anyone possibly top Don Johnson and his pastel colored t-shirts and linen Armani blazers?

Steve: Don’t forget the sock-free espadrilles.

Andrea: That was a good look for you back then.

Steve: At first glance, the only saving grace is that Michael Mann, who executive produced the TV series, is directing. He’s also sharing writing credits with original series creator Anthony Yerkovich.

Andrea: The result is a big screen adaptation that is refreshingly devoid of the usual nods and winks toward its predecessor. In fact, the only obvious acknowledgment of the TV series is in the final credits with a completely unnecessary cover of Phil Collins’ iconic “In the Air Tonight” by a band ironically named Nopoint… as in “there was no point in taking one of the 1980’s most recognizable and enduring songs and butchering it — but we did it anyway.”

Steve: Yes, this is no “Starsky &Hutch” remake. This is a very serious movie — Mann captures the on-the-edge danger of undercover narcotics detectives like only he can. It has the atmosphere of the TV show, with the sex and ultra-realistic violence that the series couldn’t present.

Andrea: But the sexual situations were tastefully done, and the violence is pretty diffused. This is not a Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer action movie.

Steve: People forget that Miami Vice wasn’t an action show, either.

Andrea: This Miami Vice is stylishly gritty, where the series was stylishly slick. It’s modern film noir.

Steve: But Crockett and Tubbs still have the Ferrari and the fast boat. What did you think of Colin Farrell’s and Jamie Foxx’s performances?

Andrea: It wouldn’t be fair to compare them to Don Johnson or Philip Michael Thomas — Farrell and Foxx play these characters with a thin veneer of restraint, or even reticence. They’re in a vastly different world from their television counterparts — 21st century crime is more global, more brutal and they convey what a heavy toll it takes upon their characters’ psyches.

Steve: But like the originals, the new Crockett and Tubbs are very determined, very tough cops. What did you think of Gong Li [Memoirs of a Geisha] as Isabella, Crockett’s love interest? Sonny was always getting into trouble with the wrong girls, like Sheena Easton. Gong Li is sexier than Sheena, I think.

Andrea: It’s always nice to see strong women in male dominated genre films like this. But Mann has written most of his women that way. Li played Isabella as a sharp business woman who was also not afraid of expressing her sensuality. We should also give Naomie Harris credit for her cool-hot performance as Tubbs’ intel-analyst girlfriend Trudy.

Steve: As far as a recommendation goes, those who like Michael Mann’s style of not laying out everything for the audience, who appreciate hard-boiled crime dramas which are long on atmosphere and a bit short on dialogue, will really like Miami Vice. Those who don’t… well, they might get a bit confused or even bored. Personally, I was really absorbed by it.