Miami Vice: where's the kitsch..?

I am disappointed, nay utterly disappointed. I saw the trailer for the new Michael Mann film the other day, Miami Vice. It certainly not what I expected and surely, it is an offence under trade description legislation…?

What, no kitsch?! No Armani suits? Mullets? White socks? Loafers? Shoulder pads? And no soundtrack by Jan Hammer. Michael Mann, has committed a heinous crime by updating Miami Vice for 2006. Nooo waaay!

How can you have an updated version of Miami Vice? It was so stuck in the 80s and that’s for sure. And especially so as Mann helped devise and write for the original. It is kinda unrecognisable. It stars Colin Farrell (shaggy greasy hairstyle…not sexy Col) and Jamie Foxx as the undercover cops, Crocket and Tubbs. It has this mean, edgy and moody look about it, there’s that monochrome feel coupled with heighten chiaroscuro. Not the original Miami Vice by any stretch of the imagination.

I like Michael Mann and in his previous work he has a tendency to convey urban sprawl realistically (repeating it for the updated version of Miami Vice). Collateral is the only film I have really liked which featured grinning Cheshire cat, Tom Cruise. Mann does remake his films such as L.A. Takedown, which became Heat (though I prefer the former myself, Heat did have Al Pacino and Robert de Niro) and I believe that Manhunter is better than Silence of the Lambs (Brian Cox gives an understated and credible performance as Hannibal Lector as opposed to the later theatrics by Anthony Hopkins). And The Insider is the only film I have liked which stared Russell Crowe (well... yeah and LA Confidential, I suppose). Though Mann's characterisation and development of women in his films frankly...suck!

But I don’t know, in saying that, I will probably watch the damn movie and sit there, arms folded, muttering, “Where’s Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson’s cameo roles then”? I’ll end up liking it, I know I will….

Update: Finally able to upload pic of the original though Blogger (has better taste than me) was resisting attempts to do so.