Miami Vice... a review

Just got home from seeing "Miami Vice." It was good... I liked it... I think... However, a warning to the faint of heart: I have never in my life seen such a hard movie, with the arguable exception of "Once Upon A Time In Mexico." It is that kind of film. Hard as the most adamant diamonds. Unlike "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" where the violence is like a sarcastic ballet, refined and calculated with savage and ironic grace, the violence in "Miami Vice" is crude, rough and harsh as a wipe out on a gravel road. If you go in for that sort of thing, I think you'll like it. The tension is also very high from the very first frame almost to the very last. If I was apt to, I would have ground my teeth. Where "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" had me saying "Hell, yeah!" as the credits began to roll, at the end, "Miami Vice" had me sitting in wide-eyed silence and shock at what I had just seen. There are many people who will probably hate it... or at least, be left sour. "Miami Vice" the movie is *not* like the television show of the 1980s, not in the slightest. It is the dark, grim, ugly, nasty seedy underbelly of Miami and the Caribbean shown in harsh relief. Be warned and use discretion when viewing.

That said, I must add - though it seems obvious - Colin Farrell is *hot*... like surface-of-the-Sun hot. He seems rather melancholy at the end of the movie (I'll not say why). Maria leaned over and said, "I'd go comfort him." I laughed, "We should all be so lucky!" I've never seen, nor can I imagine, anyone making that mustache and mullet-cut look that good and right. It's kinda disconcerting how good he makes it look in fact. Judging from my reactions to his films and interviews, I have a feeling that I would totally go for the decidedly dangerous, bad-ass, yet vulnerable, Irish type if I let myself go that way. Luckily - no doubt for all concerned - I have enough good sense and self-control to say, "Oh, that way madness lies; let me shun that."

Well, I've quoted Shakespeare, so I think this brief review is done.

Short addendum: I saw "Monster House" a few weeks ago with Lauren... Both of us found it shocking that such a film would be marketed to children. We pretty much hated it. And that almost never happens. Lauren figures that they probably wanted to make a film like that live action, but knew they'd never be able to get enough adults to see it and wouldn't be able to market it to kids that way, so they did it animated instead. I got the same impression. Both of us were sure we'd have nightmares that night. I did my best to block it from my mind for the rest of the evening and was able to escape nightmare-free. It was disturbing, both visually and also because of the twisted psychology behind it. I do not recommend it... Would much prefer the real-world violence of "Miami Vice" to the horrific, psychologically-scaring, possessed house of "Monster House."