Miami Vice (film)

Miami Vice
Directed by	Michael Mann
Written by	Michael Mann
Produced by	Michael Mann Pieter Jan Brugge
Starring	Jamie Foxx Colin Farrell Gong Li
Cinematography	Dion Beebe
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release dates	July 28, 2006
Language	English
Budget	$135 million (estimated)

Miami Vice is a 2006 American feature film adaptation of the 1980s TV series of the same name, written, produced, and directed by Michael Mann, the TV show's executive producer. The film stars Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell as Tubbs and Crockett, as well as acclaimed Chinese actress Gong Li as the banker and right-hand woman of a powerful Colombian druglord.

Cast

Actor	Role
Colin Farrell	Detective James "Sonny" Crockett/Sonny Burnett
Jamie Foxx	Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs/Rico Cooper
Gong Li	Isabella
Luis Tosar	Arcangel de Jesus Montoya
Naomie Harris	Detective Trudy Joplin
Elizabeth Rodriguez	Detective Gina Calabrese
Justin Theroux	Detective Larry Zito
Ciarán Hinds	FBI Agent Fujima
Barry Shabaka Henley	Lieutenant Martin Castillo
Domenick Lombardozzi	Detective Stan Switek
Isaach De Bankolé	Neptune
João Barreira	Jack
John Ortiz	Jose "Cochi Loco" Yero

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler The movie opens in a night club on an upper story in a Miami high rise. Detectives James 'Sonny' Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx), along with their partners Trudy Joplin (Naomie Harris), Larry Zito (Justin Theroux), and Gina Calabrese (Elizabeth Rodriguez), are mingling in the club, obviously waiting for something to happen or someone to arrive. While waiting, Sonny orders a drink and flirts with the Portuguese bartender. Outside, two white Range Rovers pull up to the club and out jumps a 15-person entourage of thuggish men and scantily clad women, led by Neptune (Isaach De Bankole). The entourage skips the line, enters the club, and once inside Neptune approaches undercover Detective Stan Switek (Dominick Lombardozzi). It seems Neptune is a pimp, and he offers his ladies' services to Switek. Switek notices one of the prostitutes looks shaken and upset, but Neptune explains that she is feeling a little sick. Switek takes two of the prostitutes to an elevator, while Neptune and the thugs take the other ladies, including the upset prostitute, in the other direction. Tubbs sees the upset prostitute being handled roughly, and begins to follow her with Sonny right behind. One of the thugs get in Tubbs way, but Tubbs quickly dispatches him. Some more thugs begin attacking Tubbs and Sonny, but the detectives easily beat them up. However, Neptune and the upset prostitute make it to an exit. Meanwhile, Zito and Calabrese are using a cellphone to watch a live video of Switek undressing with the prostitutes.

Sonny's pursuit is then interrupted by a phone call. Sonny walks out to a balcony to hear the call better. It turns out to be Alonzo Stevens (John Hawkes), a former informant who worked with Sonny and Tubbs. Hawkes is frantic and driving very fast. He tells Sonny that a deal is about to go very bad, but he didn't give up Sonny's name, and he wants him to look out for Lucianna, who is apparently Steven's wife. Sonny asks for more details but Hawkes is too frantic and states he needs to make a quick stop at home. Tubbs joins Sonny on the balcony, and Sonny tells him that the Neptune problem will have to wait. Sonny then calls the FBI and gets on the line with Agent Fujima (Ciaran Hinds). He asks Fujima if the informant Stevens had been working on any cases for the FBI, and Fujima explains that Stevens was indeed working on a case and some inside men were currently in the process of making a deal. Sonny tells Fujima that he believes these men's cover had been blown and asks if these men had any back up, to which Fujima replies no. At the same time, Tubbs tries calling Lucianna at Steven's house but only gets the answering machine. We get a glimpse inside Steven's house while the message is being recorded and see an assassin looking through the fridge.

The movie then cuts to the drug deal in question, which is taking place next to the water. The two FBI men get out of their car and approach a group of drug dealers. The leader of the dealers, Coleman (Tom Towles), tells the two men that they have all the drugs they need. There is a drug for money swap, and the two FBI men return to their car with the bag of drugs. Right before they get to the car, Coleman yells to them, "How long have you been working for the FBI?" The two men realize their cover is blown and try to get in their car and drive away. Unfortunately the dealers have two snipers on a boat with very large caliber weapons, specifically two M82 rifles. These snipers, as well as the rest of the dealers, begin firing and completely obliterate the Agents inside their car.

The movie cuts back to Sonny and Tubbs who are trying to catch up with Stevens. The rest of the squad is in a helicopter overhead helping the two detectives find Stevens. They eventually find him and pull him over on to the side of the freeway. They begin questioning Stevens, who explains he was working with some FBI men but was forced to give them up. Apparently the FBI was compromised, Stevens was revealed as an informant, and the drug dealers forced Stevens to identify the FBI men. Stevens reiterates that he never mentioned Sonny or Tubbs. Stevens, however, is very afraid for his wife and needs to get home to check on her. Tubbs explains that the police have already been sent there. The movie cuts to Steven's house where we see police finding a dead body. We then cut back to Tubbs, who gets a phone call explaining that the bad guys already made it to Steven's house. Tubbs tells Stevens it is too late to go home. Sonny and Tubbs stare at Stevens, trying to look sympathetic. Stevens get very upset, turns towards the freeway, and walks right in to path of an oncoming truck, turning himself into a bloody streak on the asphalt.

Sonny and Tubbs begin driving over to Stevens' house, but before they get there, their superior, Lieutenant Martin Castillo (Barry Shabaka Henley) tells them to turn around and meet them at a designated location. Sonny and Tubbs get there, and are met by Castillo and Agent Fujima. Agent Fujima introduces himself as the man on the phone earlier. Fujima explains to Sonny and Tubbs that the FBI was trying to infiltrate an Aryan Brotherhood drug ring, but somehow the FBI's undercover operations were compromised. Since the FBI can no longer trust its own undercover operations, they need to enlist an outside undercover operation, namely Miami Vice! Sonny and Tubbs agree to do it, and they then begin to discuss the Aryan Brotherhood's operation, and how they can infiltrate it. It is explained that the Aryan Brotherhood picks up drugs that are transported from a South American cartel, and the best way to get in is to get involved with the transportation of the drugs.

Before they split, Fujima agrees to temporarily deputize Sonny and Tubbs, effectively making them FBI.

Later, Sonny, Tubbs and Castillo are watching some infrared video of two super cool speedboats traveling from Haiti to Miami. The two boats are traveling right next to each other, so that they look like one blip on the radar. The group decides they need to take over this route.

Cut to a dock, where Sonny, Tubbs and their squad are donning ski masks and loading their weapons. They then burst in to a small warehouse full of drugs and take away all the men inside. They then go out onto the dock and throw grenades into two super cool speedboats, blowing them up.

Cut to a fancy apartment where the squad meets up with Nicholas (Eddie Marsan), an informant who had helped the squad in the past. They tell Nicholas they want to set up a meeting with the South American cartel. Nicholas is reluctant, until Trudy reminds him that he is rich because of them and if they wanted to they could cause him some serious trouble. Nicholas is nervous but agrees.

Back at someone's house, Tubbs is taking a shower. In steps Trudy, revealing that the two of them have an amorous relationship. There is a bit of soap lathering but nothing else.

Later, out in the living room, Sonny, Tubbs and Trudy start talking. Trudy explains that a new identity will be created for Sonny and Tubbs, and that the drug dealers will be able to access that identity.

Later, Tubbs jumps in bed with Trudy and they have sex.

We cut to Haiti, where a bunch of people are passing around a USB flash drive. The flash drive eventually ends up in the hands of Jose Yero (John Ortiz), who downloads it contents, which turns out to be Sonny and Tubbs' new false identities. Apparently Yero was checking into these guys and the new false identities worked.

The squad flies down to Haiti to meet with Yero. They end up in a really seedy part of town, where everyone is carrying guns. They meet Yero in a basement with a bunch of thugs. Also there is Isabella (Li Gong), watching the events go down. Sonny and Tubbs sit down with Yero, and Yero asks what kind of operation Sonny and Tubbs run, and what kind of jobs have they pulled in the past. Tubbs acts offended, and explains that Yero must have looked up this kind of information before and he didn't expect an interview. Yero explains that he is a real bad ass, and is referred to as the cerdo loco, or crazy pig. He gets real aggressive and all the thugs start pulling out their guns. At the same time Sonny pulls out a hand grenade and pulls the pin. Sonny explains that they can all die or they can all make some money. Yero explains he is actually counter intelligence for the operation and wanted to know what kind of people Sonny and Tubbs were. Yero tells them to wait at a hotel for further word. On the way out Sonny and Isabella exchange glances.

Sonny and Tubbs wait at the hotel, receive a phone call and head to the given location. After waiting four hours they decide they've waited long enough. They return to the hotel room where somehow Yero and Isabella and all the thugs are waiting. Next, we see Sonny and Tubbs driven in a car. Sonny remarks that he has reception but no service, meaning his cell phone is being jammed. Tubbs says that there are as hi tech as the American army in Baghdad. Sonny and Tubbs are then brought to a convoy of SUV's. Isabella gets in to one of the cars, and Sonny and Tubbs soon enter the same car. Inside they meet Jesus Montaya (John Cortiz), the head of the cartel, who is seated in the back seat of the car with Isabella. Montaya tells them he has agreed to use them as transporters, but he expects results not a service. He also tells them that they will never see him again, and he wishes their families well. Sonny and Isabella exchange more glances.

We cut to a South American jungle where a native looking dude throws a bale of what is apparently drugs into a plane where Sonny takes it and stows it away. With Tubbs flying, they take off with the drugs. The drug plane flies next to another plane so as to look like one blip on the radar. Apparently the rest of the transportation is uneventful.

Sonny calls Yero and tells him the drugs were delivered but there were complications along the way. Yero and Isabella meet Sonny, Tubbs, and the rest of the squad at a run down house. Sonny makes up a story that during the course of the drug run, another group of drug runners tried to steal their shipment. They were able to handle these pirates, and in the process they recovered another large stash of drugs. Sonny shows Yero the stash they recovered, and Yero recognizes the drugs as the stash that had been stolen earlier. Yero is suspicious, but Sonny and Tubbs play it off, even though they had in fact stolen it originally, and threaten to go sell it to someone else.

Later, in a much fancier house, Yero and Isabella ask Sonny how much they want for the recovered drug stash. Sonny says they can have it for free, and to consider it an investment. In return, Isabella agrees to give them another shipment. Isabella stands and leaves, but Sonny decides to follow her out while Yero and Tubbs work out the details. Sonny asks Isabella if he can buy her a drink. She asks him what kind of drink he likes and he says Mojitos. She then looks at Sonny's speedboat and asks if it is fast. He says it is and she tells him she knows of a place.

Once in the boat, Sonny discovers that Isabella is not married to Montaya, and that she is a business woman. Isabella explains that the place she had in mind is in Cuba, where her Chinese mother raised her. Sonny says he can't get in with his passport but Isabella explains she has connections. Sonny then buckles her seat belt for her and begins driving his boat really fast. They end up in Cuba, where they drink their Mojitos. They talk for a while, flirting, and then begin to dance. They really get it to and then we cut to the hotel room where they have sex. Apparently the sex is so great it makes Isabella cry. In the morning, they begin talking business, and Sonny convinces Isabella to let them be percentage partners in the shipments instead of flat fee carriers. During breakfast, they discuss how their relationship could never last.

Sonny meets up with Tubbs, Castillo, and Agent Fujima. Fujima wants to bring down the Aryan Brotherhood but Sonny wants to keep the operation going so they can bring down Montaya as well. Fujima and Sonny get in a heated argument over it, and since Sonny has the leverage he eventually wins out. After Castillo and Fujima leave, Tubbs questions Sonny's motives, and points out that there is deep cover and then there is which way is up.

Later back in South America, Isabella and Montaya are sitting on a bed talking. Isabella tells Montaya she slept with Sonny. She also explains the partnership deal. Montaya seems reluctant, and suggests killing them instead. Isabella tells him to do what he feels is best, and Montaya then backs off and agrees to try the partnership deal. Montaya then begins kissing Isabella and the two of them begin making out.

We then cut to a club in Haiti where Sonny and Tubbs have come to met Yero. Sonny walks in with Isabella and Tubbs walks in with Trudy. The club belongs to Yero, who explains that he is a disco kid. Yero explains the upcoming shipment, which is to be delivered by boat to the Aryan Brotherhood. After the meeting, they all go out to dance. Yero watches, with apparent jealousy, as Sonny and Isabella start dancing and are obviously super infatuated with each other.

After they dance, Sonny and Isabella go for a walk where Sonny asks Isabella if she has an insurance plan in case something bad happens.

Sonny and Tubbs and the rest of the squad (except Trudy) begin loading drugs from a freighter onto some speedboats. Meanwhile, Trudy is returning from the grocery store and entering her house when she is attacked and kidnapped by a bunch of Aryan Brotherhood thugs. They take her to a meth lab and tie her up, and she hears a jet plane fly overhead. One of the thugs calls Sonny and lets him hear Trudy, who in the few seconds she has mentions a white trash trailer park and airplanes. Coleman then talks to Sonny and explains that the drop has to be executed in a very specific manner at a specific bridge, to which Sonny agrees.

The squad realizes that the Aryan Brotherhood will probably kill Trudy anyway, but not until they get the drugs. They enlist Castillo to get in a helicopter and look at trailer parks around the airport, specifically for a trailer with some big antennas on it. They take their speedboats up a river towards the bridge, but before they get there they drop off Sonny, Tubbs, and Calabrese. Zito and Switek continue on in the boats, very slowly to give them time.

Castillo, in his chopper, finds the specific trailer. Sonny, Tubbs, and Calabrese, heavily armed, descend on the trailer. Sonny takes out a sentry while Calabrese pokes a scope under the trailer to take a look inside and see Trudy. Tubbs grabs a pizza box from the trash and knocks on the door. One of the rednecks opens the door and is pulled out and knocked out by Tubbs. Tubbs and Calabrese jump in and fight two of the other rednecks and Tubbs shoots one of them in the head. A fourth redneck grabs a detonator that is attached to a bomb around Trudy's neck. He claims that if he is shot he will press the button and the bomb will go off. Calabrese counters that if she shoots him right below the medulla his brain won't realise he's been and shot nd thus will not detonate the bomb. He does nothing, and she asks if he believes her or not. She then shoots him right in the head, and the bomb does not go off. Tubbs unties Trudy and carries her out to the trailer entrance.

Meanwhile, Yero has a video feed to the trailer. He activates his own bomb inside the trailer, and just as Trudy is walking down the steps it goes off, throwing Trudy through the air. Trudy is brought to the hospital where the squad learns she is in a coma and in a very serious condition.

Outside the hospital, Sonny gets a call from Yero who claims he heard there were some troubles with the drop off. Sonny is pissed, and knows that Yero was in on it. Sonny arranges for another drop off, and this time demands that Yero be there.

Cut to a scene with Yero talking to Montaya. Yero says he has no hard evidence that the "Americans" were at fault for the drop, but he does have evidence that they are not to be trusted. He shows Montaya video from the disco when Sonny and Isabella were dancing and getting super into it. He tells Montaya that their relationship is not casual.

Meanwhile, Sonny and Tubbs are getting ready for the drop off. Castillo explains that the Aryan Brotherhood will obviously change the location immediately before the drop off so that it will very difficult for the squad to get set up. Castillo also explains that he will run the show and they must wait until he can find the shooters. Tubbs talks to Sonny about his relationship with Isabella, and Sonny explains he will do what he has to do.

The squad is waiting when they get the call from Coleman concerning the new drop off location. The squad speeds there and Castillo tries to get set up with his snipers. Sonny, Tubbs, and the rest of the squad approach the bad guys at the drop off point, which is next to the water. Castillo tells Sonny and Tubbs to stall because he can't find the shooters. Tubbs calls out for Yero who emerges with Isabella. Yero explains that Montaya gave Isabella over to Yero and he will have his way with her and then violently kill her when he is done. Coleman asks to see the drugs and Sonny replies that he will not show the drugs until he sees the money. Coleman agrees to send over one of his men in return for one of theirs, but Sonny says that he will only agree if Isabella is the one to come over. Coleman agrees and sends over Isabella while Switek goes to look at the money.

As Sonny walks Isabella to the car, Castillo finally finds the shooters and has his own snipers take them out. As the shooters are shot, one of them lets off a shot, which causes a massive shoot out. Everyone takes cover, and most of the bad guys are taken out. Zito gets shot in the knee but keeps fighting. Sonny puts Isabella behind a car, and runs forward. Isabella sees his badge and finally realizes he is a cop. She runs forward to attack him, and Sonny has to tackle her to prevent Coleman from shooting her. Sonny then turns and shoots Coleman in the foot, knocking him to ground. He then puts two bullets right in Coleman's head.

Meanwhile, Tubbs has tracked down Yero who has run away with his bodyguard. Tubbs takes out the bodyguard and then blows a gaping hole in Yero's chest.

After the gunfight, Sonny grabs Isabella and throws her in his car. He drives her away to a safe house by the beach. He calls some people up and arranges to have a boat take her away back to Cuba. She is upset at first, but then resigns herself to being sad. They then talk about how it could never be and they get really sad as they look longingly at each other.

Tubbs is back at the hospital, holding Trudy's hand. Her hand begins to twitch, and Tubbs gets all excited as she comes out of her coma. Back at the safe house, the sheets are shown to be all ruffled and Isabella is floating away on a boat. The last scene is of Sonny walking back into the hospital.

Difficulties during production

File:Cf&JfMV.jpg

Foxx as Tubbs and Farrell as Crockett.

The film, shot on location in the Caribbean and South Florida, lost 7 days of filming to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. The delays led to a budget of what some insiders claimed to be more than $150 million, although Universal Studios says it cost $135 million.

Several crew members criticized Mann's decisions during production, which featured sudden script changes, filming in unsafe weather conditions, and choosing locations that "even the police avoid, drafting gang members to work as security." This led to real shooting on set.

Foxx was also characterized as unpleasant to work with, mostly due to his ego or concern for his safety: he refused to fly commercially, forcing Universal Studios to give him a private jet. Foxx would not participate in scenes on boats or planes. After real gunshots were fired on set in the Dominican Republic on October 24, 2005, Foxx packed up and refused to return; this forced Mann to re-write the ending of the film, an ending that some crew members characterized as less dramatic than the original. Foxx, who won an Academy Award after signing to do Miami Vice, was also reputed to complain about co-star Farrell's larger salary, something Foxx felt didn't reflect his new status as an Oscar winner. Foxx received an increase in salary, and Farrell's took a bit of a cut. It was also reported that Foxx demanded top billing after winning an Oscar, however Farrell ended up on the top of the credit listing.

Reactions

Reactions to the film have been mixed. Some critics have said that, although the movie was beautifully shot and at times thrilling, those attributes did not make up for the film's underdeveloped story and lack of charismatic characters associated with many of Mann's previous films. It has garnered, however, a majority of strong, positive reviews in several mainstream publications like the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice and Entertainment Weekly magazine. Miami Vice holds a 48-percent rotten rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1-rating at IMDB with 9,147 votes. Many negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes cite the departure from the campy and more tongue-in-cheek humor of the television series as chief complaints; however, this was never the intention of the movie, as Michael Mann himself stated repeatedly prior to release. Many critics have claimed that the harder edge adopted by the film leaves no doubt in the audience's mind about the sinister nature of drug trafficking.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $25.7 million, ranking first in the United States box office results for that weekend. This is the best opening for a Michael Mann film to date. As of August 29, 2006, the film has grossed a total of $97,390,401 worldwide. According to the claims of a $135 million budget, the film still needs about $40 million more to reclaim its overall production costs. [1]

Trivia

• It was Jamie Foxx who first brought up the idea of a Miami Vice film to Michael Mann during a party for Muhammad Ali. Jamie had gone on for more than 20 minutes about why Miami Vice should be made. This led Michael Mann to revisit the series he helped create.
• Like Collateral, which also starred Foxx, most of the film was shot with the Thompson Viper Filmstream Camera, and the remainder was shot on Super 35mm film.
• Also like Collateral, there are no opening credits. The title appears at the end of the film.
• The first teaser trailer to appear for the film featured the Linkin Park/Jay-Z song "Numb/Encore". This trailer was attached to the release of King Kong in theatres.
• For several months before its release, the official website hosted the first teaser trailer for download as a High-Definition WMV download, and is still available at the official site.
• When Miami Vice completed filming, Colin Farrell entered into rehab for exhaustion and dependency on prescription medication. The medication had been prescribed to him after he suffered a back injury while filming Alexander.
• According to a Euroweb article, Tubbs' suits were designed by famous fashion designer Ozwald Boateng. He had worked with Jamie Foxx in the past and caught Mann's eye who then asked him to work on the movie.
• RZA was hired to do the film's score, but was later replaced with Organized Noize.
• The sunglasses that Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx wear in the movie poster are from Sama and the frame model is Slam. The lenses themselves retail for over $300.
• Crocketts' Boat (white paint and labeled "Mojo") is a MTI (Marine Technologies Inc.) 39 Series with two Mercury Engines fitted. In correct sense it is a Offshore Catamaran.
• The distinctive plane featured in the film is the Adam A500.
• Prominent product placement occurrences include Range Rover, BMW, Apple and Sony.
• Lyndon LaRouche has stated that his slogan for his 2008 Presidential Campaign will be Rico Tubbs' line "Smooth. That's how we do it".
• The Movies Plot is very similar to the Episode "Smuggler's Blues"(the 15th Episode of season 1) .

• Though Mann set out to craft entirely new characters and story, there were still very subtle references to the television show on which it is based. Most prominently, the season 1 episode "Smuggler's Blues" is referenced; in the movie, Tubbs tells drug-dealing Yero: "We can close each others' eyes real fast, but then nobody's gonna make any money."—a nod to the line drug-dealing Grossero tells Tubbs in the television episode "Smuggler's Blues": "You and I are businessmen. We have business to look forward to which we will never see if we close each other's eyes". In that same episode, Sonny says "Why is he donating to the good and the welfare?"—in the movie, Rico has a similar line.
• Portuguese actress Ana Cristina De Oliveira plays a small part as a bartender near the beginning of the film. When prompted by Sonny, she says her name is Rita—the same as Rita Davis, her character on the CSI: Miami episode Collision (4x17).

Soundtrack

• 1. Nonpoint - "In the Air Tonight"
• 2. Moby feat. Patti LaBelle - "One of These Mornings"
• 3. Mogwai - "We're No Here"
• 4. Nina Simone - "Sinnerman" (Felix da Housecat's Heavenly House remix)
• 5. Mogwai - "Auto Rock"
• 6. Manzanita - "Arranca"
• 7. India.Arie - "Ready for Love"
• 8. Goldfrapp - "Strict Machine"
• 9. Emilio Estefan - "Pennies in My Pocket"
• 10. King Britt - "New World in My View"
• 11. Blue Foundation - "Sweep"
• 12. Moby - "Anthem"
• 13. Freaky Chakra - "Blacklight Fantasy"
• 14. John Murphy - "Mercado Nuevo"
• 15. John Murphy - "Who Are You"
• 16. King Britt & Tim Motzer - "Ramblas"
• 17. Klaus Badelt & Mark Batson - "A-500"

The soundtrack's versions of "Blacklight Fantasy" and "Strict Machine" are not the original versions of the song and are not actually featured in the film. In the film, the We Are Glitter Goldfrapp Mix of "Strict Machine" is used, and both it and "Blacklight Fantasy" are edits from Sasha's mix album, Fundacion NYC. Despite not appearing on the soundtrack, clips of two Audioslave songs, "Wide Awake" and "Shape of Things to Come," appeared in the film. It is possible they were not included on the soundtrack due to the close release of their album Revelations. Another song which did not make the soundtrack is the first song played in the opening sequence, "Numb/Encore" by Jay-Z/Linkin Park.

External links

• Official website
• Miami Vice at Rotten Tomatoes
• Miami Vice Trailer at Videohitz
• Entertainment Weekly's cover story on the making of the film
• Thompson Viper Camera
• Miami Vice at IMDb
• Foxx's secrets to filming sex scenes, Sydney Morning Herald, August 4, 2006.
• Colin Farrell Video