The 2006 film adaptation of popular 1980s TV series Miami Vice is high in style but stumbles over director and writer Michael Mann’s convoluted storytelling and questionable casting.

Miami Vice focuses on cops James “Sonny” Crocket (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) as they are recruited by a joint agency taskforce to go undercover and investigate Columbian drug baron Jose Montoya (Luis Tosar). Things get complicated, however, when Sonny falls for Montoya’s financial advisor and lover Isabella (Gong Li); and Montoya’s head of surveillance Jose Yero (John Ortiz) begins to be suspicious of their activities.

Miami Vice is a visual delight with Mann’s flare for colour taking centre stage. Mann’s direction, though, squeezes the life out of the movie, resulting in a very tense watch with no room to breathe, and one note performances from Farrell and Foxx who forget to bring any sense of charisma to the screen.

Ali portrays the life of three-time Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (Will Smith) from his first title fight against Sonny Liston to the infamous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ with George Foreman.

While Ali is great looking biopic that has spared no expense in presenting every detail as truthfully as possible, director Michael Mann delivers a (surprisingly) emotionally void, tone flat portrait of a man whose contribution socially and culturally has yet to be matched. 

The surprising choice of casting former fresh prince Will Smith as Muhammad Ali works to a certain point. There is no denying the hard work Smith has put into the performance, his body structure and slick moves in the ring eerily reminiscent of Ali. Yet the voice and mannerisms which he brought to the role felt more like a great impersonation, rather than an absorbing dramatic performance.     

A welcome return to form by director Michael Mann, Ferrari explores a turbulent period in the life of entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari through the Mann narrative calling cards of obsession in profession and environment as character.

Set in the summer of 1957, Italy, Ferrari centres on Enzo (Adam Driver) during a crossroads in his personal and business lives, with his marriage to Laura (Penelope Cruz) in freefall after the tragic death of their son Alfredo, and the Ferrari racing car company close to bankruptcy. Enzo’s only solace is the secret life shared with his mistress Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley) and their son Piero (Giuseppe Festinese) who is next in line to inherent the Ferrari legacy.

The life of Enzo Ferrari proves to be the perfect subject for Mann, with Enzo demanding the best from those who work for him and represent his name, yet whose personal life is a wreck of trauma and duplicity. Complimenting Driver’s engrossing turn as the ice-cool Ferrari is Penelope Cruz with a fiery-hot portrayal of the scorned wife who holds the fate of the Ferrari empire in her hands. 

The first feature film adaptation from Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lector novel series, Manhunter saw Mann increase his focus on visual style without sacrificing the films’ engrossing serial-killer thrills.

Manhunter stars William Peterson as Will Graham, a retired FBI profiler who is brought back into the fold to assist the investigation of serial killer “The Tooth Fairy” aka Richard Dolarhyde (Tom Noonan). For further insight into the madness and motivation of The Tooth Fairy, Graham questions equally notorious serial killer Hannibal Lecktor (Brian Cox.)

Mann along with cinematographer Dante Spinotti (L.A. Confidential) delivers a sleek, neon-drenched aesthetic that inventively clashes who the films’ dark story to make for a unique crime movie. Peterson, meanwhile, is engrossing as the films’ highly intuitive and emotionally intelligent profiler who is drawn to the horrors of man.

Public Enemies is a thoroughly detailed and engaging gangster epic that portrays the criminal exploits and pursuit of infamous gangster John Dillinger.  

Public Enemies begins with Dillinger (Johnny Depp) busting his gang out of prison and leading them on a bank robbing crime spree in and around the Chicago area. With the public enraptured with Dillinger’s stick-it-to-the-man shtick, the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation names Dillinger “Public Enemy No.1” and promises his capture. Assigned the case is top cop Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) who leads a task force to apprehend Dillinger and his cohorts.

Under the ever-tenacious control of Michael Mann (Heat), Public Enemies does not resort to gangster movie cliché to tell its story, with Public Enemies succeeding in its authentic depiction of Great Depression era America in which its villains were treated as heroes and authority with disdain. Johnny Depp, meanwhile, steals the film with his cool as ice depiction of Dillinger.

That rare occurrence when Mann ventured into historical period film territory, The Last of the Mohicans is a film of rousing adventure and heartfelt romance that also delivered Mann his first box-office hit.

Based on the titular 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper, the 1757 set The Last of the Mohicans centres on Hawkeye (Daniel Day Lewis), a white man adopted by the Mohican tribe, who gets caught in the French and Indian War when he falls in love with Cora (a stunning Madeline Stow) who is the daughter of a British colonel.

Mann’s move from brooding urban crime settings to rich rural landscapes sets the stage for both spectacular action sequences and passionate drama to thrive. Day Lewis, meanwhile, continued to build on his infamy as a method-actor extraordinaire by learning how to use period weapons, start fires, and hunt and skin game during weeks of wilderness training.

Michael Mann’s feature film directorial debut Thief set the blueprint for his forays into the lives of men (often criminals) obsessed with their work. It also remains one of his best films.

Set in the rain-soaked street of Chicago, Thief stars James Caan as Frank, an ex-con and professional safe cracker who envisions a life after crime with his girlfriend Jesse (Tuesday Weld). When he reluctantly agrees to work for crime boss Leo (Robert Prosky) under the pretence of “one last job”, the fiercely independent Frank finds himself in too deep.

A crime thriller that doubles as a tragedy, Thief displays a grim authenticity to its work-a-day heist exploits that Mann combines with high-stakes drama. Complementing is Caan’s excellent performance as a thief whose pursuit of domestic heaven turns into a nightmare.

     

With terrific lead performances from Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, Collateral delivers as a taut thriller that features Michael Mann in his element as a director of character driven crime cinema.

Collateral stars Foxx as Max, a Los Angeles taxi driver who finds himself in a perilous situation when his passenger Vincent (Tom Cruise) reveals himself to be a hitman hired to kill five witnesses in an upcoming federal trial. Forced at gunpoint to drive Vincent to his scheduled “appointments”, a surely doomed Max must figure out how to survive the night.

The first film in which Mann implemented the use of digital cameras, Collateral captured Los Angeles at night with a startling clarity. Within this glowing City of Angels cruises a silver haired sociopathic killer played with startling chilling intensity by Tom Cruise. Complementing is Jamie Foxx with his own terrific turn as the taxi driver who   - despite having thousands of miles on his odometer - is living a life stuck in neutral.

In the 1995 crime epic Heat, writer/director Michael Mann brought together two of cinemas most influential, versatile and celebrated actors: Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

De Niro stars as Neil McCauley, an ice cold, disciplined master thief, who grabs the attention of dogged and bombastic police detective Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino) after a carefully planned armoured car robbery turns into an un-necessary blood bath.    

A somewhat remake of his 1989 TV movie L.A. Takedown, Mann reached his creative peak turning in a superbly written, exceptionally directed, and unconventional crime saga about the relationship between cop and criminal and the people who shape their lives.

A stellar supporting cast -with special mention to Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Diane Venora and Jon Voight- all give great performances.  But the real highlights (and drawcard) belong to the excellent turns by master thespians De Niro and Pacino.