"Miami Vice": A shadow of its former self

It would take just a single mullet sighting and maybe a pastel jacket to bring the whole operation down with some audience snickers.

So writer-director Michael Mann went the other way with the big-screen version of his '80s TV show, "Miami Vice": no bright colors, no swagger, no banter, no fun cameos with the original stars (if anyone could even find Philip Michael Thomas), no reprise of Jan Hammer's machine-gun theme.

Which raises the question: Why bother? Especially if you were already unclear why anyone thought the movie, starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as cops Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs, was a good idea.

Here's why: It's a smart, serious, adult crime thriller with a dark look and ruthless action; and the adrenaline buzz of Mann's sure-handed craftsmanship may distract you from the presence of mere trace elements of character and plot.

Movie review

Showtimes and trailer

"Miami Vice" with Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciarán Hinds, Justin Theroux, Barry Shabaka Henley. Written and directed by Michael Mann. 132 minutes. Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexual content. Several theaters.

There's a boilerplate plot: Detectives Crockett and Tubbs pose as drug runners to infiltrate a vicious South American cartel after a leak causes the death of an informant buddy ("Deadwood's" John Hawkes) and some undercover feds. In the process, they must stand down powerful drug lord Montoya (Luis Tosar) and his nasty middleman Yero (John Ortiz). True to the boilerplate, Sonny risks Getting In Too Deep (cops don't dig adverbs) as he gets involved with Montoya's lovely assistant, Isabella (Gong Li). A concerned Tubbs tells Crockett, "There's undercover, and there's 'Which way is up?' "

Mann remade his 1989 TV movie, "L.A. Takedown," for the big screen in 1995, and the result was the immortal "Heat." But unlike that or "Collateral," which earned Foxx an Oscar nomination, "Vice" is no showcase for the two great leads. Farrell, sporting longish hair, a porno mustache and soul patch, and Foxx, with cropped hair and a goatee, don't get the chance to display the mutual charisma in this hyper-procedural that would make a great buddy flick. The talk (and exposition) are so rapid-fire and low that if you don't listen closely you'll barely know what's going on but for the shooting.

It's as if Mann wanted so much to avoid leaving even the remotest chance for nostalgia-trip mockery that he downplayed everything a little too much, and the result barely resembles the TV show. Instead, his shorthand finds Tubbs backing up Crockett against a weaselly fed ("Rome's" Ciarán Hinds), then telling his partner with utmost sincerity, "I will never doubt you."

Although the show is preposterously dated now and the stuff of clichés, it was groundbreakingly dark for TV when it premiered in 1984. The "Miami Vice" film won't have that impact, but it's as slick a ride as one of Crockett's cigarette boats. When Mann settles in for a high-speed night chase, a tense standoff with a live grenade, or a complex and brutal shootout, there's no one better to have in the driver's seat.

Mark Rahner: 206-464-8259 or mrahner@seattletimes.com