Miami Vice

Digital Night Sky

Images in MIAMI VICE (a 2006 film by Michael Mann) often appear as paintings or elaborate compositions of contrasting images of the same tonality. Consider Mann's dark, navy pasted cops on the top of a bridge against the night sky. Both planes of vision are dark, but Mann's heroes appear starkly against their also-dark-counterpart: the Miami skyline. As a feat of digital photography: MIAMI VICE is a masterpiece. The film, although apparently based on a 1980's tv series that can only inspire visions of corniness, is about two laconic policemen in the modern day. We rarely even hear their names, although viewers of the tv show would not require any introduction, and the cops stand out based on their respective traits. Jamie Foxx (Mann's collaborator on the great COLLATERAL) plays Rico, a stern, cool balance to the recklessness of his partner Sonny (Collin Farrell). Neither men talk very much, and when they do it's in quick, cool phrases rather than full sentences or coherent lay-it-out talk. We gather that both men are on a job to go undercover and reveal how a crime syndicate is discovering undercover cops. The task is dangerous, but the men are both obviously excellent at their work. Sonny gets pulled into the crime crowd, falling for the boss' financial advisor Isabella (Gong Li), and thus complicating his connection with Rico, who is trying to maintain his own marriage. Both men on either planes of relationships fail because of their occupation: inevitability is brought up by Mann with his MIAMI VICE players using primarily subtle actions. The story could be straightforward, but it is instead complicated to allow for nuance to flesh out Sonny and Rico. MIAMI VICE is a pretty great film, different perhaps from high-octane fare like HEAT, but more complicated to evoke the underlying points in COLLATERAL.
Miami Vice: ★★★★