A great disappointment.

This film does not look or sound like the television series which it is paying homage to.  Rather, it is based on the original pilot for the series.  Director Michael Mann made the series distinctive by its look, its colour styles, the mod fashions of the 1980s.  Now with the opportunity to do something special with it, he has made a very literally dark film.

The possibilities are there.  The partnership between a black undercover agent and a white should be a good buddies movie.  However, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx demonstrate practically no rapport whatsoever.  There is no real friendship or bonding – the plot sometimes keeps them in their own individual world.  There is no wit or clever repartee.  The undercover drugs mission is always relevant but you have to keep alert to keep recognising who is who, who is bad, who is good, who is undercover pretending to be bad…

The characters give no concern for us to care for them or what is happening.  The villains are far more vivid.

There is some gratuitous sex.  There is some gratuitous violence.  What might have been much more helpful would have been some gratuitous plot explanations.  The main tension built up is that of trying to hear and understand the dialogue, see through the murky photography and put together what is going on.

The great Chinese actress Gong Li turns up as a kind of villain, who becomes love interest, who has to be saved.  Ciaran Hinds looks sinister as the agents’ boss which makes you assume that he is going to be a double-crossing villain, which he isn’t.  There is some suggestion of leaks to the criminals but who they are eludes our attention.

A lot of effort has gone into this which makes the disappointment greater.

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.