Miami Vice

There’s not much Miami but loads of vice in Michael Mann’s big-screen adaptation of the 80s TV series he created with Anthony Yerkovichin particular the vice of a gifted director letting his talent go to seed. The pacing and proportion of Heat (1995) and the feeling for place and character evident in Collateral (2004) have been tossed aside for a routine plot in which vice cops Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx pose as drug dealers. Mann creates some arresting ‘Scope compositions, but he’s so addicted to close-ups here, especially erotic ones involving Gong Li (hot) and Farrell (not), that he tends to neglect their visual contexts. Apart from a few sleek shots involving boats or helicopters, the action eventually devolves into a standard war-movie shoot-out. With Naomie Harris. R, 135 min. (JR)

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