Miami Vice (2006): 15 years of ‘fiending’ for mojitos

Miami Vice has created something innovative in the crime-action genre. We celebrate the movie on its 15th year anniversary.

We live in an era in the world of film and entertainment where the big talk of the town is “what does this movie have on Rotten Tomatoes”. This conversation causes a large amount of discourse amongst film fans about how to use the site, should people use the site, and why should people submit their views based on a website rather than forming their own opinions.

Recently, the latest Marvel blockbuster, Eternals, has become the first title in the growing cinematic universe with a “rotten” rating. The debate listed above was revitalized and this has much thought about what films are not received in a positive light by the general public, but still has their collective fans.

Through a cult following on social media platforms and revisionisms, Michael Mann’s 2006 magnum opus Miami Vice has been a most popular topic during the conversation. And with its 15th anniversary upon us, it is best to look back at how my personal favorite filmmaker has created something innovative in the crime-action genre.

Why Miami Vice (2006) still holds up 15 years later

Miami Vice (2006) is a film given a standard blockbuster budget of roughly $135 million dollars but is created less in the vein of Mann’s previous genre flicks ala the likes of Heat (1995) or Ali (2001) but feels more like an arthouse film. Mann has built the foundation of the original ’80s series with familiar character names, locations, romantic sub-plots, and among others, but creates an illusory almost dreamlike environment.

In Mann’s previous works like Heat, and Collateral (2004) we are seen as observers watching the scene of the crimes acted upon by these characters. However, in Miami Vice, we are bystanders in the film’s world as well as ponders questions of what we would do in their situation if being placed in their shoes. Every interaction being seen with others, we are taking mental note of how these feelings and long-fulfilled acts of loneliness have affected the characters’ lives and how they play a crucial role in ours.

Miami Vice: Storytelling and characters

Mann drops the audience immediately in the middle of a crime scene being done by characters Sonny Crockett and Richardo Tubbs but is not given any context. It starts with a hypermetric nightclub sequence with the song “Numb/Encore” by Linkin Park and Jay-Z being the first things we hear. From then on we are active roles in the lives of our leads. Throughout the film, the audience is never given any sort of context because Mann feels the need the cut the unnecessary exposition and only discuss the relationships being had with people, platonic or not. From then on we are active roles in the lives of our leads.

From the moment Richardo and Sonny are shown on screen, you understand the tension building in the air, almost like a fog is growing every time a minute passes. Michael Mann takes the approach that Sonny and Richardo have been partners for years, thus having little exchange of conversation and when it occurs, it’s brief and blunt. As the sequence plays out, the more we piece together what elements are being in place; we further understand how these characters work as people; Sonny being the troubled flirtatious type and Richardo being the “play by the books” partner.

As the film progresses, like previously mentioned, the storytelling is less about the plot or events happening but rather how they affect the people in the situation and how they make us feel in the moment. We even see this through a brief interaction between Crockett and a bartender. Miami Vice plays out like a traditional undercover war on drug-trade narrative but feels more invested with the surrounding mental ambiguities of our protagonists.

Thus we get to the rising tension between the film. Throughout the story of Miami Vice, Sonny becomes more interested in Isabella, a business partner of Sonny and Richardo’s, this then starts a chain of romantic gestures filled with mojito drinking, dancing, and lovemaking. This feels seminal to the film because this is the first time we see Sonny become involved with others and does not want this time to end. He even discusses this with Isabella mentioning how this is “a bad idea” and one that “has no future”. Farrell’s Crockett has a long yearning for a dizzying romance that his urges and frustrations cannot control.

Like many of Mann’s other characters, he captures men at their most emotionally hollow and distant and creates purpose in their lives. The audience senses an emotional weight on their relationship, not by over-romanticized gestures or Hollywood-style acting by both. Mann writes their relationship like it should be, real people doing normal things. However, it’s more seen through their body language and blunt ways of discussion. How this relationship pursues is through a simple asking of finding the best mojitos nearby. We only see glimpses of the two trying to keep a professional and romantic relationship but at times run into overlap.

Mann shoots the film in a combination of a surrealist but also realist fashion. Gone are the usages of color seen in his previous crime epics but, there is more of the bleakness that life portrays. Mann wants the characters to see the world and the many circumstances life endures the way he views the world. The characters are not amplified on their survival because of the business they are involved in but rather await satisfaction if that feeling even comes. This is in part to why many of his films from the last almost two decades have looked like they come from an era of early digitalized cinematography.

Mann shoots his scenes in a way to take in the environment and landscapes and notice how small these people are both metaphorically and realistically. When shooting the occasional action set pieces, in an interview with Female.com.AU Michael Mann does not storyboard saying:

"“I do something else, which is I block it. We then train to the blocking. In other words, when everybody’s training, they’re actually training a lot of the moves that we are definitely going to use, and then, I do a lot of photography of that, and that becomes where the cameras go.”"

Mann does not care about pre-planned training that is seen through the current blockbuster boom seen today but is more focused on telling the story through visuals.

Miami Vice will forever remain an important film for myself and cinema as a whole. As stated before, Michael Mann was given an already known property and flipped itself on its head, and created something completely different and revolutionary for the genre. This type of structure of ill-structured storytelling, as well as filmmaking, would later continue throughout Mann’s career and thus more people appreciate his bold approach.

Michael Mann did not want to create a retread of the original series storyline but wanted to create an atmospheric and ambient arthouse film completely different from the source material. Miami Vice is a visual treat in part with its surrealist/realist cinematography but also not afraid of letting the camerawork do the talking rather than the characters. Michael Mann has created a work of art that years later, many will be wondering why they perceive the popular Rotten Tomatoes site as the one-stop place for film criticism other than personal expectations and enjoyment.

Where can you watch Miami Vice online today?

You can stream Miami Vice on Prime Video and Starz.