Miami Vice (2006) Miami Vice
A crime drama written and directed by Michael Mann, based on his own 1984 television series. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star as undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, who infiltrate a drug trafficking organization while navigating the blurred lines between their professional roles and personal lives. Shot on high-definition digital video by Dion Beebe, the film strips the pastel glamour of the original series down to a nocturnal, texture-heavy procedural that plays more like a Michael Mann mood piece than a franchise adaptation.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Director/Writer | Michael Mann |
| Stars | Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciarán Hinds |
| Composer | John Murphy |
| Cinematographer | Dion Beebe |
| Editors | William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell |
| Production Companies | Forward Pass, Michael Mann Productions |
| Distributor | Universal Pictures |
| Budget | ~$135 million |
| Box Office | ~$164 million (worldwide) |
| Release Date | July 28, 2006 |
| Running Time | 132 minutes (theatrical) / 140 minutes (director's cut) |
| MPAA Rating | R |
| Filmed In | Miami, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Paraguay |
Key Pages
- Plot Summary (Miami Vice) — section-by-section retelling of the story
- 40 Beats (Miami Vice) — 40-beat structural breakdown mapped to Yorke five-act model
- Cast and Characters (Miami Vice) — key characters, arcs, and cast
- Themes and Analysis (Miami Vice) — thematic arguments sourced from critics, academics, filmmakers
- Critical Reception and Legacy (Miami Vice) — contemporary and retrospective critical response
- Production History (Miami Vice) — how the film was made
- Physical Media Releases (Miami Vice) — home video history
Cast & Performances
- Colin Farrell (Miami Vice) — performance, undercover training, addiction during the shoot
- Jamie Foxx (Miami Vice) — pitching the film, Oscar-era dynamics, the Dominican Republic departure
- Gong Li (Miami Vice) — Isabella as a woman who chose her situation with full awareness
Director & Craft
- Michael Mann (Miami Vice) — research, digital commitment, ambivalence about the compromised ending
- Dion Beebe — Thomson Viper cinematography, four months of camera testing, single-source lighting
- John Murphy (Miami Vice) — score and licensed soundtrack as emotional architecture
Key Sequences
- The Opening in the Club — the in medias res nightclub plunge
- The Havana Trip — speedboat to Cuba, mojitos, Mogwai's "Auto Rock"
- The Trailer Park Rescue — Trudy's extraction and Crockett's brainstem threat
- The Shipyard Shootout — the compromised finale at Bojean shipyard
Analysis & Context
- Digital Cinema and the HD Aesthetic — the Viper's properties as philosophical argument
- The TV-to-Film Adaptation — Mann's radical break from the television series
- Mann's Procedural Realism — embedded research and competence as character
- The Director's Cut vs. Theatrical — 26 altered scenes, two versions, no definitive answer
- Miami and the Caribbean Corridor — four countries, three hurricanes, one film