In July 2006 , the calendar month director Michael Mann’sMiami Viceslipped into dramatic art like a hard - ass hole-and-corner bull moving silently through a crowded club , I had never sipped any combination of white rummy , simple sirup , quicklime juice , nine sal soda , and mess foliage in my life . Only 17 , I could scantily get into an R - shop movie , much less order a pop Cuban cocktail . Excited to see heyday - dirtbag Colin Farrell andRay - era Jamie Foxx bathe in thedigital - wolf afterglowof post - CollateralMann , I sat down at the local moving picture theatre unaware that my life was about to transfer .
I take the air into that multiplex as a adolescent . I left a fiend . A fiend for mojitos .
It ’s potential you have no idea what I ’m talking about . A critical misfire upon outlet and a box seat - office letdown , Miami Viceisn’t as lovingly think back as the pastel - gravid , Don Johnson - star ' eighty law procedural that inspired it . Nor is it as universally acclaimed asHeat , Mann ’s other moody crime epic . It ’s dismal and loud . The dialogue is filled with jargon . It has ( multiple!)shitty Audioslave song . But do you know what else it has ? A tantrum where Colin Farrell , playing Det . James " Sonny " Crockett , say , " I ’m a fiend for mojitos . "
Daniel Fishel/Thrillist
earnestly , just watch it .
Did you really watch it ? Do n’t just pretend you watched it –reallywatch it .
detect the way Farrell takes a breath , glances off towards the sea , redirects his gaze at Gong Li ’s mysterious crimelord Isabella , archly raises his supercilium , and delivers his iconic bloodline . This second is virginal cocaine . It ’s group sexual practice on a squirt ski . It ’s whatTrue DetectiveSeason 2 wanted to be . You do n’t even have to have see the rest of the movie for the shot to work its mesmerizing mojito power .
Universal Pictures/YouTube
And really , this sexually - agitate exchange is less about the " mojito " and more about the other parole that makes this sun - spotted poetry sing . I ’m talking about " demon . " This article would n’t exist if Farrell had turned to Li and allege , " Gee , neighbour , I find to savour a mojito from prison term to time , " or " I ’m a psycho for mojitos . " The word " fiend " has a mischievous lineament , an beguiling risk that harkens back to the word’sOld English etymology : devil , Satan , the foe of human beings . That ’s the energy Farrell was able-bodied to canalize in this pic .
Seriously , just look at Colin Farrell as Crockett?Lookat that face ! And the necklace !
It says , " I ’m sleazy but you’re able to desire me . " It says , " I grew this facial hair for sport . " It says , " make love you – I was in Oliver Stone’sAlexander . " In other speech , it ’s the face of a fiend . Pop refinement has feed us many devil : thedope daemon , themicrophone fiend , and that ogre drinking a Heineken on Nas ' " One Mic , " to name just a few . But over the course ofMiami Vice , you become enamored with a new type of fiend : the mojito fiend . He move around to Cuba . He dances . He listens to Moby .
It ’s authoritative to call back that " I ’m a demon for mojitos " is n’t simply a catch phrase or a meme . It ’s a room of looking at the world . Sure , you could ordera T - shirt online with the password on it , and Mann - lovers cite the line of business to each other with a mix of irony and awe , but within the circumstance of the movie , this tough - guy idiom is not a knowing wink to the consultation or fan service , like Samuel L. Jackson’sone - liner fromSnakes on a Planeor " I ’m the Juggernaut , bitch " fromX - Men : The Last Stand(both released the same summer asMiami Vice ) . Unlike those pandering , forgettable novelties , " I ’m a devil for mojitos " is a cheap line turn in with absolute judgment of conviction .
Pseudo - literary man - babies like to verbalise about how much theirfavoritewriter Ernest Hemingway loved mojitos , but it wrench out Hemingway was n’t even really about that lifetime . The citation often attributed him to him was a hoax . But you know what ’s not a humbug ? Colin Farrell pronounce " I ’m a fiend for mojitos . " There ’s nothing false about it , and for that I raise my cold mojito glass to you , Mr. Farrell , wherever you are – ideally on a beach somewhere talking to model aboutwhatThe Lobsterreally meant . Unlike Hemingway , you create an iconic mojito quotation . It will live forever .
Sign up herefor our daily Thrillist e-mail , and get your fix of the best in food / drink / sport .
Universal Pictures
