Apparently not satisfied with how Miami Vice turned out on NBC, Michael Mann rejects the entire series for his own vision on film. It doesn’t work. The dark, gritty, and pale Miami crafted by Mann is a complete misfire from beginning to end.
The biggest complaint is how intelligent the script tries to be. It throws a stack of characters at the viewer from the start, convolutes the story, and ends up being a simple, predictable story about undercover cops inside an international drug ring. There’s little reason for the attempts to throw off the viewer, as the predictable ending rolls along with no surprises in tow.
At nearly two and a half hours, it’s unnecessarily long as well. At minimum, there are 20 minutes waiting to be cut out. Extended shots of luxury cars, watches, and boats are fine in most cases. Here they’re simply dragging out the agony, usually obscured by a purposeful grain filter in an attempt to set the tone.
While lead characters Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) are understandably not as well developed as they were in the classic ‘80s TV series, there’s no excuse for not developing them at all. There’s no sense as to who they are or why they’re doing what they do. A meaningless love subplot falls flat as well. Jamie Foxx is borderline campy in some sequences, his performance all over the place. It’s a direct contrast to his recent roles in Ray and Collateral.
Mann’s only success is his typical spot-on direction. At times, the film has a very “real” feel to it, and he’s one of the first directors to truly use the shaky camera effect properly. The final shootout is interesting for this single reason, plopping the viewer right into action, sometimes directly behind the gunmen at eye level.
Hollywood’s latest attempt to resurrect that which did not need resurrecting misfires for the same reason so many others do. There’s little care for the subject matter of the successful original, and no one seems to acknowledge there was a reason Miami Vice has carried the following it has for nearly two decades. Not even Michael Mann’s keen eye for style can save this. 
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