Miami Vice (movie)

Think of the words "Miami" and "Vice" and what do you think of?

For me it's the 1980s, Don Johnson, Phillip Michael Thomas, that flamingo at the start, and all to the music of the incredible Jan Hammer, none of which are in this film.

I mean a different decade I can easily accept, and maybe there was a random flamingo somewhere that I missed, but not even Jan Hammer? Really?

I'm afraid I found this update unengaging, which is tragic given that it was written and directed by the maestro behind the original series - the one and only Michael Mann. It seemed like every week Mann was taking this TV show and somehow directing it to look like a blockbuster movie. Now he's actually remade it as a blockbuster movie and it... well... sadly I think you can tell how this sentence was going to finish.

Towards the end there's a shoot-out and things actually get going for a bit. Unfortunately shoot-outs tend to turn this viewer off. Now that's really just bad luck. Maybe that's why I never really followed the original series?

For all that, I have to admire the film's pedigree. If this exact same film had been made by anyone else, then I would have absolutely hated it.

Since it's made by the same guy as the original however, I can respect and accept it.

Whew.