Miami Vice (2006) Dir: Michael Mann

Updating of the smash 80's TV series - one that never interested us here at Smell the Cult HQ, incidentally - is a fairly turgid affair.
The plot:
Colin Farrell and the always magnificent Jamie Foxx play the lead roles of Crockett and Tubbs, Vice Detectives in, ahem, Miami, who become embroiled in a rather silly, rather incoherent plot involving trafficking of both weapons and drugs.
Along the way there is some guff about White Supremacists, a romantic intermingling of goodies and baddies and the requisite glamour shots of Miami and it's night life.
And it really is a mess.
Farrell and Foxx mumble their way through the script, seeming semi-comatose at times, barely even looking at each other throughout the near two and a half hour run time. Seriously, halfway through I began to suspect this may be a Brechtian reinvention of the detective movie, with Mann implementing the requisite alienation techniques but, alas no, it was simply a little bit dull.
Sure, the speed boats look great.
Sure, the location work is stylishly executed and, yes, Jamie Foxx only really has to be on screen and there is a glimmer of interest.
But there is little else here to hold the attention, save perhaps Farrell's ludicrous moustache and mullet combo which seems to morph into different preposterous combinations with each passing shot.
A desperately dull movie, certainly by Mann's standards, and one that only M.V. purists should bother with.

2 out of 5

Brooklyn's Finest (2009) Dir: Antoine Fuqua

Antoine Fuqua steps into familiar Training Day territory in this multi-layered crime thriller.
The plot runs in three main strands, each following the lives of three very different police officers, all working for the same department.
Cop 1: Tango, an undercover operative working to expose the major drug dealers in Brooklyn, specifically Wesley Snipes' Caz, recently released from jail and looking to pick up where he left off.
Cop 2: Sal, played with typical nervous energy by Hawke, a wiry bundle of anxiety struggling to pay the bills and, with twins on the way, looking for more unconventional revenue streams, happy to take the spoils of drug trafficking before the city big wigs can get their hands on it to refurbish their expensive office suites.
Cop 3: Eddie, burnt out, alcoholic, starting his days with a large shot of whisky just so he can face donning the uniform one more time. He's on the brink of retirement (yes, that old chestnut, though it is handled well) and finds dealing with the young upstart cops almost as unbearable as the low life criminals he is compelled to endure.
With a grim inevitability, as their lives spiral out of control, the plot strands fuse together, though in an unexpected and pretty original fashion, as the movie culminates in three separate show downs in the same building.
The acting from all parties is excellent, with Gere the stand out in terms of performance, which surprised the hell out of me.
Ethan Hawke is always watchable, and Cheadle was more than acceptable, too.
The director shows flashes of genuine flair (the camera drawback through the building towards the end is exceptionally well done) and the writing is solid too, with believable characters fleshed out with some snappy dialogue, all posturing masculinity and Alpha Male banter.
It's a fairly lengthy film, clocking in just over the two hour mark, but not once did I feel the need to look at my watch or wonder how much longer was left, so it never flags.
With a truly astonishing denouement that just runs and runs, this is quality movie making.
Very good indeed.

4 out of 5.