Scott Woods is a poet, cultural critic, essayist and founder of the arts nonprofit Streetlight Guild.
"Miami Vice ‘85," starring Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler, has begun filming in New Jersey.
Take whatever issue you want with this Universal movie from "Top Gun: Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski.
My main issue has been, is and likely will forever remain the casting of Jordan, the star of "Sinners," "Creed," "Black Panther" and other flicks, as Ricardo Tubbs.
I get all the politics and money reasons behind casting him. I don't care.
Portrayed by Columbus native Philip Michael Thomas in the 1980s classic TV show, Ricardo Tubbs is smooth, not rough.
He is not handsome; he is pretty.
He uses his brain more than his brawn. He is not Shaft in a business
suit. He is pickled in charm.
When Tubbs walks into a room, the air shifts, not from potential danger, but from a desire to smell whatever he puts in his hair.
Tubbs is a ladies' man almost before anything else, even being a cop. There is something about Tubbs that isn't normal. He doesn't seem to have come from anywhere specifically. He carries the ways of the world on his tongue.
But Jordan isn't ANY of those things on his best acting day. At least Austin Butler ("Elvis," "Caught Stealing") will method act his way into a facsimile of Sonny Crockett, originally played by Don Johnson.
And sure, a lot of that was Philip Michael Thomas. COLUMBUS' OWN Philip Michael Thomas.
And sure, I grew up with a Miami Vice poster on my wall. And sure, I watched every episode and it has not aged well.
And sure, I'm biased. But I'm also right.
Scott Woods is a poet, cultural critic, essayist and founder of the arts nonprofit Streetlight Guild.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Michael B. Jordan isn't pretty enough to play Miami Vice's Ricardo Tubbs. I am right | Opinion
