White suits. Big shades. Blow-dried hair. Call it 80s nostalgia, it’s all set to come back this month with ‘Miami Vice’, a movie revival of the hugely popular and successful 80s cult TV show. Justin Camilleri reports

Helmed by Michael Mann the creator of the original TV series, Mann’s big screen version promises to be much heavier and darker in both tone and vision than the TV series.

Taking over from Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas donning their pastel jackets and white Armani suits will be Colin Farrell (Alexander, The New World) as Undercover Miami Cop ladies’ man James “Sonny” Crockett and Jamie Foxx (Ray, Jarhead) as the suave, intelligent Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs.

With Mann firing on all four cylinders, Miami Vice 2006 promises to be this year’s classiest movie. The 80s premise has been updated for today’s generation still retaining its roots as an intelligent adult thriller, that reflects the new 2000s world we live in. In an interview with Empire, Michael Mann said: “I’ve been waiting 20 years to do this, we’re not in the 80s’ world of cocaine cowboys anymore, it’s a world of globalised criminality.”

Co–starring Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha) and Ciaran Hinds (Munich) the plot this time will centre on Sonny Crockett (Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Foxx) going undercover as offshore boat racers and outlaw smugglers in order to target Chinese drug traffickers. According to Farrell: “The story is about how global crime affects every one of us, about how deeply Crockett and Tubbs go undercover and what happens in an operation when your badge doesn’t count.”

Unfortunately, the original stars won’t be making a cameo this time round, in order to keep the new movie as fresh as possible.

Nevertheless, Farrell and Foxx have a hard act to follow, especially since many die-hard fans of the original TV series have drawn comparisons on the web (www. Miami-vice.org) between the new leads, and Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas. It cannot be denied that what made the original Miami Vice a success were Johnson’s and Thomas’ on-screen charisma. Their smouldering manly good looks guaranteed a large female audience second to none.

Despite a 15-year gap between the last season of Miami Vice broadcast on TV and the big screen makeover, the style, cool and music has not faded away. Especially nowadays with all of the 80s revival music hitting Europe, including Malta, 80s’ connoisseurs all agree about Miami Vice’s timeless cultural legacy. Music critic Eric Montfort said: “Miami Vice helped define the 80s era thanks to the clothes that were worn by Don Johnson and the New Romantic electronic music that was played all throughout the show.”

Back in its heyday, Miami Vice was a new kind of cop show. Policemen were no longer sluggishly dressed in brownish, or grey plain clothes as depicted in Kojak and The Streets of San Francisco. This new breed of police would go undercover oozing coolness, driving Ferraris and dressing up in bright stylish fashions that reflected the more glitzy feel of 1980s’ pop culture. In fact, Miami Vice had such a tremendous effect on men’s fashion at the time that it brought to life the “t-shirt under jacket style” which became the fashion statement of the day for young men. The show not only launched Don Johnson’s TV career but it also turned him into a fashion icon overnight. Wearing Ray Ban shades, Johnson’s unshaven appearance inspired a lot of men to wear what became known as “designer stubble”.

Even the series storylines sparked a new trend in the 80s with police thrillers becoming grittier and far more realistic, unlike anything seen before. This time the hero would cross a thin line between his actions and those of the drug lords and gangsters. This theme would be emulated in Michael Mann’s first police cinema release Manhunter (1986) starring William Petersen (C.S.I).

Miami Vice was ahead of its time even in its characterisation doing away with the traditional law abiding policeman, giving its characters depth and bringing to the fore the detective’s internal dilemmas and temptations.

The scripts went to great lengths to show how, in order to catch their prey, undercover policemen had to be conversant in the language of the underworld. It finally broke the mould as it was the first police series to have endings where the cops don’t always win their fight against criminality and with several episodes focusing on police corruption.

If C.S.I is the current torchbearer for crime thriller drama, back in the 80s it was Miami Vice that gave birth to the genre. TV audiences were hooked on the show because of three innovative characteristics that became known as the “Vice style”.

The distinctive, synthesized instrumental music by Jan Hammer set the mood and tone to the series. Countless pop and rock hits of the 1980’s by Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Depeche Mode and Billy Idol found themselves in carefully selected scenes.

Many fans including myself, would heartily agree that one of the unforgettable classic scenes that epitomised Miami Vice, was in the first episode when Crockett (Johnson) and Tubbs (Thomas) are travelling through the streets of Miami at night, in their black Ferrari Daytona Spyder while the song In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins was played in the background.

The combination of the memorable camera angles of the Ferrari and the song took everyone’s breath away!!

Furthermore its iconic cinematography of quickly edited images where each episode resembled a music video became a staple of 80s’ cinema eg: Footloose, Flashdance and TopGun. According to Michael Mann: “At the time the show was written for the new MTV audience, focusing on images that had plenty of emotion and energy rather than only plot and character.”

Last but not least the spectacular tropical locations of Miami Vice that introduced Miami’s character to the world. Miami Vice helped launch the ocean city’s tourist catalogue iconography of sun scorched beachfront hotels, palm trees and beautiful suntanned women.

Without a shadow of a doubt, fans of the Vice Style or anyone who was a teenager back in the 80s’ decade will be anticipating the release of the new movie with nostalgia. The reason for this is that Miami Vice is not just a cop thriller but more importantly, it is a timeless attitude of an era that will not be easily forgotten.