Whenever I think of the name of this movie I think of two things. The first is S.W.A.T. (dun na na, na na na, na na naaa), don’t know why, it helps that they have the same leading actor I suppose. The second thing I think of is The Wedding Singer
-Glenn, won’t you miss Miami Vice?
-Nope! Summer, re-runs. I’m all set.”
The movie was okaaaay. Hubby liked it but Dan, Amy and I thought it was bit slow. There was a lot of long shots of planes flying and boats motoring, which were very pretty and could be considered good cinematography but it wasn’t what I expected. It felt like they didn’t have enough dialogue to fill out two hours of their storyline. Speaking of dialogue, I couldn’t understand half of what was said in the first part of the movie. Was Colin Farrell trying too hard to cover up that sexy Irish accent (if he still has it) or was he being a tough-guy-cop and muttering? It could have been that they were using a lot of street slang that I didn’t know; the slang subsided through the movie but the muttering kept going, I think I got used to it.
Back to the cinematography, there were a lot of out-of-focus shots. They weren’t bad some of them were quite good; I’m not sure what the purpose of them was. Maybe it was that the shots themselves needed to be made more interesting by blurring them up, they could have been more time filler/storyline exposition like the aforementioned panning shots, or maybe they were trying to give the idea of a real life camera being there in the midst of the action where it’s not always steady or in focus.
The relationship development between the two main characters (Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell) and their women was good. They were both faithful and protective of them, it was sweet not sappy, and the sequences where Foxx’s character (Detective Ricardo Tubbs) saves his girly from imminent death is awesome!
The soundtrack was excellent! I would definitely consider buying it.
The last action scene is pretty sweet too. There wasn’t a big string of action scenes, which I’d expected there to be. It was actually good, they were trying to do more with the movie than brainless explosions. The more I think about the movie, the more I like it. I give it a 3.5/5.
thanks for doing the review! I meant to watch it but somehow didn’t get to it. I was a big fan of the TV series and am interested to see how it compares. I read that Michael Mann (the producer) purposely did it differently as he has the freedom to do it now without the restrictions he had when he did the TV version the 80s. I like the song that they played in the previews -its a rap genre. Not sure whether it is the theme song or not but I have been wanting to buy the soundtrack because of that one song. I couldn’t find it in stores and on itunes (months ago) but I am sure it is out now. Now you said that the soundtrack is good, I might actually go out and buy it.