nemoorange.com

Michael Mann can do no wrong

Miami Vice was easily one of the most anticipated summer releases in my mind, right after Superman Returns. Here is one of my favorite directors returning to do what he does best: a straight up crime-drama action flick.

While Miami Vice does not quite hold up to Mann's best efforts, Heat or Last of the Mohicans, it fulfills every expectation one might hold to the director: His trademark helicopter shot over the hot lights of Miami (looks just like LA to me) is still in full effect. Action scenes are so ever visceral. Does anyone make the crack of a gotshot boom like Mann? I swear I've never heard anything so violent.

And to top it off, the soundtrack is spot on. In fact, the soundtrack is always right on. I attempted scouring IMDB to see there is a particular individual on Mann's production team who was responsible for always magnificently scoring his movies , but not luck. He must have the magic touch. If you don't get pumped up when listening to the Last of the Mohicans theme, check your pulse. Or how about that uber-cool montage in Collateral where the lone coyote crosses the road and the Audioslave riff walks in. In Vice Mann again uses some of those etheral ambient tracks I first remember hearing in Heat. While a cliche action flick might only chose the more aggressive music, those mysterious ringing tones were all the more appropriate. Its hard to verbalize it, but when you hear it, it sounds like the lonliness of a megalopoluos like LA, something that Tom Cruise's character alluded to in Collateral.

Case in point, the closing scene in Miami Vice features "Auto Rock" by Mogwai. I had originally heard the track months ago, and it barely sparked an interest. But with the context of the ending shots Mann supplies, the energy of the song is emphasized; it takes on a whole new persona. After seeing the movie, I immediately got online and listened to the song over and over again. The beat, once simplistic, I now recognize as powerful, driving. Looks like I need to buy the new Mogwai album (It's great. You can stream from Mogwai's page at Matador Records). Audioslave is also featured. I love how he makes the music he likes fit into his own motion pictures. It makes the movie current and hip, and also delivers a personal touch, as if he's listening to the track while editing and figures "this would be great to put in here."

What truly impresses me is how this guy can pull together all the elements together that make a movie great. Characters, plot, cinematography, score, an A-list cast. The whole production masses to a brilliant aesthetic experience. There is hard to find a blemish in a comprehensive review of this man's work. If anything, Mann's fault lies in the length of his pictures. The Insider should have ended an hour and a half before it eventually does. And as much as I hate to say it, maybe Heat could have been trimmed down. I am guessing Mann has never heard of a directors cut, and if so, I'd fear having to sit through 5 and half hours of a pensive Pacino staring down a prospect.

So I am a Mann-junkie. If you are making a movie rated R, he is the gold standard. Unfortunately, I believe a lot of other writters and directors only steal his style and forget to incorporate the same attention to detail that goes into developing the characters. If only they could devote a fraction of the same artistic will into their productions, we could rid the world of Michael Bay, the ultimate Mann antithesis.