Traffic (DVD)

Traffic encompasses a month in the life of newly elected Drugs Commissioner Robert Wakefield. He is appointed by the President to crack down on the drugs problem in the United States. His first month in charge is an induction period for him to get a feel of what he is up against. At the end of this month, he is to give his first public speech on what he intends to do to help resolve the situation. The plot incorporates three or four separate stories ...
...drugs without him realising. Traffic addresses a difficult, but very important, subject. Director Steven Soderbergh chops and changes between the stories to keep the viewer on their toes. The movie is long, but I found myself drawn in by the different plots and characters, so you don't have time to lose attention. At various points in the movie, the characters cross each other's paths, highlighting the fact that everybody is affected by the drugs ...

MrRPriest 08.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

The film is a mix of different storylines that have one thing in common-drugs. There is the story of a judge appointed to spearhead the USA's drugs crime prevention. The only problem is that his own daughter is hooked on narcotics and is ruining her life as well as her parents. Douglas is good as the judge and is finally branching out into roles that suit his age. The best performancein this segment however is the daughter played by Erika Christensen. ...
...lot of emotions and is one to watch for the future. Soderburgh being the director of photography under a differnt name shoots each segment with different filters to produce interesting colur palletes. In this segment everything is shot with a leached out blue hue making everything bleak and cold. Another plot line inolves Benicio Del Toro as a mexican cop who is an honest man in a corrupt system. Toro is getting all the acting plaudits for this role ...

utero 05.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

Steven Soderbergh’s compassionate, compelling dissection of the narcotics industry is a story told in three parts. In Midwest, prosperous Cincinnati, Judge Robert Wakefield takes his new post as Drugs Czar, oblivious to his daughter’s blossoming freebase hobby. In California, a society wife with a young son, an airy La Jolla home and lifelong country club membership, suddenly finds her lfiestyle stripped away when she discovers that her ...
...Tijuana, a Mexican cop gets squeezed between his duty as a police officer and the lure of cartel backhanders. Director Steven Soderbergh builds up a rapidly moving mosaic of three milieux, giving each a different filter and cinematic look. The result is a series of instantly-recognisable images, from the sepia tones of Benicio Del Toro’s Tex-Mex border ground to the cool, early morning blue of Michael Douglas’s classical Washington townhouses. ...

rushed 11.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

Using a large canvas and a huge (and hugely talented) cast, Soderbergh and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan have endeavored to be as realistic and detailed as possible in their dissection of the hows and whys of North American drug trade and consumption. While its three principal storylines don't presume to constitute a comprehensive account of the subject, the shrewd choices of characters and locales manage to illuminate an excitingly diverse range of ...
...to earnest enforcement officers, users and incidental victims on both sides of the Mexican border and at all stations on the class scale. Although one of the film's driving impulses is clearly to cast a skeptical (if not completely scornful) eye on the War on Drugs as long defined by the U.S. government, it is a testament to the priorities of Soderbergh and his collaborators that their first order of business was to tell their complex stories as ...

rsmall 09.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

Everyone is raving about Traffic - at least, everyone I’ve talked to and all of the short summaries about the flick I read before taking myself off to the cinema. I will agree with a few things: it is an ambitious project and there are some moments of fabulous acting in it. Does it work? If you ask me then the answer will be “no”. Steven Soderbergh is a talented director and many people will know him as the Director of Erin Brockovich. ...
...to describing the movie. Traffic is, in fact, rather slow to get going and once it does there are pauses long enough for you to sit back in - and so “tour de force” is entirely an inappropriate term. The main reason why Traffic is slow to start is that it has to introduce three very loosely integrated stories. I hate giving the plots twists and turns away in reviews and so I’m only going to briefly touch on the scripts of all three. ...

Manx 03.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

...the more literal kind of traffic – busy roads, crossroads, and so on. Yep, it’s the kind of film that makes you notice things, and think a bit. The acting is very good throughout. The big names are Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, but neither is portrayed in leading actor ‘star’ fashion – they are just actors in this movie, along with everyone else. There are plenty of other familiar faces – some only ...
...and Albert Finney only gets a couple of scenes. Benicio del Toro has already won awards for his role as Javier, the Mexican cop, and he really should get an Oscar, too. I also enjoyed watching Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman as the undercover Drug Enforcement agents – they have some funny lines, and their situation (hidden in a van, spying on subjects, who are aware of your presence) allows for a lot of humour. The three narratives are shot in ...

radamson 22.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

...the big, big but – Traffic is actually quite good. Based upon the wheeling, dealing, cut throat business of the drug trade, this film covers a broad range of issues along the drug trafficking spectrum. The plot focuses along three main storylines, of which I’d love to go into but you’d just end up getting bored – and at the end of the day, it’s a film you’ve just gotta see. However, as you’re twisting my ...
...dust filled streets of Mexico, there is a different camera lense used – possibly to make the atmosphere look hectic and unpredictable. Absolutely cutting edge stuff. All in all, Traffic hits all the right notes for me. A film that is excellently produced, well directed, and unfortunately all too believable. ...

Kustomed 15.10.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

Ok, I wanted to see an action movie, so I had to decide which one. So between – ‘Hidden Giraffe, Crouching Siamese Cat’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’ or ‘Traffic’, guess which one I plumped for!? It’s not your typical drug/cop movie, no overthetop violent scenes, excessive use of swear words, but most importantly of all (which I think makes the film) there is no clear cut between the good and bad guys… ...
...drug cartel, an anti-drug king and a drug smugglers trial in the USA, they all link up at the end(of course!). It feels more like a Docu/drama with handheld cameras being used in some of the scenes. Even though these 3 stories switch quite violently, you can tell which part you’re watching as they are shot in different colours – brown and earthy for Mexico, blue for the anti-drug king and technicolour for the trial – sounds weird ...

loulou6 03.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

...and created a unique style. Traffic runs for 2 1/2 hours and some opinions on this site have not liked it for that and accuse it of being boring. Well not every film has epic battles, explosions and gunfights. They are called movies, this is a film. But we are not here to talk about the film, we are here to talk about it's silver disc incarnation. Quite often I advocate in favour of Region 1 releases because they are superior in terms of extras and ...
...problem as a whole. I suppose Traffic is one of those dvd's that you buy for the film itself. as it stands it's a case of great film, shame about the dvd which makes the rating lower overall. Because in my opinion the film is a 5-star rating. ...

utero 25.09.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

This film is NOT about fast cars. Anyone expecting an exciting captivating film had better choose something else. Don't get me wrong, this IS a good film. But if, like me, you just wanted a night out and see an entertaining film, then if you see this one, you won't really enjoy it. Its not that there is anything particularly wrong with it but its an unnecessarily long film and you will find yourself wanting it to end well before it does. It is a ...
...kind of film. But if you like that sort of thing then, hey, this is a good movie. If you are like me and like to be kept captivated, then this isn't for you. Basically it is about the drugs cartels in America and Mexico, with the new drug crackdown supervisor (Michael Douglas) put in charge of reducing the drug related crime on the streets, especially where it affects children. A good idea. However, this new public hero is unaware that his own daughter ...

doctorwho 16.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

...Told from four difference perspectives, Traffic endeavors to show America’s “War Against Drugs” for what it truly is, a symbol of our own weaknesses and failures, of greed and hypocrisy, of love and hope, in essence, a microcosm of the daily struggles in a world we don’t always understand and what our place in that world might be. The movie opens from the perspective of Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro), whose ...
...attention. Loaded with talented actors, Traffic avoids the pitfalls of other movies that have been loaded with lots of star power (Copland and the Batman sequels come quickly to mind) by placing each star in a defined role and each actor staying within that role. No one character is asked to carry the story, and that’s part of the point. None of us in life can do that, so none of the characters in Traffic can do it either. We take what comes ...

joshnev 29.01.2001 (27.01.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

Whoever recommended this film to me should be shot, I thought this was the worst film I had ever seen (and I’ve seen some very low budget films). Whoever nominated this film must be taking as much drugs as the kids in the film are, I can’t see how a film as bad as this can be nominated for so many awards? This is the only film I have ever seen where I though very seriously about leaving the cinema (or going to sleep in the cinema), several ...
...to see the ending, which was as bad as the rest of the film. This film has got an all-star cast, which makes it hard for me to believe they knew what they were doing? Perhaps they were on something too? ~~The Film~~ The film has several story lines going on (much like Pulp Fiction, but less interesting). There is the story line about the Mexican side of the drugs enforcing, the American side of drugs enforcing and the story of the newly appointed ...

ia_young 11.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

Traffic pretends that it offers intelligent insights into the world of drug trafficking, but it really doesn't. Instead, it starts from the premise that America is a wonderful, perfect place, ruined only by some poor black people (black cops are okay). By contrast, Mexico is a foul, scabby dump, and the cause of all America's problems. Taken as a Hollywood thriller, Traffic is entertaining enough. The use of a large, starry cast, all essentially ...
...Anderson's Boogie nights and Magnolia. Traffic falls far short of either of those films. Although Cahterine Zeta Jones and (espcially) Del Toro are impressive, you really have to wonder why Michael Douglas wanted to do the film, as his part consists of simply going round differnt locations, and asking people to explain the drugs trade to him, while he looks concerned. The plot about the drug-taking teenage daughter will offend anyone with an ounce ...

fingertoe 10.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

...Mexico and the United States, Traffic makes it subtly clear that the official corruption is all happening south of the Rio Grande; the worst that the Americans are guilty of is a surfeit of innocence. The movie's undoubted star is Benicio Del Toro as Javier Rodriguez, a harassed underpaid street cop in Tijuana, already mired in the venal business of back- handers over parking violations. But he and his partner Manolo (Jacob Vargas) are doing an eye-catchingly ...
...of the sinister General Salazar, played by Tomas Milian, who co-opts them into his own ruthless theatre of operations in the drug war. This is a riveting performance from Del Toro: understated, flintily tough, reticent and, finally, infinitely weary and battle scarred. Overall a brilliantly directed and produced film and conveys a good if harsh image to the public of how many, many events can lead down to one event and are revolved singly around ...

voodoo__child 01.02.2001 (13.02.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)

This is my opinion of “Traffic”, the movie. This is based on a European production (spelt Traffik) shown some years ago as a TV mini-series, starring, if I remember correctly, Bill Paterson as a H.M. Government minister and Lindsay Duncan as the drug baron’s wife living it up in Hamburg, amongst others. The movie, which has been rewritten around American venues, stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, correspondingly as ...
...wife. To help you keep up with the frequent venue-swapping that the heavily-interleaved plot calls for, different sites are shot in different “off” colours, for example, Tijuana and all points south come in a sandy colour cast, shot in that jerky war-journalistic fashion like various parts of Saving Private Ryan. The plot can be a bit difficult to unravel sufficiently for explanation, since it is more a combination of sub-plots. One ...

BNibbles 30.01.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Traffic (DVD)