Traffic

Rating:
Summary: Got run over
Review: Ugh. Like most people who had a problem with this film, my biggest disappointment came from the entire American User/abuser part involving Douglas' character and the spoiled brats high on smack. I despise movies that only serve to rile people up for no good reason. Soderbergh used the oldest trick in the book: Make the white middle-aged guy with an exceptional daughter totally ... out by showing her being shot up with Heroin and then ... by a violent black man. How ... racist and insulting to black people can you be! Then there was the scene where the daughter's boyfriend gives his indignant dissertation on the state of the drug war to a Drug Czar! Huh? I would have slapped the ... of that kid! I found it most interesting also that Catherine Zeta Jones could become so well-versed in the conversion of high-impact cocaine into powder form in such a short time. Cheadle did a fairly good job as did del Toro. Douglas was lazy, Amy Irving was plastic, Steven Bauer has never done good work and Dennis Quaid should be doing infomercials. This was obviously another contrived, Hollywood liberal view of the drug world and why you should be skeptical of any movie involving Michael Douglas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Sheen, Robert Redford, James Brolin, etc. If you want to see a good movie about a real life drug dealer, go see "Blow". In my humble opinion, it's the best work Johnny Depp has ever done and I never felt preached to.

Rating:
Summary: Get Caught in TRAFFIC
Review: Traffic is the perfect Hollywood epic. It's character drama at it's best. It's also a seamy look into the drug world, for many different viewpoints. The interconnecting stories are all wonderful, especially Luiz/s Guzman and Don Cheadle's. This film should have won the Oscar compared to everything else nominated that year. What really should have won is a different story, but Traffic will leave a mark in great American movie making history.

Rating:
Summary: Believe it or not
Review: Traffic proves conclusively that the "the war on drugs" is alive and well and playing at a theater near you. This stunning artistic achievement has been endorsed by members of the US senate, the motion picture academy and the nation's movie critics. What more validating acclaim do you need to see this film over and over, and believe everything that it puts forth? Well, I'll give you some more reasons to believe: 10) Candy colors help the medicine go down. 9) Being part of the La Jolla gentry and being a ruthless drug baron go hand in hand. 8) The ends justify the means. 7) If we would just listen to our children they would never even think about smoking crack. 6) Mexico is more corrupt than the US. 5) Drug czars, Hollywood filmmakers and DEA agents are motivated by the noblest of intentions. 4) People from the ghetto really are responsible for corrupting innocent rich white girls. 3) The use of different types of film stocks, hand held camerawork, the narrative "jigsaw" technique and political cameos mean great art (but only when respectable directors do it in the service of a higher cause). 2) No one in this film ever suggested that the US army start spraying paraquat on tobacco fields in North Carolina or start bombing distilleries in Kentucky. 1) Catherine Zeta-Jones really can act her way out of a wet paper bag.

Rating:
Summary: Real life comes to the big screen
Review: This is an excellent movie and it basically follows a number of different paths and all compelling to watch. AS the stories start to converge the movie gets even better and you start to realize that although fictional this is way things are in real life. Excellent acting by all the big stars as well as the supporting cast. It is also filmed in a different way, it isn't as clear and pretty as most films are but it adds to its appeal and helps you understand that a lot of times life isn't pretty.

Rating:
Summary: Decent movie, but nothing spectacular
Review: What can I say, I don't know anything about the reality of the drug trade, or anything relating to what this stuff is really like, but from a purely movie watching stand point, this movie is ok. Not great, or [bad], just ok. First off, the cinematography is pretty good. I like Soderbergh's film school style. The acting covers all ranges, from excellent to bad. Benicio Del Toro actually pulled off a role that was completly spoken in spanish. I haven't seen something like that since De Niro did it in the Godfather 2. Douglas's part seems flat, and the fact that the drug czars daughter is on crack seems alittle outragious. ...Miguel Ferrar(sp?) is good as always. He can play a wormy shady character better than most. What put me off was the length and the almost total lack of humor. Sure this a dead serious subject, but in order for me not to snap while watching a lengthy movie, it either needs to be A: a great and compelling movie, like the Godfather, or B: it needs to have some comic relief, something to break the tension. The part where the two cops are joking around is funny, but this movie just seems to be weighted in its own preachiness. If you got a few hours, see this movie, but if not, then don't lose any sleep over it.

Rating:
Summary: Perspective and sarcasm about our failing drug war
Review: Perhaps Michael Douglas' thrusting into the Drug Czar position was a crack at the US Government for finding someone...anyone...to take the heat for what is inevitably going to be a failed attempt at winning the drug war. Or maybe Douglas' own lack of superior expertise in the matter is reflective of our just past, real life Drug Czar's incredibly unsuccessful "Just Say No to Drugs" educational campaign, where kids aren't learning anything but sugar coated wive's tales instead of learning how to deal with drug-related situations. Maybe even more telling than that is the fact there is a drug problem right in his own backyard, perhaps being a shot at people who wage campaigns so vigorously but neglect to give the proper attention to their own children.

Equally frustrated is Benicio Del Toro's character, an honest Mexican cop who isn't supported by his own government. A cop who can't do his job because the people he is fighting against go much higher than street level dealers. In short, no matter what he does, he is still being controlled.

There is the drug lord in La Jolla who perhaps personifies the fear of having a crime lord exist in the seemingly most serene suburbs. I'm not exactly sure what to think about Catherine Zeta Jone's character, whether she was indeed left completely in the dark by her husband, or if she put up a really good front in order to continue operations.

Whatever the case, this movie was so well executed that most other movies seem childish in comparison. The color schemes were used well to represent mood and energy, from the yellowish tint of Del Toro's scenes, to the dark gray tones of Douglas' scene, to the more vibrant colors in Zeta Jones' family-oriented setting in which the public may relate more to. All the major players in this film started to lose control over what they cherished the most. Douglas' war was hitting roadblocks, and his daughter became a crack whore. Zeta Jones' perfect life was shattered when her husband was dragged off by the DEA. Del Toro's dream of cleaning up the streets was halted by the realization that the powers-that-be simply would never allow it to happen. Many other subplots, including Frankie Flowers having to give away his employers to the government when he really didn't have much of a choice in the matter (thus sealing his death), were portrayed with enough realism to the point the average joe could almost feel the same fear that the people in the movie were dealing with.

The cast was simply stellar, and while races of all sorts had their part in the film, it's somewhat disappoining to read some of the reviews on this page where people play the race card.

Rating:
Summary: Two Thumbs WAY Down
Review: I went to this movie thinking it would be more of an action packed thriller dealing with the drug smuggling problem of the US. My first surprise was that this movie has 3 plots intertwined together and all jumbled flowing from one into the next with seemingly no connection at all besides of course the drug 'issue.' As if this wasn't confusing enough, the movie ended basically in the middle of all three story lines. The action in this movie was dull at best and the graphic scenes of teenagers doing drugs made it very disturbing. I finished the movie wishing I had never seen it and felt as if it was a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Style impedes substance
Review: Sometimes I just don't understand what the Academy is thinking. The two key areas that detracted from this film were direction and editing. So, of course, two of four Oscars this film won were for Best Director and Best Editing.

Steven Soderbergh is one of the most creative directors around. He is also one of the most self indulgent. This is another example of style overwhelming substance. After playing it straight with "Erin Brockovich", Soderbergh picks up where he left off with "The Limey" and attempts to break whatever record exists for throwing the most stylized techniques into a single film. Admittedly, many of the images are brilliantly filmed with great impact. However, the excessive technique begins to get in the way of the story and makes a complex plot even harder to follow (and stomach).

The story is a fascinating look at the drug trade from the perspective of various players in the game. Soderbergh feels compelled to color code the simultaneous vignettes with an assortment of hues by varying the filters to produce blue for one, sepia for another, etc. This is not only disturbing, but a bit insulting to viewers who really shouldn't need the color code to follow the story (except maybe for the disjointed editing). The editing is choppy and the constant use of hand held cameras while giving certain scenes a dynamic "in your face" quality, often becomes distracting and annoying.

If there is one area that is uniformly excellent, it is the acting. The entire ensemble does an outstanding job, top to bottom. Benicio Del Toro is tremendous and deserved every ounce of the Best Supporting statue he received. Don Cheadle gives a career performance as well. Erika Christensen does a bang up job as the drug czar's addicted daughter. Michael Douglas is intense and unravels marvelously as his world comes crashing down around him. The acting is a solid ten everywhere you look.

As well received as this film was, I believe it could have been much better if Soderbergh restrained himself a bit. Of course part of being Steven Soderbergh is to be obsessed with showing everyone just how brilliant a director can be, regardless of how it might affect the film. (How producer Danny DeVito got Soderbergh to stay out of the way in "Erin Brockovich" is amazing to me.)

I rated this film a 7/10. Most people either loved it or hated it (far more loved it). I did a little of each. If the runaway director had been toned down just a tad, it could have been a true classic.

Rating:
Summary: The War on Drugs Begins at Home
Review: The War on drugs begins at home. Though this is an overused cliche it is the central theme and moral message that TRAFFIC tries to explore. In a multi faceted story, involving a myriad of characters in both Mexico and the USA, TRAFFIC encompasses the war on drugs from the cartels to suburban families. If you have children and find it difficult to talk to them about drugs, then I suggest you consider viewing TRAFFIC with them and discuss the movie after you view it. There is some violence, and one scene of a drug induced rape of a teenager (though no nudity) which you need to preview if you feel your children may be too young. But if they are teenagers, then there is nothing shown in TRAFFIC that they probably haven't seen before. I believe TRAFFIC can be a very good learning tool for the entire family and may open some doors of communication which have remained closed.

Rating:
Summary: 100% Reality....
Review: This kind of movie make us think about the "narco-war" of the U.S. Goverment, and the latinoamerican drugs organizations. The sound is nice, the movie is very good, Catherine its just wonderful, and Benicio del Toro it's hot, with his performance.

You can't miss this movie....