Most of Michael Mann’s movies have been broad-chested exercises in machismo – Heat, Collateral – but few have dealt in the sort of self-parodic chest-beating that undoes Miami Vice. This was supposed to be the serious version of the 1980s television series Mann created, but it’s worth remembering that the series took itself pretty seriously, too. With its scowling, uncommunicative male leads (Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell) and endless parade of vehicles that run on loud engines, the movie might as well have been made by Armageddon auteur Michael Bay. Gong Li, as a mysterious drug cartel negotiator, provides the only relief – she’s like a breath of fresh estrogen.
