Miami Vice

noimposse

Just got back from seeing this "film".

My lord it was god awful. I honestly dont even know how to describe it, but I know they shouldnt have taken such the effort to release it.


Every shot looked like a really glamorous shot from the show COPS and the story was mind numbing at best....and thats whenever you could even follow it.


Just thought I would post my thoughts, and see how everyone else felt. I want my two and a half hours back.

avelanchefan

Oh man don't say that...this is about the only summer film I was interested in.

F1nut

Thanks for confirming what I had already suspected.

bobman1235

Yeah, I had pretty much written the same review in my head without ever going to see it. No thanks.

wingnut4772

I am not surprised at all.

Strong Bad

Let's see, a buddy-buddy cop movie going after drug lords.

Wow, that sure is original! :rolleyes:

I'll add this one to the list called "Steaming Stinkpile - Don't ever rent!"

Early B.

I don't know what's wrong with Hollywood. Next thing you know -- they'll be dumb enough to release another Rocky movie.

Ooops. Too late...

shack

Is this a suprise? Hollywood has a terrible track record of bad TV show adaptations. I can't think of many that are very good. But I can sure list a bunch that sucked:

Lost in Space (the best of the worst bunch IMO - still only average at best)
Starky and Hutch
The Avengers
The Twilight Zone
Bewitched
Dukes of Hazard
Wild Wild West
I Spy
Charlies Angels (after the babe factor is removed)
The Mod Squad
My Favorite Martian
Dragnet
The Untouchables
McHale's Navy (the Tom Arnold version)
Leave it to Beaver
Dennis the Menace (Walter Matthau helped...but)


Comic Book Movies do not count.

Cartoon Movies are a whole category unto themselves - some good...some not (a special mention HORRIBLE award goes to Rocky and Bullwinkle)

Ok after some thought I will have to give props to a few:

The Star Trek movies as a whole were pretty good (Especially the Wrath of Khan)
Serenity
The Muppet Movie
McHale's Navy (the Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway version)
Mystery Science Theater 3000

And a few that were ok but just average....

The Adams Family
Mission Impossible
Maverick

brettw22

I disagree with you on Untouchables (with Kevin Costner & Sean Connery). I liked that one.......others, true story.

MacLeod

I figured this would happen. I was holding out hope because I like both Colin Farrel and love Michael Mann's work and since he did the original Vice I thought he would do this justice.

However, the previews looked kind or poor and I absolutely hate Jamie Foxx so that sucked from the first but when I heard some stupid grunge band re-doing "In the Air Tonight", I knew it would suck.

My uncle, also a diehard Miami Vice fan saw this over the weekend and said it was just horrible. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being Raiders of the Lost Ark, he gave it a 0! Said it was very dark and depressing feeling. It didnt show Crockett's sail boat at all, nor Elvis. Castillo wasnt a soft spoken, mysterious badass hispanic, he's now a big fat black dude. Gena and Swytek (sp?) arent in it and the music sucks. No cool cars or scenery either.

I dont understand why Hippywood feels the need to make a popular TV show into a movie and then completely and totally redo everything so that it no longer resembles the TV show in the least?!?!

I didnt expect them to be wearing the hot pink sport coats and all but at least get Jan Hammer to do the soundtrack!

Ya know, Don Johnson aint that old and neither is the rest of the cast. I dont see why they couldnt have gotten them for the roll. At least get Edward James Olmos for Castillo! He ruled in that part!

millerman 3732

I was really looking foward to seeing this one but with all the negitive reveiws I geuss I'll wait til it comes out on DVD:(

MacLeod

I think Ill wait til it comes on FX.

millerman 3732

Aw now, come on it can't be that bad.......can it?

MacLeod

Its the principle of the thing.

For someone that grew up watching Miami Vice and worshipping the show then to have someone (even worse, the creator of the thing) come along and just trash it beyond all recognition, I just cant support that.

DarqueKnight

I enjoyed the original series and I will go to see this out of curiosity.

Edward James Olmos was asked to play Castillo and Jan Hammer was asked to write a new score for the film. Both of them declined participation in the new film. I speculate that Michael Mann only participated so that his creation would not be totally trashed by another writer and/or director with no sense of respect to the original series.

Michael Mann has received a lot of unfair criticism because he did not "stay true" to the original series. Although Michael Mann created the original series, he does not own the rights to it. He pretty much had to go in the direction that the franchise owners, Universal Studios, wanted him to. I realize that Universal studios is not interested in staying true to the original series. They are only interested in recouping their multi-million dollar investment in the shortest amount of time. The best way to do that is to make the movie appeal to the widest possible audience. The fan base of the original 1980's television series is probably not large enough to financially justify making a movie that appeals largely to them.

shack

DarqueKnight wrote:

The best way to do that is to make the movie appeal to the widest possible audience. The fan base of the original 1980's television series is probably not large enough to financially justify making a movie that appeals largely to them.

So their solution is to make a movie that appeals to....NO ONE? Good move. :rolleyes:

Kinda like doing a Star Trek movie that really doesn't appeal to Trekies.

shack

According to one article Miami Vice did $25.2M box office over the week-end beating out Dead Man's Chest at $20.5M (which has been out for a while). Seems like maybe they should have made a movie that appealed to the fans, since the younger crowd stayed away...

The movie was especially attractive to older audiences, with 62 percent of the audience over 30, according to the studio's exit polling.

DarqueKnight

shack wrote:

Kinda like doing a Star Trek movie that really doesn't appeal to Trekies.

That's a good example. The first Star Trek movie and most of the subsequent ones were huge disappointments to fans of the original series. Paramount essentially took the original series fans for granted and attempted to "appeal to a broader demographic". The only one of the Star Trek movies with the original series cast that was well received and well respected by Trekies was "Wrath of Khan", which was a follow up to one of the original series episodes.

Andrew2112

Thank you for saving me the $30...(2 tix,popcorn,soda..)

Danny Tse

I think the problem is that the TV series "Miami Vice" was such an iconic show that any remake w/o the original cast members just doesn't do it for the fans. Same situation with Star Trek. Let's face it....mention Don Johnson and we think of "Miami Vice", not "Nash Bridges". Same with Edward James Olmos, who will always be associated with his character Castillo. Believe me, 2 months from now, no one will remember "Miami Vice" the movie version. However, the TV version will always be there.

I cringe when I think of the upcoming "Magnum PI" movie, which will not have Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum.

capecodder

Wow, I just finished reading Peter Travers review from Rolling Stone about an hour ago. He loved it (3.5/4 stars) I'll give it a go since the big screen will still be better viewing than my small screen.

noimposse

MacLeod wrote:

but when I heard some stupid grunge band re-doing "In the Air Tonight", I knew it would suck.

Ouch man. Are you refering to the Nonpoint cover? That cover was done two or three years ago and had nothing to do with the movie. And honestly, its one of the better covers I have ever heard.

And christ, grunge band? Hasnt grunge been dead for years? Nonpoint is just a modern rock band that has a real passion for music. Theyre great live.

millerman 3732

I'm pretty sure that the song was on the coach carter sound track a couple of years ago

Toxis

yeah I really hope Nonpoint wasn't the band mentioned above...

as for the movie, I'm not surprised. I figured it'd be yet another f-up by Hollywood. There's no purpose in going to the movies these days. So let me get this straight. Hollywood puts out complete crap for movies and no one goes. Therefore to make money off it, they have to raise the ticket prices which in turn make people stay away even more because the movies suck. Now the tickets have to keep going up in price due to the fact they're losing money on being open. It's funny how it's a vicious cycle that just won't end anytime soon. Seriously, Miami Vice? Who honestly thought they'd do a good job with Hollywood's history as of late?

KrazyMofo24

I really liked the movie...I guess because I just turned 21, and was too young to follow it when it was on the air. I liked the camera angles, just like in Collateral I thought it made it more realistic. The movie got good reviews, I liked the actors in the movie. If you compare it to the movies that have came out the past two years, its not that bad in terms of entertainment.

shack

KrazyMofo24 wrote:

The movie got good reviews

Some good...some bad.

Movie Reviews: 'Miami Vice'
28 July 2006 (StudioBriefing)
The movie may be titled Miami Vice, and it may be directed by Michael Mann, who was responsible for the original TV series, and its characters have the names Crockett and Tubbs and the same skin color -- but aside from that, there's little in the movie that resembles the hit television series of the 1980s, critics point out. Richard Roeper, substituting for his ailing TV colleague Roger Ebert, writes in the Chicago Sun-Times that the movie left him "confused and frustrated. ... There were moments when I had very little idea of who was buying what drugs at what point from whom, and for that matter why anyone was doing what he or she was doing." Likewise, Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer calls the film "an atmospheric muddle." Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News writes unenthusiastically: "Miami Vice is the last of the predicted summer blockbusters, and it delivers a reasonable amount of popcorn excitement. But if nostalgia for the TV show is the source of your interest, expect some disappointment." And Lisa Kennedy in the Denver Post comments, "The film ... promises more than it ever delivers. Granted, it can look cool. But more often, as we wait for the lightning that never arrives, it frustrates." Many of the reviews compare the style of the movie (several critics opine that the movie is all style) with that of the TV series. "The TV series was noted for pastel color schemes, Don Johnson's narcissistic slickness and Philip Michael Thomas' piercing-eyed charisma," writes Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News."The movie's style is completely different, one that's suited to the relatively bleak 2000s." And Scott Bowles concludes in USA Today: "For all its big hair, dizzying pastels and unbuttoned, hairy chests, the TV show had joy and humor to it. All this movie has in common with its ancestor are speedboats, shotguns and drug-dealing Colombians."

bobman1235

KrazyMofo24 wrote:

The movie got good reviews,

46% at Rotten Tomatoes which is a conglomerate of all reviewers. So it seems just about split down the middle.

Ron-P

The moive opened with an 86% on RT. In less then a week it dropped to the 46%. This moive looks just bad, no way will I even bother with a rental.

shack

I will probably rent it when it comes out....just because.

Demiurge

I never pay attention to what the critics have to say anyhow. I'll NetFlix it.

MacLeod

capecodder wrote:

Wow, I just finished reading Peter Travers review from Rolling Stone about an hour ago. He loved it (3.5/4 stars) I'll give it a go since the big screen will still be better viewing than my small screen.

That settles it! It definitely sucks!

Rolling Stone is the worst excuse for a rag magazine on Earth. Not even good enough to line a bird cage.

noimposse wrote:

Ouch man. Are you refering to the Nonpoint cover? That cover was done two or three years ago and had nothing to do with the movie. And honestly, its one of the better covers I have ever heard.

Its different for me because I grew up on the original version of the song and the TV show and to have it screwed up by some GRUNGE band buggs me.

And christ, grunge band? Hasnt grunge been dead for years? Nonpoint is just a modern rock band that has a real passion for music. Theyre great live.

Yeah, Im sure there a modern band but they pretty much all sound like grunge bands now. Whiney lyrics and vocals, horrible drumming where the "drummer" simply rides the crash cymbal thru the whole song and the guitarist simply strums an open chord. Yeah, Nirvana may be old school, but with the exception of Nickleback, Korn, Tool and maybe a couple others, they all sound like grunge.