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Directed by: Michael Mann Starring: Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx This is less a movie and more a force of nature. We're dropped into the world of Miami Vice feet first and we hit the ground running. Michael Mann perfects the filming technique he began with Collateral. At no time did I feel like I was watching a movie, but rather a cameraman that followed these cops around for a while. This is a living, breathing world seeping with realism. When shots are fired I flenched. When two characters made love I felt I was being involved in something uncomfortably voyeuristic. When we see a scene of a beachside town or a mansion with dripping water off it's awesome architecture I wanted to reach out and touch it. The main character of this film is the atmosphere. The characters are just there to inhabit this world, and there's not a single false note amongst the actors. Michael Mann went for intensity and realism to a point where even one of the main stars walked away from the film. It shows. I don't want to else to say about it, it's an experience more than it's a movie and I highly recommend everyone check it out. Of course many people won't get the same effect from the film that I had, and to them I'll look like a douchebag on the level with Harry Knowles. Some other people might get the same feel from the movie as I did and that's cool. Definitely worth checking out and I hope it works for you. 5/5 RATING: 5.0 PROS: Everything CONS: It ended ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430357/
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Jul 29, 2006 05:39
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I found parts of it hard to get into, namely, the first hour or so after the introduction seemed to really drag. These sequences contained some great visuals, and did a good job of setting up the characters, but they just took much too long. However, once the momentum picks back up, it doesn't stop. A lot of the buzz I've heard about this movie has obsessed over the fact that it's based off an 80's television show. However, it's quickly evident all that was completely unfounded. There is no trace of 80's cheese to be seen here; this film is gritty, dark and modern. RATING: 4.0 PROS: Visceral shootouts, refreshingly non-retarded firearms handling, beautiful visuals. CONS: Drags in the middle.
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Jul 29, 2006 06:28
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As much as I enjoyed Mann's work on both Heat and Collateral, I was very much looking forward to this movie. I also love his visual style of using video instead of film, so his night shots are more vibrant. However I felt the movie suffered serious pacing issues. To me, it seemed like the first few minutes were cool, and then the last 15 minutes were awesome, and 2 hours of filler in between. I know Heat is similar, but it paced along with interesting dialogue and character development. Miami Vice didn't have any of that, it just seemed more like random events happening one after another, taking far too long to establish a plot point. I was also not fond of what felt like 20 minutes of Colin Ferral boating around. I was to the point where I kept checking my watch to see when the movie was going to end. I'll probably end up being the only one who didn't like it. I can see it being popular, but it wasn't for me. 2/5 PROS: Awesome shootout, Jamie Foxx is loving awesome. CONS: Excruciatingly boring.
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Jul 29, 2006 06:39
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I agree that there were pacing issues comparable to Heat. However, during the trailer park sequence I got a boner, and during the climax, my boner exploded. I expected alot from Mann and he delivered. 4.5/5
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Jul 29, 2006 06:42
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Bozz said it better than I could, but: I skimmed a few reviews this past week, and it seems the number one complaint was that there was no character development. Second was that it was too boring, or that the storyline/plot wasn't complicated or radical enough. I think all of those people missed the point entirely. Earlier tonight I was talking to someone about judging movies, and was saying that it simply can't be done on a universal basis. You can't watch a serious drama and say "Hey, this movie didn't have enough comedic relief", then hold it against the film. In the case of Miami Vice, I do not believe character development, moderate to fast pacing, or a deep plot were even objectives. Mann's recent movies are almost entirely about the experience itself. The point is to take a two and a half hour trip into the moody, stylized world of the characters. Watch Collateral, or better, find the script for it. Imagine the same script being used by say, Wes Craven, and instead of making "Red Eye" he had produced "Collateral". The result would be a sub-par, incredibly cliche hollywood action movie, instead of the absolute work of art that Mann turned it into. Miami Vice is what happens when you take the slow moody pacing, uneasy atmosphere, realism, gunfights, and beautiful night/day shots that Mann is famous for, and make an entire movie out of them. I can see how the movie wouldn't work for people who don't have the attention span. I don't mean to sound condescending there, but some people just get bored easier than others. Personally I didn't feel any drag, probably because I was enjoying the visuals and atmosphere so much. Obviously the trailers portrayed an action-packed explosionfest, so I don't blame people for going into the movie with very flawed expectations. RATING: I can't decide between 4.5 and 5.0 PROS: Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell, who can be annoying sometimes, were handled very well and didn't act like movie stars. Incredibly beautiful filming. The inclusion of .50 BMG and 40mm. Everything else. CONS: Some difficult to understand dialogue. Not what you are looking for if you wanted a successor to Heat. At one point in the movie, Farrell snapped the cylinder of a revolver closed, which can cause damage to the gun. Locus fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Jul 29, 2006 |
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Jul 29, 2006 08:51
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I dunno, it just didn't home for me, and I was really disappointed since I'm such a huge fan of Michael Mann. The characters were totally unsympathiable and, to a degree, dislikable. The plot seemed really disjointed and random, and there was nothing clever or original about it whatsoever. Pros? It was visually stunning and it had some great shootout sequences. That was about it. 2/5
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Jul 29, 2006 09:43
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I walked out of this about an hour and a half in. This movie didn't go anywhere or do anything in the time I spent watching it. The half hour of sex scenes composed almost entirely of a blurry shot of somebody's shoulder felt less like a plot point and more like an extension of Mann's attempt at being "arty". I didn't give a poo poo about any of the characters, partly because they were flatly acted, partly because they were given only vague motivations by the script, and partly because I couldn't understand 90% of the dialogue. Colin Farell's hilariously uneven American accent appears to be 50% marbles and 50% Sam Elliott. Pros: Colin Farrell's inexplicable Groucho Marx mustache was the funniest thing I've seen on screen all year. Cons: Just about everything else. .5/5
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Jul 29, 2006 12:36
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Quite a good film. The hand-held visual style, similair to watching an episode of cops, worked quite well. Certainly unforgiving in terms of dialog because certain characters mumble or are difficult to understand, such as Gong Li, which pretty much requires a re-watch to catch everything said. Some parts of the film do seem to drag for no reason and seem to function as music videos rather than parts of the movie. But this film is certainly worth seeing. 4/5 doctor 7 fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Jul 30, 2006 |
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Jul 30, 2006 03:22
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Ok, I don't know about you guys, but I am still kicking myself for not walking out of this movie in the first place. Maybe it's because I never saw the old Miami Vice, but I thought this movie was better off not even shown. Ok, first off, we start off in some club, with no loving clue what is going on, and guess what? They don't ever tell you what is happening. Pretty much from there the entire rest of the movie is written at random. ----Spoilers for why I believe this movie was loving bad.---- -Some guy just commits suicide for no apparent reason. -The whole movie you don't know wether they are just dealing dope, or a whole bunch of drugs, or what the gently caress is going on. -Collin Farrel's character (I don't even know his name) has sex with some asian woman THAT SPEAKS loving SPANISH better than english that he just met like 2 hours ago. He proceeds to have sex with her two more times, the next day or so. Did I mention she is the husband of the druglord he is working for? -The whole plotline looked like it was written by a drunkard. -Random sex scenes hoped to interest the viewer more. -None of the characters mention their name more than like 5 loving times, and half of the time it's in a quick sentence. -Collin Farrel is just an rear end in a top hat. -Too many horrible accents. -The shootout at the end was so corny, people were walking through gunfire and not getting hit. -The stupid trailer trash guys can make a loving necklace-bomb-thing-wired-to-a-cell-phone, but they can't loving protect their base? -The girl that walks INTO THE loving HOUSE AS IT EXPLODES comes out with a collapsed lung and a few other injuries. -The dialogue was so bad, especially Collin Farrel's: "Probability is like gravity you just can't go against it." -The handheld - camera style filming was stupid, because the point of having a movie is to act like YOU'RE IN IT, NOT FILMING IT. ARGHH. I can't even type out all the rest of the reasons why I hated this movie. Edit: .5/5 PROS : Uh.. The cars and boats were cool? And the guns. CONS : The entire movie. jorn fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jul 30, 2006 |
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Jul 30, 2006 03:38
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You didn't pay attention to the movie at all. I also assume you've never seen a Michael Mann film before, or know who he is.jorn posted:----Spoilers for why I believe this movie was loving bad.---- quote:-The whole movie you don't know wether they are just dealing dope, or a whole bunch of drugs, or what the gently caress is going on. quote:-Collin Farrel's character (I don't even know his name) has sex with some asian woman THAT SPEAKS loving SPANISH better than english that he just met like 2 hours ago. He proceeds to have sex with her two more times, the next day or so. Did I mention she is the husband of the druglord he is working for? quote:-None of the characters mention their name more than like 5 loving times, and half of the time it's in a quick sentence. quote:-Too many horrible accents. quote:-The shootout at the end was so corny, people were walking through gunfire and not getting hit. quote:-The stupid trailer trash guys can make a loving necklace-bomb-thing-wired-to-a-cell-phone, but they can't loving protect their base? quote:-The girl that walks INTO THE loving HOUSE AS IT EXPLODES comes out with a collapsed lung and a few other injuries. quote:-The handheld - camera style filming was stupid, because the point of having a movie is to act like YOU'RE IN IT, NOT FILMING IT.  Anyways, (crossposted from CineD) saw it today, started off a little slow but really picked up after the grenade scene (which interestingly didn't do anything for me when I saw it on TV). The trailer park scene was, for me, loving intense. The last shootout could've been a bit clearer as to who was shooting whom, however. As for the cinematography, the night scenes looked a little iffy with the digital camera but as a whole the movie was gorgeous. And the plot? I didn't really care. Mann is a great director because of his style, the atmosphere and the mood of the movie are most important. Not as good as Heat, but just slightly below Collateral at the moment. I wish they would've driven the Ferrari a little more. I was hoping for an update of the "In the Air Tonight" scene from the Miami Vice pilot episode, with the F430 replacing the Daytona, but the inferior remix was left to the end credits. 4/5 Cacator fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Jul 30, 2006 |
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Jul 30, 2006 05:23
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I agree the film lagged in the middle, but overall I enjoyed it and the last 20 minutes or so are just perfect. People that are knocking the shootouts in this film are mad. If there's one thing that Mann can do right, it's show how guns and the people that use them might actually behave in a real firefight. 4/5
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Jul 30, 2006 06:58
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I really liked it. I've never really seen the original series, and I thought it was really enjoyable. They start right in the middle of things, which works for me. There's lots of dialogue during the middle, but for the most part the acting is pretty good. I didn't resent the fact that Colin Farrell was in it, in fact he might have been my favorite character (acting-wise). Anyway, this movie lags a bit at times, but it's totally worth it for the kickass Michael Mann action scenes, of which there's at least a couple. The last shootout was freaking intense, and for me, really did a good job of inspiring a sense of danger (unlike most action movies). Pros: -Jamie Foxx didn't make me want to kill myself -Colin Farrell was actually good -Incredible action scenes -Sets were as realistic as I could imagine Cons: -Could have used more dialogue between Crockett and Tubbs -Drags a bit in the middle Overall, if you liked Collateral or Heat, you should at least see it in theaters. 4.5/5
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Jul 30, 2006 19:11
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Great Movie. Some have said it starts too slow or drags, but I disagree. This is not a balls to the wall action flick, so don't go into it expecting that. When the action does happen though, it is very intense. If you are a fan of the TV series, you will notice it has a similar flow as the story unfolds, and besides the characters having the same names (which I thought was cool) that's about the only similarities with the Vice of old. The story is well done, and the acting is very good. I was impressed with the performance by Collin Farrell, and Jamie Foxes' role seemed more like a supporting one. The imagery/cinematography alone in this film is worth seeing it, and the soundtrack is perfect. Michael Mann has another winner on his hands, and I can only hope that he does a few more Miami Vice films before he retires. Pros Cinematography, story, acting, soundtrack, intense action.....Pretty much everything. Cons The guy sitting behind me in the theater smelled really bad, and it kind of kept me from enjoying it 100%.  5/5
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Jul 30, 2006 21:50
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I really wanted to like this film. I had never seen Miami Vice before, until they showed the very first episode of it in HD the other night, and I thought it was loving awesome. The movie was good, but I thought it lagged pretty hard in sections. I want to give it a 4, but it just didn't pull through enough for me. 3.5/5
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Jul 31, 2006 18:06
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Easily the movie of the summer for me. I was somewhat apprehensive about the film after reviews almost universally blasted the movie as a bland plotline lacking excitement with beautiful visuals. While I see how people could jump to this conclusion, I couldn’t disagree more with that assessment. The plot is difficult to follow, especially in the beginning periods. A slew of technical police lingo sets up the driving plot, but at times is undecipherable upon first viewing, luckily the plot does move slowly and is forgiving enough to allow the viewer to catch up. Lines in the movie are delivered in a very David Mamet-like style, if you’ve seen Spartan, the dialogue and conversation style between the films seemed very similar. The film starts out with a bang, characters are eliminated and a bloody action scene quickly unfolds, but then quickly settles down for what seems like a very extended period. During this time, I almost lost faith in the film myself, felt the urge to look down and check my watch repeatedly. Mann takes time to delve into the characters, more time than he’s taken in similar films of his. This is really the tipping point that decides whether the movie is either a 5 or a 1 for you. If you feel the characters are well developed and establish a connection to them as a viewer, you’re going to love the rest of the film. However, if you find yourself not establishing empathy or believing the whirlwind relationships Mann sets up, well then you’re waiting a long two hours for a final payoff that while terrifically crafted, will lack significance. In technical areas of the film, Mann delivers one of the most visually and audibly stunning experiences I’ve ever witnessed. The film looks gritty and personal, but always perfectly fits the Miami portrayed in the film. The spectacular visual experience was to be expected from Mann, but his music choices went above all expectations. Scenes from the movie moved slow, but accompanying music always perfectly captured the mood, I’m really glad Mann didn’t go down the route assumed route and use Jan Hammer’s classic theme or any other iconic 80’s music used on the earlier version of the show. This Miami Vice is a very serious affair, and Mann’s musical selections were powerful enough to enthrall me deeper into scenes, but never grandiose or over cooked enough to stand out and overshadow any actions on the screen itself. Miami Vice isn’t a perfectly realized movie. The plot line was pretty straight forward and lacked the richness and layers of plot Heat offered. Still, in the end the film satisfies. If you’re a viewer who lacks some patience, the movie might not be appropriate for you. However, I can say without caution that even if you find Miami Vice’s story boring it still excites the senses like no movie in recent memory. 4.5 / 5.5 Pros: Everything listed above, cinematography, soundtrack, action, Mann gets a great effort from Farrel. A very engrossing experience. Cons: Foxx's character didn't have an opportunity to shine. At times I almost lost interest in the middle.
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Jul 31, 2006 18:09
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Unfortunetly i entered this film with high expectations. Fortunetly i walked out with a decent soundtrack(picking it up tomorrow). I dont get the recent obsession in Hollywood as of late to shoot action movies in the ultra realistic seasickness inducing Shaky cam. It's probably one of the worst innovations, ever. This whole movie is in close up and in poor angle shots. Any time it seems like they might pull far enough away for you to actually take in the scene, they start shaking the camera around, making it nearly impossible to focus on, anything. So much of this film is spent driving various vechiles, which is a plus because it cuts back on the horrible dialogue. everytime they seem like they might be heading into the direction of charecter development or actual drama(not the forced "you killed my lover" style) a charecter will give a closed statement and the movie will move on. It's almost frustrating, cause i kept almost getting into it, and then they would yank out the perverbial rug. Someone up top aluded to them being Crockett and tubbs, i thought thier names were sunny and rico, so whatever. There were just so many plot holes, this ultra realistic movie was anything but, specially in the final shoot out where it turns into your run of the mill cliched gun fight, complete with hired henchmen who can't aim and super cops who are all eagle eye marksmen, speaking of which, i guess the cops snipers only had 1 bullet each, cause after they kill the other snipers, as far as i could tell, they no longer particapated in the battle. As bad as this movie was i think i could've found it watchable, or at least more so, if two things, 1 they had better audio, as the audio they did have actually, for back of a better term fell out, several times. And of course the extreme overuse of shaky cam, God i hate shaky cam. I dunno, 2/5 Pros:The music was pretty decent and more or less well placed, Farrells bad southernish accent and stupid mustache Cons: everything really, but in particular Camera and audio work, as well as the innane amount of driving scenes "Here's colin driving a boat, and here's Jamie in a plane, and here's colin in another boat, and Jamie in a car, and colin in a car, here's some people driving them around, heres them in a truck etc etc etc" way too many driving scenes
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Aug 1, 2006 06:56
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Ridiculously boring. I never felt like I was being entertained. It was a chore to watch, and I was happy it finally ended.
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Aug 1, 2006 09:19
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Jesus, I was just about bored to tears. There's about two hours of meaningful stares and long pauses, and then about 15 minutes of splatterfest, and I don't particularly like either. Maybe that's just what's acceptable for an action/cop movie these days, but I certainly didn't enjoy it. Something about it felt really amateurish, too. The cinematography maybe? I don't know enough about film to say, but it was something like the cuts between characters during a conversation just really seemed awkward, almost home-movieish. 2/5
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Aug 1, 2006 20:02
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I was so confused the whole time and was annoyed at the asian chick because I couldn't understand what she was saying. I also didn't care about anyone except for that guy in the last fight scene who gets shot in the legs and then rolls out of the way and then rolls back and BAM BADASS Pros: Nice effects. I really could feel the force of the guns. Nice action. Pretty good acting and I like Jamie Foxx. It had a good sense of drama and tension. Badass cars and boats too man. Badass. Cons: Even though I understood the plot and everything, I just felt confused with everything. The asian chick was annoyingly hard to understand. I didn't care about anything in the movie. The love or anything wasn't felt between either Jamie Foxx and his girl or Colin and asian lady. A good movie is one that leaves me thinking about it and caring about it past the credits. Any genre of movie can do this. This movie did not. I like the attempt at the whole "OK movie starts and GO GO GO" because I hate exposition, but this one moved way too fast. Assumed too much. I walked in not knowing what this movie was about and I drowned. 2/5
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Aug 3, 2006 20:14
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I was actually shocked that I didn't like this movie, I love both Collateral and Heat, and certainly don't mind a slower paced film. With that said, I hated Miami Vice. I was very into the start, someone mentioned how the viewer was dropped in feet first, and that's a very accurate description, you definitely hit the floor running in terms of plot. I thought the middle act was some of the most over drawn useless (although wonderfully shot) dreck I've ever seen. Combine that with a couple of SERIOUS plot holes and a very unfilfilling ending, this just didn't do it for me. 1/5
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Aug 3, 2006 21:42
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I thought it was beautiful. It did drag in the middle, and there were a few cheesy moments, but the visual beauty of the slow parts more than made up for them. The plot was built up a lot better than, say, Heat and overall held together quite well, and maintained a certain unpredictability throughout most of the movie. The tension that builds up over the last hour of the movie is perfect, and the soundtrack was sewn together to match this. 4.5/5 quote:asian woman THAT SPEAKS loving SPANISH better than english I don't understand how this is a problem with the movie in any way
Earwicker fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Aug 4, 2006 |
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Aug 4, 2006 20:46
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I really enjoyed this film. While it is not Mann's finest, what it *does* do is capture the TV show in all its glory, sans cheesy outfits. It really plays like a 2 hour episode of the series, even how it ends. Wasn't too keen on the sound track, but it seems Mann has been using the same thing for his past few, but otherwise I had a lot of fun with it. Some spots did drag, but hey, can't be perfect. I went in expecting Miami Vice....and that is exactly what I got. 4.5/5
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Aug 5, 2006 22:11
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Entertaining film, but completely unremarkable. Mann's HD style is befitting of the film and the film shares the same visual style as Collateral. (The gritty image style befits a gritty story.) The story and acting simply weren't very gripping. The plot of Miami Vice is reminiscent of any other undercover cop film you probably have seen. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx play their roles so 'cool' that they almost come off as wooden or emotionless. Still, faults aside the film manages to be entertaining. While it slows down at times; I felt the film didn't suffer for it as the pacing was fine. If you crave action you shouldn't be too disapointed. 3/5 - A solid film but lacks the character development/story to be much more than average. unlawfulsoup fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Aug 20, 2006 |
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Aug 6, 2006 04:50
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I was really loving looking forward to this movie because I'm a fan of Mann's films but this was a major, major dissapointment. The plot is absolutely ludicrous the whole way through and it just completely spoils it. An undercover FBI operation gets blown open, giving Farell and Foxx a no-questions-asked license to basically do whatever the hell they want. They smuggle millions of dollars of drugs in order to "get close" to a drug baron while Farrell gives glassy-eyed speechs to this cut-out FBI guy who's sole purpose is to repeat the modern-day equivalent of "you're a loose cannon and you're off the case!" Farrell also decides to sail 250 miles to Cuba for a couple of days to bang this chinese chick who looks a pirahna, who happens to be the main drug lord's floosey, but apparently that's OK as long as she's only finding out his business interests! Right. This scene drags unbelievably and you can't wait for it be over. But alas, it's not all roses! Farrell and his floosey get spotted sharing a slow intimate dance in (where else but) the club owned the by the drug lord's right hand man! What a realistic scenario for two people who apparently make their living by being cautious and thinking ahead! Then the Aryan brotherhood who are recieving the drugs, just randomly decide to kidnap Foxx's girlfriend, in order to do the deal "their way". OK now I get it, so you're doing a major drug deal and you decide to kidnap/kill your courier's partner because you don't like their delivery methods. Yes, read that again because that's actually what happens. Iron-clad by the fact that she's "dead for sure" as soon as they get the drugs. And remember this isn't a one off deal, this is a regular supplier, sounds like a good way to make a lasting business relationship to me. And of course let's not forget the fact she walks into a building as it explodes and gets lightly singed with a few bruises. This is all still going on with nobody figuring out that they're not cops despite the fact they're loving walking around with THEIR loving BADGES AROUND THEIR NECKS just before the final exchange, gee if the drug dealers were surveiling them then that would look really awkward wouldn't it? Plus the fact the dealers are supposed to have "hard-core counter-intel" and they don't seem to find out they're cops, or Foxx's girlfriend (who is also a cop) for that matter who they know enough about to kidnap, but not what her occupation is. Shaky battle-cam gun fight with snipers standing by who just sit and watch I guess? Followed by stupid ending. Farrell's delivery of several lines beggars belief but it's not suprising since three quarters of the entire dialog comes out of his mouth. It's supposed to be about the partnership but it's basically just a screen test for Farrell running the gamut of emotions with Foxx tacked on the side. The plot and cast choice really let this movie down because the scenery and the majority of the directing are excellent (except the pacing problems). Plus Gong Li had the most discriminately stereotypical ME CHINESE CHANG CHONG accent, it was painful to sit through her dialog. You just can't relate or feel for the characters, they run around this fantasy parallel universe and you just don't care an iota about what happens to them. Could've been great. 1.5/5 Onken fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Aug 7, 2006 |
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Aug 7, 2006 11:48
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Chinaman7000 posted:I was so confused the whole time and was annoyed at the asian chick because I couldn't understand what she was saying. as I hear, Li Gong doesn't speak English, or Spanish for that matter, and learned all her lines phonetically. That takes a bit of talent in my book. Also for everyone having a hard time understanding what it going on, you are right in that the fact that it plays out like the TV show, where you are sort of dropped into a story that changes direction at a fast pace. You are suppose to already know Sonny and Crockett, so there is not a lot of time spent on development of their character. That is part of the story. You sort of have to know the series to appreciate that aspect of the film. The movie website has some nice behind the scenes clips you might want to check out...sort of explians some things.
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Aug 7, 2006 16:03
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eckoelab posted:as I hear, Li Gong doesn't speak English, or Spanish for that matter, and learned all her lines phonetically. That takes a bit of talent in my book. Wow, that is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Did you know that there's more people in China that can speak English than the whole of North America and Europe put together?
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Aug 7, 2006 22:48
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Absolutly awful. I knew it would be bad, but I figured at least the action would save it. Boy was that a mistake. Even if I could have seen what was happening the 25 minutes of action wouldnt have been enough to sustain this film. Where the hell did the $120 million go? Some problems I had with it: What happened to the main drug dealer? Wasnt the whole point of staying undercover to get him? Why did they open fire on the Aryan gang AFTER they sent one of their own men over to check the money in the final scene? Did they just want him to get shot immediatly? Why did Colin Farrel start up a relationship with that woman? Did he intend on screwing up the whole operation? How did the Aryan gang know where to kidnap Jamie Foxx's girlfriend, and why would they do that? What about the "leak"? What was the point of even introducing that if they werent going to develop it? .5/5
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Aug 8, 2006 11:34
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Onken posted:Wow, that is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Did you know that there's more people in China that can speak English than the whole of North America and Europe put together? did you read what I said, rear end? I wasn't speaking about everyone in China, I was speaking about a specific actor who doesn't speak any English at all. Please reread what I posted and stop frothing at the mouth, or better yet, go to the movies website and view it for yourself.
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Aug 8, 2006 17:14
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eckoelab posted:did you read what I said, rear end? I wasn't speaking about everyone in China, I was speaking about a specific actor who doesn't speak any English at all. Please reread what I posted and stop frothing at the mouth, or better yet, go to the movies website and view it for yourself. lol my mouth-froth clearly contains some sort of neuro-toxin that is hindering your ability to think rationally. I know exactly what you are talking about, my point is why choose a Chinese person who can't speak English when there are hundreds of millions who can? OK I'll stop derailing now, sorry. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Aug 9, 2006 00:21
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my apologies for being snappy then, I didn't pick up on what you were meaning. Now I do.
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Aug 9, 2006 04:12
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TheReverend6Pak posted:Why did they open fire on the Aryan gang AFTER they sent one of their own men over to check the money in the final scene? Did they just want him to get shot immediatly? I can at least answer two: To the first, you see him shooting people in the back with his shotgun; he knew the shots were coming and got the hell out of the way. And the other remember Foxx introduced his girlfriend to Yero at his club, so he knew what she looked like and could get an ID from that. Also, the reason they did that was Yero was jealous or angry about the relationship between Farrel and Li Gong, he felt there was something wrong and took steps to protect his enterprise. So remember, the white supremacists were going to kill Farrell and everyone at that deal, just like they did to the FBI guys in the beginning. It was a combination revenge and cleaning house attempt. The kidnapping was made to ensure that everyone got drawn there so the killing could be done. ed: wait, the relationship one. C'mon, that's easy: seducing an enemy agent to ensure you don't get double-crossed or screwed over isn't really a bad technique when you are an _undercover police agent trying to bust a drug lord._ The problem is, it got personal for them both. "It'd be a bad idea." "This is beyond a bad idea." My biggest problem with this movie is it felt like an awkward compromise. It sacrificed the long, ensemble-cast driven saga of Heat and it had too many characters to be an intimate look into the relationship of two like Collateral. Instead, everything just felt weightless. There's no reason to get invested in anything that happens in the movie because you don't KNOW the characters. Sure, it does the "start the movie running," approach, but in failing to develop the characters (specifically, Foxx and Farrell, but more generally literally everyone) there's no impact on what they're doing, and no clue as to why they're doing it. It was a problem that pretty much took out the rest of the cast, too - with even less time than those two, they were even more two dimensional, and added very little to the movie. And even the gun sequences - one of Mann's fortes - were weak. The last one in particular felt awkward and overly stylized compared to the brutally sharp impact of Heat's bank shootout or Collateral's sudden violence from Vincent. There were a few too many "oh they suddenly forget how to aim just in time for our protagonists to learn how to shoot laser-rifle perfect" moments, by which I mean two inside of two minutes. Not to mention quite a few "so did they FORGET about those characters moments?" so the police have a pair of snipers there who take out the bad guy's two snipers. Fine. Those two police snipers NEVER SHOOT AGAIN. Excuse me? Oh and shooting a guy in the head and that sniper somehow squeezes off two rounds from a semi-automatic rifle? Aaaaaaaaaaagh. Mann is better than this. It wasn't a bad movie, but it didn't engage me. There was nothing to get engaged to. I think this movie could've been improved by a factor of about five billion with another twenty minutes of character development - flesh out the mains, give the supporting cast something, whatever. It just felt empty and weightless because nothing was there to ground it, to give it some weight, some impact. And frankly, compared to his prior work, this movie was weak. Really weak. I was disappointed because I know Mann can do amazing stuff, and here he simply didn't. I'd say 3/5. Psion fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Aug 9, 2006 |
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Aug 9, 2006 19:34
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I saw it last night, and have mixed feelings. I'm really big on Michael Mann's style, there's not one of his films I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. Miami Vice is beautifully shot (lots of hi-def work painting some stunning low-light scenes, like Collateral) and the action - when it comes - is trademark Mann. The trouble is, it's too long. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - length is justifiable if there is sufficient content (some directors prefer a longer journey in telling the story), and all that is required is a bit of stamina from the viewer, but where is the character development? I came away feeling like I knew nothing about Foxx and Farrell's characters - they had no definition at all. I started to wonder if the film had originally been considerably longer, but had seen some heavy editing pre-release. It is one explanation for this curious omission (Mann is normally very thorough on outlining his characters) and I suspect it will be worth waiting for the DVD just to see what has been left out. I need to watch it again really, it may grow on me. 3.5/5 Sulman fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Aug 10, 2006 |
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Aug 10, 2006 09:29
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I'm young, I know of Miami Vice, but had never seen the television show. I disliked the movie. It was over two hours long, there weren't very exciting scenes and the movie just seemed to drag its feet. I enjoyed Heat and Collateral, but Vice was missing a lot. I didn’t like Colin Farrell in this movie, he didn’t seem like he was all there and I think Jamie Foxx was underused. I couldn’t understand half of Li Gong’s lines and didn’t it seem the only reason Jamie Foxx’s girlfriend was in the movie was so that she could get kidnapped in the end? The one or two action scenes in the movie were absolute poo poo. The two shower scenes were almost repulsive and Farrell’s getaway with Li Gong’s character was incredibly two long I figured, a movie about drugs and cops and was hoping for a movie filled with action and drama; this movie had neither. .5/5 MrCodeDude fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Aug 12, 2006 |
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Aug 10, 2006 22:47
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I found this to have the standard Michael Mann quality. I really liked the cinematography and sounds. The character development and story probably could have used more work, but I was kept entertained by other things so it didn't bother me. I'd definitely watch it again. 3.5 / 5
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Aug 11, 2006 21:57
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It was pretty solid for an action movie. I missed the first 10 minutes or so (work), but I was filled in on what I missed. My only major gripes are that the Cuba getaway was too long and the big shootout scene at the end was poorly choreographed, it was way too hard to tell what was going on. Overall it was pretty good and worth the price of admission. 3.5/5
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Aug 15, 2006 04:00
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Really bad. Not even close to Collateral or Heat. Farrel is a joke of an actor. I wasn't engaged in a single character save for a bit-part female blond cop who shoots a neo-nazi in his head. The plot pacing is weak, the telling is disjointed. The music is terrible. Don't see it. .5/5 Redeemed slightly by a few very brief cool moments during a shoutout.
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Aug 17, 2006 06:21
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quote:-Collin Farrel's character (I don't even know his name) has sex with some asian woman THAT SPEAKS loving SPANISH better than english I can see the IMDB goofs page now: Factual Errors: Li Gong's character speaks fluent Spanish, but Asians are programmed to only learn their native language and just enough English to get by. I'm not a huge fan of the movie either, but who says she can't speak Spanish, regardless of where she's from? Anyway, I never saw Miami Vice either, which I have a suspect might be a cause to not like this movie as much as the others. I found it kinda hard to understand what was going on, what they were trying to do, and why certain scenes had their purpose. It also did drag on at some parts, especially the scenes with Colin Farrell and Li Gong banging eachother for about 15 minutes, or any scene of them together period. I also would have liked to see more character depth, especially with the villains. They also pretty much did nothing with Montoya. I thought he was supposed to be the main villain and Yero was supposed to be the head lackey. They left Montoya's part of the plot completely unresolved, unless I missed something. Also, a lot of the movie just wasn't that exciting. The end shootout, while decent, didn't feel all that climactic. I didn't think it was the climax of the movie until the movie ended a few minutes later. I did, however, appreciate the visual style and atmosphere of the movie. The characters are deeply immersed in the world of high class, South American narcotic smuggling, and the movie makes you know it. The soundtrack compliments the dark, seedy nightlife the main characters lead perfectly, and the whole atmosphere really makes you feel like you're in the faced paced, high society lifestyle of Cuban drug smugglers. All in all, it wasn't a painfully bad "Oh God make it stop" movie to watch. 3/5
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Aug 18, 2006 21:07
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The flames shooting out the exhausts of sports cars bugged me. The pacing was a little wierd, and Colin Farrel didn't do a very good job at all. Worth renting maybe. 2.5/5
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Aug 19, 2006 17:54
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Good god this movie was a piece of poo poo. The cinematography was horribly nauseating, it felt like it was filmed on a cell phone camera. The plot was unimaginably bad and incoherent. Somebody else posted all the things wrong with this movie, I don't feel like enumerating them again. 0/5
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Aug 20, 2006 04:38
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I went into see this after reading a couple of in-depth reviews, and I knew what I was getting, and I just thought this film was superb. I can understand why people would dislike it - it often seems incoherant, there's barely any character development or meaningful dialogue - but that's not what Mann was trying to do with the film. It drops you directly into a situation in the characters lives, then pulls you out at the end almost as suddenly. I did watch it for a second time, and found that then the multitude of small details were easier to pick out and understand. I thought the acting was generally superb, especially Gong Li as the drug dealers girlfriend, and the cinematography was beautiful. I loved the speed and shock of the action scenes. A lot of people seem to have expected an easy to watch blockbuster with all the plot strands neatly layed out, then wrapped up at the end, wheras this is more like a mega-budget art film, with incidental details left in as major parts, and more major details often difficult to decipher. He seems to have sacrificed traditional character and storyline development for mood and feel, so if you don't really like the sound of that, then you probably won't like it. I also trust Mann to have been pretty meticulous in researching the technical side of the film (both the actual use of weapons etc. and the procedures used by the character), so I that made it easier to accept everything going on. 4/5 No, it's not as good as Heat, but it's a very different film. On complaints about Gong Li speaking Spanish better than English, though, wtf? She's the girlfriend (and seems to be the accountant) of a spanish drug dealer, based in a spanish-speaking country.
RobertKerans fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Aug 31, 2006 |
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Aug 31, 2006 18:47
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