The movie version of "Miami Vice" comes out on Friday. Colin Farrell as James "Sonny" Crockett and Jamie Foxx as Rico Tubbs. I haven't seen too many previews for this movie, but what I have seen doesn't impress me. Maybe because it was a single clip, with no discernable context. The clip showed Jamie Foxx's Tubbs piloting a private jet to the Dominican Republic or something so he and Crockett (using their undercover aliases, of course) could cut a deal with a drug lord. So, the movie takes "Miami Vice" out of Miami. Hmmmm.
We shall see, I guess, if the 21st century movie can stand up to the TV show of the 80s. That's a difficult task, I think, because the TV show is holding up pretty well.
I've come across a cable channel called "Sleuth" (channel 308 on DirecTV), which includes the original "Miami Vice" in its line-up of TV crime dramas. ("Homicide: Life on the Street" is also on the schedule.) I've managed to catch a few episodes lately, and they're good. The cars are still cool, the music is still great, and Castillo is as mysterious and intense as ever.
Oh, sure, you can tell it's the 80's. Shoulder pads, rather large cordless phones, primitive car phones, racial epithets, smoking in public places - it's all there. And, poor Gina and Trudie. If they weren't doing all the paperwork while the men were out on the streets, then they were "out on the streets" trying to catch themselves some johns.
But, all in all, the "look" still works. As I said, we'll see how well it works on the big screen.