Traffic

Rating:
Summary: the truth, it hurts...
Review: Anybody who calls this film "long" and "boring" should stick to the brain-dead swill that Hollywood typically spews out, for example "Independence Day"---or better yet, stick to their 10-second-attention-span MTV! This is top-notch film-making that all too rarely sees the light of day these days: solid characters, good dialogue, masterful camera-work, plot and theme effortlessly woven together. Above all, NOT the kind of comfortingly simplistic and predictable pap that its detractors are used to seeing. In short: style AND substance, and blistering social commentary on these glorious United States.

Rating:
Summary: truly dreadful
Review: After all the hype I had expected far more. The sub plots of each of the stories were so poorly captured that they became meaningless. The "documentary" style failed miserably and even the ambitious photography failed to hold the Tijuana scenes together For me the only remotely interesting area was Michael Douglas' role as the Drug Watchdog who struggled to save his addicted daughter . Unfortunately even this story became muddled and failed to take advantage of a good opportunity give us real meat in the story. In another of the parallel stories, Miss Zeta Jones' souless acting added an additional burden to a story that lacked all credibility. Across the board, the few interesting plot elements were treated so sublty as to be lost. In summary this was a movie that lacked direction and took way too much time to go nowhere.

All in all a waste of time - I am sorry I wasted my money

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Film
Review: This is an intense and gritty though brief account of the so-called “war on drugs” depicted by viewing a cross-section of those involved. Michael Douglas is Wakefield, a judge who thinks that pushing treatment options balances out his pro-prosecution leanings in narcotics cases. Wakefield’s beautiful and intelligent daughter (Erika Christensen) herself is slowly falling under the spell of drugs and, by the film’s end, proves capable of doing anything for a hit. Pegged to become the next Federal Drug Czar, Wakefield’s strategy depends on bringing his brand of justice to Mexico where the lines between the law and the criminals is often blurry if extant at all. (If you’re car is stolen, the police will tell you who has to be paid before they can “find” your car.) The plan’s master flaw is that the drug war in Mexico, while apparently mirroring the cops v. dealers, is quite different, with the police and the army cracking down selectively on one cartel to the benefit of another. A seemingly fearless and moral Tijuana cop, Javier Rodriguez, discovers this when reluctantly co-opted into the larger drug war by the mythic General Salazar. Salazar’s methods require a fair amount of psyche-warfare against friend and foe alike (suspected traitors dig their own graves while prisoners with information are swamped with kindness so they’ll turn). When Rodrigues suspects that Salazar’s crackdown may be a cover for one supposedly crushed cartel to regroup and prosper, he breaches security and runs for the Americans. Linking the Americans and the Mexicans is a south-California businessman Carlos Ayala, (Steve Bauer) whose various corporations amount to a shell game used to conceal a vast drug empire. When one of Ayala’s underlings Ruiz, (Miguel Ferrer – the one whose script lines are meant to convey the futility of the drug war) is arrested on the eve of a massive coke bust, Ayala is arrested and it falls onto his now beseiged wife (a very pregnant Catherine Zeta Jones) to save the family and restore its links to the drug trade, by all means necessary.

Though freely taking shots at the drug-war, “Traffic” doesn’t so much push a point as tell a story, leaving us to base our own conclusions (the only difference is that we’ll now have to think twice about them). Soderbergh directs his characters well – the performances are actually understated for a film this topical. Each of the story arcs has its own special cinematography highlighting the seeming distance from the drug war’s front lines and the after-effects of a hit: the Wakefield story is generally shot in cool blue colors with static shots and high-grain film, implying a clear frame of mind. Zeta-Jone’s scenes are filmed in a sunny yellow, using smooth shots but quick cuts – hinting at how the orderliness of her life is on the verge of collapse. Best of all are Mexican scenes, shot in very grainy film using harsh yellow filters – never letting us forget the harsh pressures and ceaseless anxiety that hounds those at the source of the drug economy. Soderbergh further flavors the mix with a low-grade electronic score which seems both from an episode of “In Search Of…” yet perfectly balanced for this film. Even the captions seem to date the film to the 1970s (using typed captions instead of computer characters, as if the film were completed a week after “The Andromed Strain”). An excellent film. I would recommend the DVD though - just so you know you're getting widescreen.

Rating:
Summary: sorry to have bought it
Review: the movie is not bad, but it is not particularly interesting either. drug trafficking / war on drugs - the story is so old, it makes your eyes drop while watching the movie. but instead of one boring story, you get a package, featuring different characters with different boring stories (actually, these "different" stories are generally all the same). why this movie got an oscar makes me only shrug my shoulders. who knows? by the way, who wants this dvd? I coincidentally have one I want to get rid off - only 10 cents, I think you can't charge more for this movie, even if you buy it on dvd. :-) keep smiling!

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: I normally don't like to giveaway any plot points when wrting a review. I feel it spoils the movie for future watchers. And Traffic will not be an exception. However, I must say that I am a hardcore movie buff, and Traffic is for sure on my Top 5 ever!! The acting (of special notice is Del Toro) is flawless. The characters truly make you believe they're stories. It is uncanny. The movie also sports 3 color schemes to let you know, what "part" of the story your in. The directing by Soderbourg is indeed masterpiece work. Traffic has a "documentary" feel, so it adds to the realism of the drug problem in real life. One would think that it's a live recording of actuall happenings. Overall, the direction makes it stand out from any other movie Hollywood has "greenlit" in a while. And again...Del Toro's performance is astonishing. One of the best, most real characters I've seen in a very, very long time.

Neo101

Rating:
Summary: A jewel of a movie.
Review: Rarely have I been dazzled by a movie, especially one with Catherine Zeta Jones in it. However I was truly surprised by this film. Granted that the film is a remake of a 1980 TV miniseries, but so what. For those who have not seen Traffik, the original miniseries, I believe that you will truly enjoy this one. The acting is excellent and the filming is superb.

Rating:
Summary: Horrid show
Review: PBS would have been far more entertaining and informative. By far, the worst Michael Douglas show ever. I am beginning to doubt the people who give "awards."

Rating:
Summary: Style over substance,saved,redeemed by Del Toro
Review: Steven Soderbergh loves flash, and people seem to love him. From sex,lies and videotape on, he has commanded grwing respect. After having been mesmerized by the brilliant BBC series TRAFFIK, I was waiting to be dazzled. Sigh. Besides a blistering performance by Benicio Del Toro, this is lame,overwrought and hyerventalating cinema. The story surrounds interconnecting stories around drugs, from the newly appointed National drug czar{an unbelievably torpid Michael Douglas} to a drug king, and his wife{Catherine Zeta-JOnes is a typically wooden performance},the child of the drug czar, two cops, a Mexican cop{Del Toro}andd...the plot laid out over 6 hours on the bbc makes sense, in little over 2 hours it is frenzied and absurd. Douglas searching the "inner" city to find his strung out daughter,and not calling in any law enforcement folks he knows for favors is assinine, and simply not how these guys function. The supposed "harrowing "drug scenes are laughably bad{especially if you have witnessed the real thing}, Dennis quaid makes an appeARANCE as a shady lawyer, and grins his way through this embarrasment.Benjamin Bratt makes a truly ludicrous appearance as the mexican drug connection, with an accent he must have picked up from old Bill Dana routines. The best work is done by three standout actors: Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman and Benicio Del Toro. These three excellent actors hold this movie up. It works very vell when they are on screen, and becomes insipid when they are not. The ending, strangely is quite good and touching in such a light manner that it redeemed the movie for me. So , alltold, extraordinary work by Del Toro, excellent work from the always superb Cheadle and Guzman, weak, by douglas, laughably bad by Zeta-Jones. Watch the BBc series TRAFFIK, and you'll see.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing, pointless, badly filmed
Review: First off, what's the deal with the yellow tint for scenes in Mexico and the blue tint for scenes with Michael Douglas anyway? Sorry, it was like all those black and white cuts on the Playboy channel - forced artistry is just annoying.

And the plot, I mean, what was the point anyway? Douglas quits as drug czar - why? Because the drug way is pointless? He doesn't really come out and say that. It ends with him supporting his daughter in some kind of touchy-feely group session dealy, which is swell, but if he was so committed to treatment, why didn't he say so when he had a public forum? He just mumbles and walks offstage.

I liked the Mexican officer, but I completely missed the point as to what he wanted and where he was going. At first he seemed like a good guy, then you couldn't tell and finally he ends up being some kind of official. OK, so what? Again, what is the point? Just a mess.

This is one of the best films of the year? Doesn't anyone write anymore in Hollywood, or do they just dream up ``theme'' movies over lunch?

Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: Obviously this is first and foremost an entertainment. We don't want to be confused about that. But director Steven Soderbergh does have a didactic point, and it's one I agree with. The "war" on drugs will never be won with guns or law enforcement. We can see this in the extraordinary sequence in which Michael Douglas, playing the newly appointed drug czar of the United States, steps away from his job and returns to his family. He stops his speech and simply asks how can we fight a war in which the enemies are members of our own family?

Better yet, he might have asked, how can we fight a war when the enemy is ourself?

Soderbergh carefully avoids the appearance of taking sides, but the ending makes it clear that the "war" will go on; indeed the war has become institutionalized, a way of life for us and those involved in it. In some sense the war on drugs has become an entertainment for couch potatoes napping in front of the TV, as well as a patriotic rallying point for others.

I thought Michael Douglas gave one of his finest performances, and Benicio Del Toro as the Tijuana cop torn between what he believes is right and the reality of his situation, was excellent. The hauntingly beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones was chillingly effective as a woman without morality, a sociopath with the survival instincts of a hyena. Dennis Quaid, hardly recognizable without the grin, was competent as a sleazy lawyer who gambled big time and lost. Don Cheadle as the "solider" in the war who loves the battle, the "war lover," so to speak, was intriguing. Erika Christensen deserves special praise for her compellingly true portrayal of an insecure teen who finds escape in the little death of heroin.

But I wonder if the average person seeing this movie realizes what the message is, that the war on drugs is a fraud. Like the war in Vietnam it is a war that is, without changing the very nature of our society, unwinnable. It is a bureaucratic monstrosity that we have created because we need an evil we can hate.

There is no "solution" to the "drug problem" because there is no solution to human nature. A better approach to keeping the problem at a manageable level would be decriminalization and a massive program of education. Why doesn't this happen? First, because the entrenched bureaucracy that has a vested interest in maintaining its position. Second, because the old "moral majority" in this country, people who imagine that they know the truth, and have the right to regulate the morality of others, will not allow it to end. They need a target for their hate. Note well that Douglas came home and renewed his efforts as a father because he realized that that is where he failed, as a father, and that is where we as a nation are failing. Education begins at home. If you don't know what kind of drugs your children are doing, then, as a parent, you don't know anything.

Soderbergh tells this tragic story in a somewhat simplistic, but ultimately, very effective way. The use of tinted filters to lend atmosphere and perhaps to help orient the viewer did not bother me, but I agree with those who found them unnecessary and not particularly effective. On the other hand I thought the use of hand held cameras lend an intensity and immediacy to the action. Note that one of Soderbergh's techniques is to show just a partial view of the action, such as just the guns and the hands and arms of the killers as Dennis Quiad puts down the phone. We know what is going to happen from seeing only that much, and so does Quiad. In fact, this is the way we sometimes view the world, the salient objects in our view register and we act. Soderbergh's technique of showing the "war" at various levels and in differing environments and from differing points of view was obvious but nonetheless very effective.

But Soderbergh did not go far enough. Instead of showing the vulnerability of a judge with a junkie for a daughter, he might have had the local police catch her trafficking out of her house and had them unconstitutionally seize his property. Maybe then the message would get home to the American people that the war on drugs has the potential to become a threat to our democracy and our republican form of government.