Miami Vice

I went to see the Miami Vice premiere Wednesday with a friend and man was I surprised! I’ll admit I didn’t care much for the TV show, so I was expecting very little in terms of this movie. I’d seen the trailer but I didn’t think too much of it either. I was expecting a cheesy retro 80s flashback to rolled-up sleeves and shoes with no socks, but instead got to see a very stylish and gritty cop show.

The movie starts out with Sonny (Colin Farrell) and Rico (Jamie Foxx) working a sting on a pimp who uses a nightclub to solicit business. Just as they are about to bust the bad guy, they get a call from an old informant who tells them that his cover is blown and the meet he set-up tonight is going bad. Sonny calls the FBI but it’s already too late. The FBI guys get blown away and very quickly Sonny and Rico are forced undercover to find out what went wrong and to set things right. The story gets a bit muddled here and the original bad guys (white supremacists) disappear and are replaced by a Columbian drug lord and his cronies.

Fortunately, Michael Mann deprives us of cheesy 80s clothing and style and instead updates everything for the 21^st century. Hot new cars, boats and planes are used every few minutes, as well as plenty of high-tech firepower. While the story stumbles in the middle, the action sequences are excellent (they kind of reminded me of Heat – a Michael Mann classic) and the acting is very good. Farrell and Foxx are worthy replacements for Don Johnson and the other guy. There are also plenty of ruthless, unsavory chaps and beautiful ladies to round out the cast.

It was much better than I expected and I think it should do well. If this was called anything other than Miami Vice, I expect it would be considered one of the best cop/buddy action movies in the past several years. Because of the title, some people will go in expecting to see a cheesy copy of the TV show and might come away disappointed, but don’t let the title deceive you, it’s a good movie and well worth seeing in the afternoon to escape the summer heat.

9 out of 10

The Matador

After almost a decade as James Bond, Pierce Bronson returns as an assassin (Julian) in the Matador. While on a job in Mexico, he bumps into businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) in a hotel bar.

They get to talking and eventually form a friendship of sorts. Six months later, Julian appears on Danny’s doorstep in the middle of the night needing help. The only question is will Danny help or not.

This is by far one of the best roles Brosnan has ever done and he is both charming and despicable at the same time as Julian Noble. He has some of the best one-liners in a long time, such as “I’d only be interested in your mother if she lost 20 pounds and 30 years” and “I look like a Bangkok hooker on a Sunday morning, after the navy's left town” to name a couple.

Brosnan proves there is life after Bond and creates a wonderful character in Julian Noble, much like Johhny Depp did with Jack Sparrow. Gone are the Armani suits and sauve style, in are cowboy boots and a cheesy 70s pornstar mustache. Despite Julian’s job “facilitator of fatality”, the character is likable and funny. Kinnear does a good job as the quintessential ‘nice guy who’s down on his luck’ and befriends Julian, despite his character flaws.

This was the best independent film I’ve seen in a long time.

10 out of 10