Traffic

Rating:
Summary: A modern masterpiece
Review: Traffic is one of those rare films that actually lives up to the hype. It's a serious message picture that isn't too preachy. Along with Michael Mann's The Insider, it is actually a throwback to the gritty, politically charged movies of the '70s (Soderbergh even acknowledges on the audio commentary that the font used in the opening credits is exactly the same as the one used in All the President's Men). This film works on every level: superb acting from an outstanding cast, stunning cinematography, and an intelligent screenplay.

When Traffic was first released on DVD, there were very few extras included. Fortunately, the folks at the Criterion Collection hooked up with Soderbergh and released the definitive version on a 2-DVD set.

First off, there are 3 audio commentaries that go with the movie. The best one is with Soderbergh and the film's screenwriter, Stephen Gaghan. They both have a dry wit which is highly entertaining and talk at great length about the filmmaking process and also the screenwriting process. It is equally informative and entertaining as are all of Soderbergh's commentaries. The second commentary is with the film's producers and with DEA experts and is worth a listen as they talk about how accurate the film is. The third one is with the film's composer, Cliff Martinez and includes music not in the film.

The second DVD is jam-packed with extras. There are a ton of deleted scenes (with optional audio commentary by Soderbergh and Gaghan) and some fascinating featurettes on the nuts and bolts of filmmaking -- ie. editing, sound effects, etc. Which actually isn't as dry as it sounds. One of the most fascinating extras shows how they achieved the highly stylized look of the Mexico scenes.

This is an excellent DVD set for a great film. Well worth purchasing!

Rating:
Summary: Two consistent mistakes troughout the movie
Review: This is a movie with starpower and sustance, but it commits the same mistakes with consistency troughout the movie. If you can look beyond them, great, some of us can't.
mistake 1: the only cast member that does not produce the spanish language with a thick american accent was Salma Hayek. Everyone else, From Del Toro to the little characters is a Culprit of mangling the language into an East L.A. version of it.
mistake 2: All scenes in cars in the Mexico side have all the actors "buckled up" when in Mexico there is no bucke up law, In fact buckling up is considered for sissies by the macho military/policial culture.
Thoper Grace's performance was a surprise, the kid did break out of his tv personna.

Rating:
Summary: An honest, artful take on the drug war
Review: "The war on drugs has many enemies. Sometimes the enemy is your own family. And I don't know how you wage war against your family." - Dialogue from "Traffic"

Which is why the war on drugs, like the war on violence or the war on obesity or any other social war, will be difficult, if not impossible, to win. More than statistics and money, the war on drugs asks for an assault on desires of human consumption, which cannot be combated with any policy or criminal punishment.

The most powerful element of Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic," quite possibly the best American movie in 2000, is how it lays bare the nuances of human nature that simply have no reasonable explanation. What leads good to bad? "Traffic" has no hard answers, but it does show a wide canvas of protagonists either connected to drugs in some way (whether it be enforcement, sales, or use) or lost in the pursuit of some material or chemical high. If it isn't drugs, it's money or a lifestyle one can't give up. Faced with hardship all her life, the beautiful, pregnant wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) of a drug lord refuses to return to it, using her young son's golf putter as a sign of what she has to lose. When her husband is arrested, and faced with forfeiting his entire fortune, the wife is again faced with poverty. Just watch what she does to prevent it.

In another story, an Ohio judge (Michael Douglas) accepts a job as the nation's drug czar, and is immediately faced with his own domestic crisis; his honor student daughter, Caroline (Erika Christensen) has fallen into drug addiction with free base cocaine. While the most interesting, best-acted segment involves a corrupt Mexican cop (Benicio Del Toro) trying to walk the fine line between death and profit, all while battling his conscience, the key, absorbing scenes occur with the father and daughter in Ohio. The screenplay, written by Stephen Gagham, is adapted from a British series by the same name, draws Caroline as a character who falls hard for drugs, in the way that few people, I suspect, do.

She cries, literally, tears of joy, at the thought of getting high. She subjects herself to whatever demand it makes of her, sexually or financially. She represents the ecstasy end of the spectrum, and rarely has it been captured so well, the abject happiness of crack. The lingering images of the film mostly involve her character, and her boyfriend Seth (Topher Grace), who is just well-versed enough to justify the use of drugs as an escape from convention.

(...)

This is a statement you've heard, no doubt, in any after-school special. Really, there is nothing original in "Traffic." It's been onscreen before, especially in the 1980s, when anti-drug films were the standard fare. What struck me in watching the movie is how familiar all this material is (the key drug witness wanting immunity, the corrupt cops, the daddy's little girl gone astray) and yet how the craftsmanship of Soderbergh's direction and camerawork tie it together into a moving, ambitious work.

Del Toro, as the cop, uses a quiet smolder to show his growing frustration with the Mexican status quo regarding drug cartels. Douglas, in a rather subdued performance, is troubled from nearly the opening frame; first, as he discovers how little can be done to fight drugs, and then, with his daughter, just why that is. A wide supporting cast, including Don Cheadle, Lusi Guzman and a nearly unrecognizable Benjamin Bratt, flesh out their small parts well.

"Traffic's" uncommon strength lies in its conflict of conventional morality vs. the baby boomer experience. There is a scene where Douglas asks his wife (Amy Irving) how long she's known about her daughter's drug use. The wife has kept her daughter's secret for six months, for no better reason than in college, she used drugs, came out all right, and look, now she's a millionaire. And so what harm could a little experimentation do? And how could she offer herself up as a hypocrite to her own daughter?

Another question is asked: What separates our fates? The user from the addict? The alive cop at the baseball game vs. the dead one in the desert, when they were both trying to do the same thing? "Traffic" plays these questions out; we aren't surprised by the ambiguity of the results, and yet the journey of this film is as absorbing and dramatic as any in recent years.

Rating:
Summary: A must see movie
Review: I think it was the director (Soderberg) who said that he wanted to make a movie that did not reflect his views on the drug issue, but one which presented the facts as they were so that viewers could come up with their own conclusions. In this he succeeded. Traffic is a fairly unbiased look at the drug problem in the Mexico and the U.S. The Mexican half of the film is in Spanish with English subtitles, which in my opinion gives the film a more realistic feel. The documentary type sequences in the film (with real politicians and other officials) also add to the feeling of authenticity.

There are a number of subplots in the film which makes the film slightly difficult to follow if you aren't paying careful attention. Fortunately, all these subplots are somehow related, a masterful stroke as the subplots add to the complexity of the film reflecting the complexity of the problem in the real world.

I appreciated Soderberg not going down the route that many other American movie makers have gone. I'm referring to those directors who love the idea that the Americans are the heroes and the rest of the world is the bad-guys (A variation on the cowboys and Indians theme that many other directors have found difficult to grow out of). In traffic we have the 'bad-guys' on both sides of the border. In fact one of the 'bad-guys' turns out to be the daughter (Erika Christensen) of the man heading the war on drugs (Michael Douglas).

If you are a Michael Douglas fan, you won't be disappointed. If you are a Catherine Zeta Jones fan, you won't be disappointed. In fact if you are a fan of great movies, with great storylines and totally believable people you won't be disappointed with this film. Watch it to see what I'm talking about.

Rating:
Summary: "Now get out of the car and shoot him in the head!"
Review: Regulating human behavior through law has always led to tension between governing bodies and the general public. Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic" explores this truism by chronicling the trafficking and sale of illegal drugs. At the heart of this conflict is the struggle between a society that wants to stamp out this destructive scourge and the segment of the population unwilling to comply with the law because they are profiting from drug sales or consider drug use a recreational act too enjoyable to give up.

Soderbergh's film is composed of three distinct but intertwined tales. One tale involves a judge named Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas) who is appointed the nation's new drug czar. He experiences the destructive nature of drugs first-hand when his daughter, Caroline (Erika Christensen) becomes addicted to crack cocaine. Another tale features a police officer in Mexico named Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro). Rodriguez wants to disrupt the flow of drugs from its source but finds that the authorities in charge of combating drug trafficking may be part of the problem. The third tale revolves around a successful businessman named Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer) and his wife Helena (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Their lives are shattered when Carlos is arrested for his involvement in the drug trade.

Taken as a whole, "Traffic" has an epic feel about it because there is so much going on and so many characters that figure into the events of the three separate stories. With so many component parts to the film, it could have easily become a jumbled mess. Yet, Soderbergh smoothly transitions from story to story and ably weaves his three tales into an impressive tapestry. The acting shines from everyone involved: Douglas, Del Toro, Zeta-Jones, and Don Cheadle turn in exemplary performances while Dennis Quaid, Miguel Ferrer, Luis Guzmán compliment them with strong supporting turns. "Traffic" is an ambitious piece of filmmaking that will entertain and disturb at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent movie about a REAL problem
Review: If your like me and fed up with comedies and other movies that take the focus off of real world problems, you will love this movie. A five star cast takes you on a multi faceted tour of the high risk world of the illegal drug trade from four different interrelated stand points. Although you might think that combining multiple stories leads to loss of attention and confusion, you wrong. In this movie it tends to make each story a little more personal and the conclusion all the more better.

Rating:
Summary: on the money
Review: this one hits the mark, bulleye. Soderbergh directs a epic drama that fills with emotions and thrills that pull you in until the very last shot. all the different colors in the scenes are greatly blended in. Michael Douglas, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta Jones, Don Cheadle, Jacob Vargas, Clifton Collins Jr., James Brolin, Topher Grace, Erika Christensen, Salma Hayek, Benjamin Bratt, Luis Guzman, Miguel Ferrer and Benincio Del Toro(awesome) head the cast. a must see

Rating:
Summary: The Real Traffic-Stopper
Review: I went to see this movie initially because of Michael Douglas, but it turned out to be his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones that stuck out as a pregnant drug lord's wife, who'll do anything to get her husband out of jail. I instantly became a czj fan, and watched some other stuff of hers. Now I can really appreciate just how good an actress she is. She can play a farm girl, spy, action heroine, gypsy, villain, queen...and always pull it off. Not to mention in any time period. This was really the role of a lifetime for her; it's too bad Oscar snubbed her.

Rating:
Summary: Soderbergh's TRAFFIC is a superior film....
Review: A lot of movies that are about drugs describe the substance and shows it's effects on the characters who use them. Here, Steven Soderbergh directs a movie that shows the battles, losses, and meager victories between the authorities, the two sided faces, and the people who sell and supply. A great plus about the film is that even though there are three stories to be told, and they do have some significance to each other. Soderbergh makes sure that you don't get overloaded or confused. Each part has enough to give, and every piece that follows comes one at a time. There are no sides taken to any situation, even though there are characters who obviously make seedy and corrupt decisions. You are watching it from a filmmaker who wants to bring you how it is: ugly, slimy, brutal, and quite exausting.

Michael Douglas is more than fine as America's new drug czar. He later finds out that his own daughter, played by Erika Christensen, has succome to drugs herself. This makes an irony and brings a much larger pressure onto their household.

Beninco Del Toro, in an excellent Oscar winning performance, is Mexican police officer Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez, who along with his friend and police partner Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas), find their clever ways of police work favoured by a General Salazar, who offers them work, money, and protection for helping him with his so called claim to bring down a major drug cartel.

Meanwhile, San Diego housewife Catherine Zeta Jones is shocked to find her husband arrested, without knowing why, until their lawyer (Dennis Quaid) relenquishes the reasons, which will surprise her indefinitly.

Everyone has a lot on their plate. And although we are sympathizing for Douglas' father and Amy Irving's mother as they try not to let their teen daughter slip further into susbstance abuse, there is an interesting take on the possibilities of what wrongs we are all capable of. Del Toro's character wants to do right, yet his police paycheque is such poverty, and the competing drug runners they apprehend for their druglord boss are large and powerful people. Javier and Manolo are good at what they do, so this new opportunity gives them something they didn't have as Tijuana cops: excitement and more money. Now they are hotshots. However, an underlying guilt of it all haunts Javier like a ghost.

Everyone here has more than a job to do. With such a field of excellent actors, from Miguel Ferrer as a cocky drug runner, Topher Grace as the unfixable punk Seth, or Benjmain Bratt in a terrific cameo as the head of the Obregon Brothers drug empire, they all make the film more interesting to watch, yet what I also liked is how nobody crowds the film and their time in front of the camera, considering the large number of actors and actresses there are.

I really have to say that Don Cheadle and Luiz Guzman as the duo of DEA agents who survey Zeta Jones's every move, are my favourite to watch. They aren't these crisp super hero agents you see in other films. They're simply a pair of the agency's best, remaining very relatable as real people, but very driven when their job takes them to the front of the action. And since they're friends, they also make some good funny moments, joking about this, or bickering about that, without turning the movie far away from any of the movie's purpose.

The violence and substance abuse isn't way over the top, but when the drugs and guns do show up, it isn't pretty either. The story is really well written, and doesn't throw you around. It could have, considering the material's volume. I can't think of a better movie that has a lot to say and a lot to show without confusing you.

A sombering low key soundtrack adds to the film's gritty and surreal mood. And the acting is terrific. There hasn't been a better ensemble of actors than in this film, and with the terrific storyline and directing, I hope they leave this movie alone from any sequal ideas or such. It said what needs to be said, and we'll know how things will go on after the film ends.

Rating:
Summary: E.Christensen Needed to Win an Oscar 4 her Great Acting.
Review: September 29, 2003

My Review of Traffic:

One has to understand that the movie titled, "Traffic" brings
an interesting ending to the story of not having the perfect ending
for all audiences. One must also see the issue
that drugs in real life and just like in the movie is a war that will definitely rage on until the end of the World, this earth we live in.
The Drug Dealers, and The King Pins will be replaced by new guys in the organization, and a new cycle will continue. Mr. Soderberg
i feel has tapped into the mind of the subject, and has brought a real life motion picture that people can relate to-from watching the news,etc. The World is not perfect, the Law is not perfect, but there will always be those who always be there battaling this Evil Vision which is not just consuming people lives, but sending them to their graves.

Second, Erika Christensens character was really a light that really needed to be added in the film because she just played the part superbly. . .Erikas character in real life has to exist, nice young rich girls out there who have it all, but who crave the issue of illegal substances, and whom hide their activities from their loving parents-PARENTS who have alot of influence in todays society, in this day and age.

This movie is recommended, Traffic made 206 million dollars in total At the Box Office-here, and in Europe. So, people who cut down this film are really not looking at the issue that if a movie made alot of money then alot of people went to go see it.

One last note:I say this in Good Faith, but Erika Christensen's performance was really nice, it too would have been awesome if she too would have won an Oscar(Runner up or as Best Actress) but she did not win one. It would have been historical, a young lady at the age of 18 i believe winning an Academy Award, it would have been exciting and refreshing news for the industry and for fans who watch the awards each year.

For now the Oscar has eluded her(Erika Christensen), and who knows when She will be back(in another super performance), and win it. Don't get me wrong, she has other great movies out there, but this one in particular brought her the recognition as an actress. Hoping to win the Oscar Award does not happen each year because competition is just so tight. Traffic is Recommended.

Regardless of what the critics say including all actors, all of them want to win the Oscar, and be part of movie history, and be recognized by the Academy that ones skills have been recognized as being simply the best-by the Elite in HollyWood California USA.