Axel Foley
Posts: 731
Joined: 15/10/2005
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Interesting post Phil, but as you might expect from my review, I don't see much to agree with in your defence of Miami Vice.
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ORIGINAL: Philconcannon
Looks like this film is taking a bit of a pasting from some readers here, but it seems to me that a lot of the criticisms aired thus far have stemmed from Michael Mann's attempts to experiment with Miami Vice, and to try to take it somewhere beyond the confines of its genre.
The main thrust of my criticisms were not along those lines. I felt it was a soulless exercise, lacking the depth of Mann's previous films and containing little in the way of excitment with which to distract attention from the fact very little is actually happening. As such it's a strange beast, ambiguously directed. Is it meant to be a cheesy cop thriller (how else does one explain the shower scenes or the slow motion speedboats)?
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Now, Michael Mann's films have never been particularly verbose (Collateral was somewhat anomalous in that respect) and there are a number of reasons for this. The characters in his films are utter professionals, and they do not stop to chat, to trade wisecracks, in the vein of many films of this type. In many of Michael Mann's films you'll find characters who only talk when they feel its necessary, when it serves some purpose; his characters are men of action, not words.
That is true to some degree. However, Mann develops deep and interesting characters around these confines. For example Neil McCauley may not say much, but much of his character rests in what he does (brilliantly conveyed as it is by De Niro, through piercing glances and subtle gestures). There are two key scenes for understanding his character, first the halted heist and second the table turning moment as Hanna realises McCauley is now watching him. Through such action he establishes who this man is. There was not one scene close to being as masterful in developing characters in Miami Vice. Crockett and Tubbs strut about, and mumble from one scene to the next, all the while nothing happens.
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Secondly, Michael Mann places far more emphasis on the visual and aural effect of his films than the dialogue. He attempts to develop his characters' relationships by reading their faces, by following the looks between individuals; and to involve us in the story through his manipulation of the film's aesthetics. Whether or not he's successful in doing so with Miami Vice is arguable, but I think it mostly works extremely well - the subplot between Farrell and Gong Li overcomes her problematic delivery, and is made real through the actors' chemistry and Mann's direction. Their burgeoning relationship did, for me, give the film a satisfying emotional arc.
In a way it was a similar arc to that between McCauley and Edie in Heat, just not so nuanced and punctuated by moments of pure fromage.
As far as developing relationships through facial expressions goes, I would presume that is very hard to do when the protagonists scowl and grimace with the visage of those that haven't had a decent bowel movement for a few days. Seriously, I couldn't see very much expressed through actions by the characters, certainly nothing to compare to the scene in Heat where McCauley decides to take out Waingro or the moment Vincent decides to take out Daniel the jazz man in Collateral.
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Miami Vice is flawed, as I admitted in my review at the top of this thread, but it has ambition and style, and it's driven by a genuine intelligence. Mann could have ticked all of the standard narrative and character boxes, and given us something more mundane but perhaps more conventionally satisfying; but I like the fact that he has taken a risk with this massive project, pushing himself artistically instead of playing it safe. I think Miami Vice is one of Mann's more uncertain efforts, but it's still one of the few serious, adult films being offered to today's mainstream audience, and it's still every inch a Michael Mann film. Above all it looks and sounds like nothing else in the cinemas right now. For all its flaws, it's a worthy addition to Michael Mann's oeuvre.
I did think some of the sound design was excellent (no-one does gunshots like Mann), but Miami Vice does have a standard narrative (and a particularly uneventful one too) and is as mundane as any number of Michael Bay films. I don't see how such a simple film could count as intelligent. I mean what happens?
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