Miami Vice - Television Series Review
*Quality Entertainment Reviews is a new segment dedicated to discussing and reviewing everything from movies and television to video games and books. I intend to keep spoilers to a minimum.
Anyone that knows me had to know that if I was going to review something from television, Miami Vice would certainly make the list. No, I don't mean the crappy 2006 film either. Before I begin my review, I want to provide some full-disclosure: I absolutely love this show and always have. Despite that, I am going to remove as much bias as possible when I go over the details of the show.
1
Miami Vice was a police procedural television show that stretched from 1984 to 1990. It was helmed by none other than Michael Mann (the director of movies like Heat and Collateral), while it starred Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, and Edward James Olmos. The show's music was composed by Jan Hammer, who deserves a special mention as he won two Grammy awards in 1985 for his composition of Miami Vice's theme song. The premise of the show follows cases investigated by Miami Metro Dade Police Department's undercover counter-narcotics unit during Miami's infamous Cocaine Cowboys Era.
Where to Find It: I own the series on both DVD and Blu-ray, but I believe it is also available exclusively via the Peacock streaming service.
General Information
Something that still holds up today is the show's style and ambiance. During the 1980's, the show was nicknamed "MTV Cops" for its use of mixing popular music that was on the billboard charts directly into dramatic scenes. To this day, anyone familiar with the show will likely always relate Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight" with one of the final scenes in the show's pilot episode. This musical style really helped the show stand out as this kind of mixing just didn't happen back then and I can't recall a time when the music just didn't work for the show.
The Setting
This is quite an achievement too, as some of the songs playing were thematically opposite of what was going on in the story. One specific instance of this is when Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" plays during a particularly grim assassination of a cooperating witness. Beyond the licensed music, Jan Hammer really stands out as a master of his craft as he brings some great personality to the show with his background music.
2
The incredible ambiance of this show extends well past the music though. Michael Mann has always had a way of making cities and settings really come to life, and this show arguably marks as one of his crowning achievements. The city of Miami truly feels alive and organic throughout the show as the nightclubs, alleyways, and beach-side mansions feel genuine. If I had to nitpick, I would say that I wasn't really impressed with the look of the Vice Squad's office per se, and some of the drug den locales looked a little too theatrical (to be fair, I haven't been to many drug dens or police offices).
The Acting
The show clearly lives and dies on the acting of its main cast, and this is where the show tends to take a hit from time to time. To be clear, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas just ooze charisma and style whenever they're on the screen, and their chemistry as partners is frankly top-notch. Considering the show is all about people going undercover, it has always surprised me at how little the main cast actually changes in their mannerisms and behaviors when doing their jobs. Don Johnson's Sonny Crockett (undercover name: Sonny Burnett) is always a gruff blue-collar type and Philip Michael Thomas's Ricardo Tubbs (undercover name: Rico Cooper) almost exclusively acts like a flashy New York hustler. It's very different from Burn Notice's (another Miami-centric show) style of having its characters play as dramatically different roles from episode to episode.
As far as their roles go, Johnson and Thomas are fantastic. If there's an issue, it's when they deviate from the norm. I recall a specific episode in Season 4 where Johnson takes on the undercover role of a lawyer for drug dealers and he has to give an impassioned speech in the defense of a serial killer. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: it's pretty cringe-inducing.
Beyond Johnson and Thomas though, the show boasts some fantastic guest star appearances like Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Chris Rock, and countless others. Once again, these appearances really help keep the show relevant well after it was over as some of the performances are really outstanding. Bruce Willis, in particular, shines best in my memory as it's great seeing someone who typically plays a comedic action hero take on the role of a wife-beating arms dealer. The guest star appearances weren't always perfect though, as I recall duds where musicians played large roles that clearly had no acting chops. Phil Collins was pretty awful in his portrayal of a scam artist and Sheena Easton came off as frequently over-dramatic (her appearing in multiple episodes didn't help either).
3
The Story
The basics of the show is that Crockett and Tubbs partner up to pose as criminals in order to ingratiate themselves with all sorts of villains from drug dealers to pimps and porn producers. It almost always inevitably ends with a shootout and features some type of musical montage with the duo driving around at night in a Ferrari.
A really nice touch of this show was its underlying story of fighting an unwinnable war. When this show came out, the Cocaine Wars were still going on and Miami had the highest homicide rate in the nation. Drug dealers were all over the place and the cops were frequently grasping at straws in their attempts to put a stop to the violence. The show mirrors this pretty well by actually having several episodes where the heroes actually fail to get the big bad guy. For something produced in the early 1980's, such a dark premise was pretty new (unlike today's obsession with anti-hero-centric shows). Unfortunately, this style hurt the show at times as it would wildly change episode by episode. You could go from one gritty episode where the Vice Squad fails to catch a murderous snuff film producer to an absurd episode where they are trying to break open a conspiracy involving the cryogenically frozen remains of a Jamaican pop star (I'm not joking, this is real).
Although procedural, something I really enjoyed in the show was the evolution of the various main characters of the show. Besides Crockett and Tubbs, we don't really start to see the other main characters get fleshed out until Season Two and onward (like most procedural shows it seems). Once we do though, we start to see some really interesting perspectives like women in law enforcement; drug crimes in African-American communities; and even international perspectives that involve Colombia and Thailand. Doing a job where the bad guys keep going free and drugs don't stop flowing certainly starts to show on the characters too, and this is something I really found intriguing.
The Best of the Best: The atmosphere of 1980's Miami perfectly blended with a fantastic musical score and soundtrack.
The Worst of the Worst: Some of the hokier/lighthearted episodes. They are few, but any episode where Crockett and Tubbs aren't the main characters of the episode should just be skipped, honestly.
Anyone that knows me had to know that if I was going to review something from television, Miami Vice would certainly make the list. No, I don't mean the crappy 2006 film either. Before I begin my review, I want to provide some full-disclosure: I absolutely love this show and always have. Despite that, I am going to remove as much bias as possible when I go over the details of the show.
Where to Find It: I own the series on both DVD and Blu-ray, but I believe it is also available exclusively via the Peacock streaming service.
General Information
Something that still holds up today is the show's style and ambiance. During the 1980's, the show was nicknamed "MTV Cops" for its use of mixing popular music that was on the billboard charts directly into dramatic scenes. To this day, anyone familiar with the show will likely always relate Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight" with one of the final scenes in the show's pilot episode. This musical style really helped the show stand out as this kind of mixing just didn't happen back then and I can't recall a time when the music just didn't work for the show.
The Setting
This is quite an achievement too, as some of the songs playing were thematically opposite of what was going on in the story. One specific instance of this is when Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" plays during a particularly grim assassination of a cooperating witness. Beyond the licensed music, Jan Hammer really stands out as a master of his craft as he brings some great personality to the show with his background music.
2The Acting
The show clearly lives and dies on the acting of its main cast, and this is where the show tends to take a hit from time to time. To be clear, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas just ooze charisma and style whenever they're on the screen, and their chemistry as partners is frankly top-notch. Considering the show is all about people going undercover, it has always surprised me at how little the main cast actually changes in their mannerisms and behaviors when doing their jobs. Don Johnson's Sonny Crockett (undercover name: Sonny Burnett) is always a gruff blue-collar type and Philip Michael Thomas's Ricardo Tubbs (undercover name: Rico Cooper) almost exclusively acts like a flashy New York hustler. It's very different from Burn Notice's (another Miami-centric show) style of having its characters play as dramatically different roles from episode to episode.
As far as their roles go, Johnson and Thomas are fantastic. If there's an issue, it's when they deviate from the norm. I recall a specific episode in Season 4 where Johnson takes on the undercover role of a lawyer for drug dealers and he has to give an impassioned speech in the defense of a serial killer. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: it's pretty cringe-inducing.
Beyond Johnson and Thomas though, the show boasts some fantastic guest star appearances like Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Chris Rock, and countless others. Once again, these appearances really help keep the show relevant well after it was over as some of the performances are really outstanding. Bruce Willis, in particular, shines best in my memory as it's great seeing someone who typically plays a comedic action hero take on the role of a wife-beating arms dealer. The guest star appearances weren't always perfect though, as I recall duds where musicians played large roles that clearly had no acting chops. Phil Collins was pretty awful in his portrayal of a scam artist and Sheena Easton came off as frequently over-dramatic (her appearing in multiple episodes didn't help either).
3The basics of the show is that Crockett and Tubbs partner up to pose as criminals in order to ingratiate themselves with all sorts of villains from drug dealers to pimps and porn producers. It almost always inevitably ends with a shootout and features some type of musical montage with the duo driving around at night in a Ferrari.
A really nice touch of this show was its underlying story of fighting an unwinnable war. When this show came out, the Cocaine Wars were still going on and Miami had the highest homicide rate in the nation. Drug dealers were all over the place and the cops were frequently grasping at straws in their attempts to put a stop to the violence. The show mirrors this pretty well by actually having several episodes where the heroes actually fail to get the big bad guy. For something produced in the early 1980's, such a dark premise was pretty new (unlike today's obsession with anti-hero-centric shows). Unfortunately, this style hurt the show at times as it would wildly change episode by episode. You could go from one gritty episode where the Vice Squad fails to catch a murderous snuff film producer to an absurd episode where they are trying to break open a conspiracy involving the cryogenically frozen remains of a Jamaican pop star (I'm not joking, this is real).
Although procedural, something I really enjoyed in the show was the evolution of the various main characters of the show. Besides Crockett and Tubbs, we don't really start to see the other main characters get fleshed out until Season Two and onward (like most procedural shows it seems). Once we do though, we start to see some really interesting perspectives like women in law enforcement; drug crimes in African-American communities; and even international perspectives that involve Colombia and Thailand. Doing a job where the bad guys keep going free and drugs don't stop flowing certainly starts to show on the characters too, and this is something I really found intriguing.
The Best of the Best: The atmosphere of 1980's Miami perfectly blended with a fantastic musical score and soundtrack.
The Worst of the Worst: Some of the hokier/lighthearted episodes. They are few, but any episode where Crockett and Tubbs aren't the main characters of the episode should just be skipped, honestly.
Calhooey Score: 7/10 - good, but not great
Would I Recommend?
Despite my obvious love for this show, my answer on recommendation would be "maybe." If you're looking for something with great music that showcases another time, I'd say at least give the pilot episode a shot. If you love police procedural shows like Law & Order or CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, this is definitely worth your time. If dated special effects or 1980's pop music doesn't appeal to you, I'd avoid this show like the plague.
Despite my obvious love for this show, my answer on recommendation would be "maybe." If you're looking for something with great music that showcases another time, I'd say at least give the pilot episode a shot. If you love police procedural shows like Law & Order or CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, this is definitely worth your time. If dated special effects or 1980's pop music doesn't appeal to you, I'd avoid this show like the plague.
----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------
(1) Gross, J. (2015). Miami Vice image. Retrieved from: https://www.rediscoverthe80s.com/2015/06/knight-rider-miami-vice-and-magnum-pi.html.(2) Wiltons, R. (2018). Crockett and Tubbs at the beach image. Retrieved from: https://www.universityfox.com/entertainment/secrets-behind-scenes-miami-vice/.
(3) Wiltons, R. (2018). Bruce Willis guest star image. Retrieved from: https://www.universityfox.com/entertainment/secrets-behind-scenes-miami-vice/.
Comments
Post a Comment