The story, perhaps apocryphal, is that NBC programming czar Brandon Tartikoff summarized the script for the original "Miami Vice" pilot with a terse note: "MTV cops."   The resulting program—which went on to become a long-running hit television series in the 1980's—was indeed that: sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll with two hip cops and a spring break milieu. 

The show might have reminded Tartikoff of "MTV cops," but it always reminded us of something else: the fictional Hardy Boys all grown up and free of the watchful eye of spoil-sport Aunt Gertrude.  Even as precocious detectives, the Boys already were adrenaline junkies—tearing through the countryside around Bayport on their motorcycles or roadster or racing up-and-down the coast in their speed boat.  They already had the appropriate cachet: a kind of reckless cool that the rest of us—girls and guys—found appealing, if out of reach.  All they needed was a little seasoning, a change of scenery, and an updated wardrobe.  And, perhaps instead of birth brothers, make them soul brothers:  one white, one black.  Everything old is new again.

The television series, starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as Miami vice detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, became a 1980's icon and helped spruce up Miami's down-at-the-heels image.  Suddenly, South Florida was hip and Miami was being touted as the capital of Latin America. 

Two decades later, Michael Mann, the executive producer of the television series, has revived the franchise with a big-screen version that's better, if darker, in every way.  Gone are the pastel colors and easy banter of the original.  This "Vice" is dark, brooding, and violent. 

Director Mann ("Ali," "Collateral") and cinematographer Dion Beebe ("Memoirs of a Geisha," "Chicago") fill the screen with compelling images—the glittering Miami skyline, an approaching storm, lush tropical vistas—and non-stop action.  The final shootouts—a hostage-rescue at a mobile home park and a sanguinary confrontation in a seedy waterfront district—are expertly choreographed sequences. 

The action rests on a rather bare-bones script (written by director Mann), but there's scant time to think about that while riding the crest of the unrelenting action.  Similarly, the movie is long at 135 minutes but passes at a crisp pace.

Since this is Miami—gateway to Latin America—and Crockett and Tubbs (now played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx respectively) are vice cops, illicit drugs are at the heart of the plot. 

When an FBI sting is compromised, Crockett and Tubbs go undercover as drug runners in an attempt to find the leak.  What they stumble on, however, is an international drug cartel operating out of Colombia.  Their undercover work is complicated when Sonny falls for the cartel's bookkeeper Isabella (played by the alluring Chinese beauty Gong Li, who was last seen in "Memoirs of a Geisha"). 

Despite the rather formulaic script, the cast is uniformly solid.  With his collar-length hair and three-day stubble, Farrell reprises the scruffy chic of the original series.  Foxx is buff and gets to show off his sleek muscles—especially in a shower scene with girlfriend Trudy (Naomie Harris).  Crockett and Tubbs are not equal partners here—the romance between Crockett and Isabella pushing Tubbs off screen for long periods—and it's left to Farrell to carry the movie.  And, despite some hackneyed dialogue, he pulls it off.

Gong Li is convincing as well as alluring as the Chinese-Cuban Isabella; Naomie Harris is excellent in a small, but important, role as Tubbs' girlfriend; and John Ortiz is menacing as the villainous Jose Yero.  

This updated "Miami Vice" delivers exactly what it promises: spectacular scenery, solid performances, sanguinary violence, and abundant adrenaline and testosterone.  Just be sure to leave Aunt Gertrude at home.  Military.com Rating: ***

Military.com's Movie Rating Scale

* As entertaining as an Article 15 (Best to avoid if possible)
** Another weekend pass (O.K., but nothing special)
*** On a par with a promotion (Don't pass it up)
**** DEROS (It doesn't get much better than this)