Miami Vice

I am a child of the Eighties, so, like many people, on Friday nights at 9 PM (that's 10 PM according to the National Listings--I'm going off Central time) I got to see Miami Vice. Cool synth music. Intrigue. Pastel clothes. Pre-Battlestar Edward James Olmos. All those things were on the show. And it was cool. It's not something I can easily describe. It's sort of like watching a Michael Mann movie for the first time, thinking it's awesome, and not really being able to say why.

In the past few months when the new movie, Miami Vice would come up, I'd hear things like, "Oh shit, another crappy remake of a TV show from the Eighties." To which I would respond, "But this is being made by Michael Mann, who made the original TV show, so it could be good."

For clarity, yes, I like Michael Mann movies. In a lot of ways I prefer Manhunter to as far as Hannibal Lektor movies goes. Red Dragon. Heat is one fo the most engaging crime movies I've ever seen. Collateral--that's one of my favorite movies. Biased opinion? You bet.

I've seen Miami Vice now. There were no pastel clothes, no former cast cameos, no Jan Hammer music. There was just one all-consuming view into a world of undercover police full of drug lord politics and the most realistic violence I've ever seen.

Final advice: Either go to a movie theater or turn to TV Land and watch Miami Vice.