Not the film we were promised but no shame either, Miami Vice is loaded with just enough thrills and spills to keep us glued to our seats.
Miami Vice (2006)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:186
Fresh:88
Rotten:98
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Miami Vice is beautifully shot but the lead characters lack the charisma of their TV series counterparts, and the underdeveloped story is well below the standards of Michael Mann's better films.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for strong violence, language and some sexual content
Runtime: 2 hrs 26 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:04-08-2006
Synopsis: The cocaine cowboys of the '80s are gone, but Miami's Casablanca allure, the undercover cops and the attitudes of Michael Mann's culturally influential television series have been enhanced by time... The cocaine cowboys of the '80s are gone, but Miami's Casablanca allure, the undercover cops and the attitudes of Michael Mann's culturally influential television series have been enhanced by time in the feature film version of Miami Vice. Ricardo Tubbs (Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx of Ray, Jarhead) is urbane and dead smart. He lives with Bronx-born intel analyst Trudy, played by British actress Naomie Harris (28 Days Later, upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean II and III), as they work undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida to identify a group responsible for three murders. Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell of S.W.A.T., The New World) ]to the untrained eye, his presentation may seem unorthodox, but procedurally he is sound] is charismatic and flirtatious until-while undercover working with the supplier of the South Florida group-he gets romantically entangled with Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban wife of an arms and drugs trafficker. Isabella is played by the Chinese actress Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern, Memoirs of a Geisha). The best undercover identity is oneself with the volume turned up and restraint unplugged. The intensity of this case pushes Crockett and Tubbs out onto the edge where identity and fabrication become blurred, where cop and player become one-especially for Crockett in his romance with Isabella and for Tubbs in the provocation of an assault on those he loves. Miami Vice, as a large-scale feature film, liberates what is adult, dangerous and alluring about working deeply undercover...especially when Crockett and Tubbs go to where their badges don't count... Miami Vice stars Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris and Ciarán Hinds and is written and directed by Michael Mann, who also produces along with Pieter Jan Brugge; Anthony Yerkovich serves as executive producer. -- © Universal Pictures [More]
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Justin Theroux, Ciaran Hinds, Luis Tosar, Barry Shabaka Henley, John Ortiz
Director: Michael Mann
Director: Michael Mann
Screenwriter: Anthony Yerkovich, Michael Mann
Producer: Michael Mann, Pieter Jan Brugge
Composer: John Murphy
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Miami Vice
Many critics have found in Mann's films an excess of macho bluster. I can only say his power and exuberant self-belief expose the indentikit dullness of a hundred other meagre film-makers working with similar material.
A highly-influential TV show winds up as a decent but flawed movie and the hunt for a truly great 2006 summer blockbuster continues.
Bearing all the Mann hallmarks, this is visually enthralling, relentlessly stylish crime drama. A little too languorous for its own good at times, but still vastly superior entertainment.
Farrell is superb as Crockett, even managing to avoid being out-acted by his ridiculous moustache, and his scenes with Gong Li (whose English accent sadly hasn't improved since Memoirs of a Geisha) generate real chemistry.
Michael Mann has come a long way since his days supervising Miami Vice on TV, and it's fascinating to watch a filmmaker of such extraordinary ability working a slice of pure cheesecake like this.
Perhaps the first Michael Mann film to almost completely lack a human element; or rather, the human element it possesses is thin and unconvincing.
Michael Mann ridiculously attempts to inflate an episode of his '80s TV show into a feature length ballad of undercover ennui, lust and bloody intimidation.
[The punchy] theatrical opening... doesn't so much lead viewers into the film as it injects them.
The Foxx-Farrell pairing can best be summed up by the first real Crockett-Tubbs scene in the film: on the rooftop of a club, on the phone... having separate conversations. The two share the frame and the on-set air but nothing else.
Michael Mann seems to have set out to extricate everything that made the show fun and original.
No chemistry, no cool, no compelling characters, no air of urgency. Just a very average crime caper which fails to entertain the viewer on a gut, cerebral or superficial level. Not exactly your father's Miami Vice.
Latest News for Miami Vice
September 17, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Nick Love
Nick Love isn't known for heart. The film which earned him his "From the director of..." title card, The Football Factory, is nothing if not violent, loud and not particularly... More...
August 02, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Bourne Comes Home To Reclaim Box Office Title
Matt Damon aims to gun down his competitors and rule the North American box office this weekend with The Bourne Ultimatum, the third in the popular spy series, which opens on... More...
July 26, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Mmmmmmmmmmm Box Office Feast!
Bart, Lisa, and the whole gang from Springfield will charge into multiplexes across North America and much of the world this weekend in the highly anticipated animated comedy... More...
February 02, 2007:
RT-UK Exclusive: Win Tickets to the BAFTAs!
The hottest event in the British film calendar, the Orange British Academy Film Awards, takes place in London on Sunday 11th February. With more stars than the night sky dressed... More...
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 67% 67% | Public Enemies |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 95% 95% | The Cove |
| 85% 85% | World's Greatest Dad |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Miami Vice at Rotten Tomatoes
- Miami Vice at IGN
- Miami Vice at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

