SCREEN: Miami Heat

The main characters remain vice cops Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx), although any hint of the playful banter that characterized their relationship on the show is gone. Mann throws the audience right into the middle of an operation that never gets explained, only to have Crockett and Tubbs recruited by the FBI for a new mission when one of their old informants reveals a potential leak from law enforcement to a notorious drug cartel. The new Crockett and Tubbs are grim, angst-ridden and taciturn—not only do they not banter, but often they barely speak at all. While this is in line with Mann's penchant for showing his characters' emotional lives rather than having them speak about them, Foxx and especially Farrell are often not up to the task of revealing what's going on in their characters' heads.

The first hour is a mood piece that's missing a key weapon in its mood-setting arsenal, then, although Mann does his best to make up for it. Shooting again on high-definition digital video as he did on his last film, Collateral, Mann captures Miami's grit more than its glitz, with the neon lights always in the distance while Crockett and Tubbs spar with criminals and have steamy sex that never would have passed broadcast standards. The pacing in the buildup is unfortunately rather leaden, and the plotting a little murky, and it's sometimes tough to tell what is at stake. Crockett and Tubbs set themselves up as transport experts and hook up with mid-level dealer Jose Yero (John Ortiz), putting together a sting to bring down the organization that Yero works for.

Just as vital to Mann as the crime story are the relationships, most importantly Crockett's affair with Isabella (Gong Li), the mistress of the cartel's head and a formidable businesswoman herself. While Farrell and Li have impressive chemistry in the bedroom, and Mann paints their relationship with superbly casual minimalist strokes, Farrell's deer-in-the-headlights acting and Li's tenuous grasp of English work together to suck all the life out of any conversations the two have, and that makes it difficult to buy into this central relationship.

Tubbs' relationship with fellow cop Trudy (Naomie Harris) is also underdeveloped, but the biggest problem is that Crockett and Tubbs, who are the heart of the film, have no connection, no history, no reason for their loyalty to one another. This is far from a buddy-cop movie, but Mann would have done well to illuminate a bit of the friendship and rivalry between these two strong, stoic men, something he's done very well in the past.

All the flaws move to the background in the film's second half, as Mann stages two excellent action sequences—a raid on a mobile home rates with his best work, and the combination of the digital video and rough, realistic sound design give the shoot-outs an immediate, ground-level feel that's missing from other big action movies. Even with the flat acting and uneven pacing, the overall effect is still striking and often unexpected, with an impact that grows and lingers long after the final, abrupt shot.