Your friend exaggerates. It is a terrible movie though. The writing is horrible. Recycled plots, recycled lines. The acting is pretty horrific as well. Justin Theroux, probably the best actor in the film, has at best 3 lines, which baffled me. There were also a ton of poorly framed shots, which I'm assuming was for effect, but it was just distracting. None of it was compelling in any way. I loved Heat, one of my all time favorites, and I also loved Collateral so it's not like I don't "get" Mann's work.
I'm a fan of Michael Manns movies. It's gritty and the fight seems catch that sense of realism. Mann picked up the style of Collateral with this movie, so if you liked that, this one's a safe bet. The plot was bare, but it seemed realistic that the cartel would have divisions. Gong Li needs more lessons on her engrish, but Colin Farrel had no excuses for his American. Jamie Fox was played it cool and low key which is fine because it didn't turn out to be his movie.
I saw it and I didn't like it much. I thought it was a waste of my 8 dollars. IMO it talked about nothing but drug dealing and didn't have much of a story.
Never seen Miami Vice, haven't seen any Michael Mann movies, so I went into it with a pretty clean slate... The DV got old quick, like everyone's said (it didn't help that I was sitting literally 10 feet away from the screen...damn theatre sold out quick...). The dialogue was bad, what little I could hear of it: it is very hard to understand a lot of the characters speech...like Gong Le and sometimes the Hispanic drug dealers... Basically it was 2 hours that led up to a pretty intense 5 minute action scene. Other than that, I wasn't very impressed. Overall, I'd probably give it an average rating...and yes, Colin Farrell was horrible in this one...Jamie Foxx was good, but it seemed like he was forced to do the character a certain way and not get creative with it... EDIT: was it just me or did the scenes drag on longer than they should have? Like the scene should cut over to the next one, but they lingered for about 5 seconds longer...? Maybe I was just hallucinating..
EVERYONE is saying Farrell sucked in the movie ~ I was really looking forward to this film, but not anymore. Is it even possible to make a good movie anymore?
I thought it was a good movie but lacked action. There was none and I went in thinking that it would be action packed. I still liked it for some reason and Im not really sure why. Some of it just didnt make much sense.
I agree with that assessment. I saw the movie on Sunday and was quiet disappointed. Not even as good as any of the "Bad Boys" movies, just a simple-minded summer flick with nothing 'new' to offer. And I thought Colin Farrell sucked big time in this one, Jaime Foxx was no doubt the 'star' of this movie. IMO, they should have used someone like a Vin Diesal type, Farrel seemed uncomfortable/out of place in that role, even though he's normally a good actor.
The movie was good as far as run of the mill summer blockbusters go. So you really shouldn't put to much thought into watching it. Story and plot are not good reasons to see this movie. It was decent, but Colin Ferrel totally sucked. He needs to work on not sounding scottish when playing Americans. But over all it was fun to watch.
I guess Mann was looking to keep a bit of the 80's nostalgia with the shoulder length curly hair and the p*rn mustache. I think he would have been better off with a cream colored blazer and a pink shirt...
i saw it saturday with a group of friends and we walked out... they REALLY hated it, but i could of finished it if i wanted too.. there were too many random sex scenes...(i mean i enjoy them, but i was like wtf?!? that was random), and ill say farrell sucked too...didnt like that stache he was sporting... i dont mind a HUGE action pack movie, but come on write a better storyline please...
I hear ya. I've never been much of a Michael Mann fan, but if it puts the cream in your twinkie, go for it!
I caught this flick today and was thoroughly entertained. I went for wide sweeping scenes, flashy cars, action and the ability of Michael Mann. Colin and Jamie did a good job as their characters, I thought the bad guys were well portrayed and I loved the use of technology in the movie. I'm glad I saw it and felt I got my money's worth.
I haven't seen the movie yet but plan on seeing it. One thing I'm surprised is that so many of y'all are complaining about the cinematography. All of the reviews I've read rave about the cinematography and the use of digital video. As for the casting of Colin Farrell I was dissapointed by it. I've never thought he was a good actor and it just seems like there are so many better actors out there who could've played Crockett. In regard to Gong Li's English she actually doesn't understand English yet and learned all her lines phonetically. Gong Li's a great actress but it seems like for this type of role they could've cast another actress with better language skills.
Did she have to learn how to cry during sex as well? Regarding the cinematography, yes it's DV. Some love it, some hate it. Pertaining to this film, it was unique and certainly captured the mood, but many will agree that it got old quickly. What bugs me is that some might think "HD" DV means better quality. It's not. It's cheap, literally and figuratively. I'm not faulting the filmmakers for the use of DV since, again, it set the tone, but the film lacked substance. I can't find any explanation as to how in the world the film's budget was $150 million (I've also read it's somewhere closer to $120 million, but still...). Going back and reading ads and reviews for it, scenes such as shootouts, explosions, and speed boat chases were mentioned. Well, there were a couple explosions, a nice shootout, but no speed boat chases as far as I can remember. Even so, I can't see how the budget was anywhere close to what it was. One thing I heard was that a speed boat chase scene was cut out (if true, you would have to assume this would be used to sell DVDs). The was disappointing. Another guess is that A LOT of the budget was spent on filming outside of the US. The various scenes were fine, but having half the movie outside of Miami really took away the Vice. I mean it wasn't bad, just not great. I see this as being one of the first Blu-Ray/HD-DVD best-sellers, one reason because it was filmed in "HD".
I saw this last night and I agree with most everyone's centiment here except for I enjoyed the DV. To me it made it feel more realistic. The few action scenes that were in it were awesome because they were so raw and realistic. The gun shots sounded so real, like the gun shots you hear on the news from Iraq, not some hollywood sound effect gun shot. I did not think Collin Ferrell was that bad, they just focused on his character way too much. Jamie Foxx was good as usual, but wasn't in the movie enough. I like M. Mann's style, Collateral and Heat were badass flicks.
For those of you who have not seen Heat, you have to go see it. If for no other reason than because it had DeNiro and Pacino in it together. But its got to be one of the best movies I have ever seen. As for Miami Vice....I give it a 6 out of 10. Not great but something to do if you are bored.
