Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice” has had quite the reappraisal in recent years. The film was originally panned in 2006, with a rotten score of 46% only to be heralded, years later, by a certain contingent of critics, as a “masterpiece.”
Star Colin Farrell even went on record to state that he didn’t very much like the film either: "I didn't like it so much — I thought it was style over substance and I accept a good bit of the responsibility. It was never going to be Lethal Weapon, but I think we missed an opportunity to have a friendship that also had some elements of fun."
10 years later, critic Steven Hyden wrote a now fairly famous piece about how “Miami Vice” had developed "a burgeoning reputation as a cult favorite" and described it as “one of the most expensive art films ever made.”
And yet, in subsequent years Mann has made it clear that he considers Miami Vice to be the movie that "got away" — in large part because of the hastily revised ending.
"I don't know how I feel about it. I know the ambition behind it, but it didn't fulfill that ambition for me because we couldn't shoot the real ending."
In a new interview with Vulture, Mann briefly tackles “Miami Vice,” saying the biggest mistake he made on that film is naming it after the ‘80s TV series and not shooting the proper ending he intended:
I would’ve tried to command the same budget and not call it Miami Vice […] It doesn’t have its proper ending. Because we weren’t able to shoot those last three weeks in Ciudad del Este. We shot for three days. And so there’s a very different ending that belonged on that film.
Mann didn’t shoot the ending he wanted in large part because of Farrell’s co-star, Jamie Foxx.
Foxx was characterized as unpleasant to work with, calling for upgrades in his salary, demanding top billing in the film's credits, refusing to fly commercially, and objecting to filming scenes shot on boats or planes.
Things came to a crashing halt, and production suddenly shut down in the Dominican Republic, after gunshots were heard fired near the set of the film. Foxx immediately left the country and returned to the United States. This forced Mann to abandon the script's intended ending.
Despite the on-set drama, the initially bad reviews and Mann/Farrell disowning it, the “Miami Vice” reappraisal is very real. Seventeen years after its release, it’s found a major cult following. In our critics poll tackling the best films of the 2000s, “Miami Vice” finished in 38th place.