The misunderstood crime genre film that you should see right now

Sometimes the best films are unfairly criticized upon release and then revalued to what they should have been in the first place: a work of art.

Generation perfectly exemplifies the exotic south of Florida. And after it was announced that this series would have a homonymous film remake in 2006, expectations were very high for Miami Vice.

At the time, Everyone expected a police thriller with shooting, with a high dose of action and a big budget, playing off the Bad Boys movies – some of them are now the best movies on Amazon Prime – that preceded it. But instead, the film departed from the tone and style of the source materialand this was actually good.

When Michael Mann decided to direct the project, it was clear that he would bring with him his signature style, and it was this effort that would cause a very sharp division at the time, but would also be the same one that would currently lead to Miami Vice to one revaluation by criticsand this production is now known as a cult work.

What is Miami Vice about?

Miami Vice puts aside its original past to give the plot a facelift

Starring Collin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, in the roles of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, respectively. They are two undercover police officers who participate in the investigation of a drug cartel between Miami and Cuba.

However, in the process, the unorthodox Crocket ends up becoming romantically involved with the cartel’s couple and financial advisor., Isabella, played by Gong Li, who plays one of the most dynamic and nuanced female characters in the film. But, on the other hand, the tension and differences in perspectives reach their highest point when Tubbs must deal with an assault on his loved ones.

Miami Vice has a lot going for it, a excellent performance by the protagoniststhe Dad-Rock style soundtrack, but, above all, and at the same time one of the most controversial features of the film: its unusual visual style.

Miami Vice did not let itself be limited by preconceived ideas

When making a remake, preconceived ideas for both critics and audiences can make a film a success or a failure. And in this case, when it came to the remake of one of the “coolest” series of the 80s and one that had a prominent cultural importance, without a doubt, they played against Miami Vice.

But even so, this didn’t matter to Mann, he thought about giving it a twist that was coherent and thus attacking the original material.

In the first minutes of the film we are already soaked in a feeling that we are about to live a different experience. Mann wanted to bet on accelerating the pace of both the soundtrack and the photography, and by extension the general tone of the film.

Multidimensional characters are everything

In Miami Viceboth Collin Ferrel and Jamie Foxx offer a interpretation perfectly loaded with nuances that extends throughout the 135 minutes length of the film, making you deeply involved in the development of its characters.

They achieve all this through their personal and professional relationships, highlighting the tacit link between the two anti-narcotics police officers. There is an innate dynamic between them, knowing the dangers they faced and how essential a situation can be, each one was aware of what the other was thinking, as if it were a sense of success in covering each other’s backs.

And although the work of the two protagonists is magnificent, We cannot detract from Cara Hinds and Naomie Harriswho reinforce these two with their excellent performances.

Miami Vice, the misunderstood film that has now left a legacy

The film that divided viewers at the time is now a cult film

It’s clear that viewers were willing to ignore every one of the magnificent details of Michael Mann’s film that make it a unique work in itself, as they attacked this misunderstood crime epic with negative reviews because it was not the version over-the-top, big-budget version of the hugely successful series they were used to. But as we have already mentioned, it is this is precisely what makes it so good.

Don Johnson and Philip Michael Tomas were the veterans who brought the series of Miami Vice in the 80s. But Michael Mann’s version wanted to establish its own identity, and boy did he succeed. However, sometimes viewers’ minds are too rooted in the original version that it leaves no room to appreciate an artistically incredible adaptation.