Mann among men

‘There’s undercover. And then there’s ‘Which way is up?’
You get this feeling in “Miami Vice,” too. Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) is with Trudy Joplin (Naomie Harris) but you swear she has some history with Tubbs’ partner, Crockett (Colin Farrell). Certain glances. Certain tones.

Once again, Mann plops us in the middle of a storyline with little or no explanation. Once again, we are dealing with a pair of tough guys trained in firearms. Once again, one of these guys forms an attachment to a woman that might backfire.

The plot turns out to be simple — undercover work, drug cartel, bang bang — even if the execution is not. There’s a tenseness to the film from the first frame. Everything is wound so tightly. You wait for a little release; a sigh that never comes. The only thing loose are plot points Mann doesn’t tie up. In anticipation of sequels?

“Vice” isn’t as satisfying as most of Mann’s films because most of his films are really character studies. But there’s only so much character you can study when your leading men are undercover. The “I” and “we” tension is missing as well. “Vice” is the only Mann film where the protagonists begin and end with the same group: the Miami-Dade Police.

Still, the visuals are there. All that blue water being intersected by the white wake of the speedboat —like an aquatic contrail. The breathtaking Iguasso Falls. In “Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River,” Mann talks about visuals being impressed upon him before he decided to become a filmmaker: “A particular kind of moody appeal,” he says of Chicago. “A gloomy poetry.” “Miami Vice” is more gloomy poetry. Two words, it should be added, that you rarely find associated with sequel-generating films.

“The Insider” is not only Erik Lundegaard’s favorite Michael Mann movie; it’s one of his favorite movies ever. He can be reached at:

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