It has been more than 40 years since Miami Vice arrived on the scene and introduced audiences to Don Johnson’s James Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas’ Ricard Tubbs, two of the coolest characters in TV history. The series, which Michael Mann previously remade as a gritty and stripped-down 2006 movie, is about to get the big-screen treatment once again with Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski, and I’m stoked to say the least.
Though I can’t wait to see what Kosinski, who is also working on the soon-to-be-released F1 starring Brad Pitt, has in store for the property, I have to admit I’m even more excited about what the adaptation’s screenwriter is bringing to the table. Yeah, I’m talking about Dan Gilroy, who made his directorial debut with the incredible psychological thriller, Nightcrawler. Let me explain…
Joseph Kosinski’s Work On Top Gun: Maverick Felt Like A Throwback And Reinvention, And I Think He Can Do The Same Here
Tom Cruise and mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the long-awaited sequel back in 2022. The movie, which felt like both a continuation of the Top Gun franchise but also something new and fresh, showed that the Tron: Legacy and Oblivion filmmaker could honor the past while also looking forward for a major franchise, and I think he can do the same thing with Miami Vice.
You don’t want something too gritty, while at the same time you want to avoid overcorrecting from the dark tone of the 2006 Michael Mann movie, which is going to be no easy task for Kosinski, the rest of the creative team, and the actors who are eventually hired to play two of the most iconic TV detectives of all time.
flashy title sequence and all of those wild guest cameos, the series also had a lot of substance to it (especially in that legendary pilot). So, the perfect amount of focus on those various elements that made the drama so great in the first place will be key in the remake.
Not to keep going back to Maverick, but the movie commonly referred to as the blockbuster that saved Hollywood’s ass, best captures Kosinski’s ability to find that balance between action and character development. Whether it was Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, Miles Teller’s Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, Glen Powell’s Jake “Hangman” Seresin, or smaller characters in the movie, I cared about them all, even when they weren’t pulling off dangerous maneuvers in intense dogfights. You can’t teach that!
best movies about Los Angeles with his intense and utterly terrifying Nightcrawler. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a freelance videographer who starts taking his job way too seriously with an ambitious yet sociopathic mindset, the movie delved into the darker side of the City of Angels and its local news industry. Unrelenting, fast-paced, and entertaining as all hell, this deeply unnerving crime thriller is in a league of its own.
I cannot wait to see how Gilroy’s Miami Vice script tackles the seedier side of South Florida, both in Miami proper and the surrounding areas. When the sun goes down and those neon lights come on, what does his version of Miami look like? What kind of nefarious characters hide in the shadows (and in plain view)? These are some of the questions I keep asking myself, and I can’t wait to see how Gilroy answers them.
THR has reported that Kosinski is working on a UFO movie for Apple after his F1 lands on the 2025 movie schedule, so we’ll have to wait and see. However, with these two major players behind the scenes, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a major rollout with some big A-list talent playing Crockett and Tubbs.