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. The success of which, no doubt, helped him snare so many A-list Hollywood stars for Traffic. I can imagine that the phrase “tour de force” is going to be bandied around without a care for the cliché when it comes 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.
> Story #1: Javier
Don’t read too much into the names or the numbers I’ve given to these brief summaries as I’m just introducing them in the same order as they appeared in the movie.
Javier Rodriguez (Benicio
Del Toro) plays an honest and hard working Mexican police officer who struggles against the seemingly insurmountable levels of corruption and the power of the local drug families. Additionally, the poor soul has to do what he can to ensure that his enthusiastic, younger, partner stays on the straight and narrow.
His success brings him to the attention of Mexico’s military General who has been appointed to fight the drug lords. This association brings untold new dangers and potential.
> Story #2: The Witness and the Wife
Dennis Quaid is absolutely sterling as the high-class-seedy lawyer who is all to ready to help Helena Ayala (Catherine Zeta-Jones); I’ve no idea why you’d need to have a microscope to find his name on the credits - let alone the billing. Catherine Zeta-Jones was clearly heavily pregnant during the filming and I suppose it is nice to see that she can act (nearly as well) without having to heft her cleavage and flutter her eyelashes.
Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Ray Castro (Luis Guzman) are two American police officers who after arresting a key witness against Ayala (the husband, not Helena) find themselves (bizarrely) split between watching Helena around the clock and giving the witness (Sorry folks, I know the actor and I should remember his name let alone the characters - but I’ve forgotten both) twenty-four hour protection as well. How they can do both at once is never explained.
Helena ultimately finds herself quickly and deeply embroiled in the world of drugs and drug trafficking.
> Story #3: The Drugs Czar’s Daughter
Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas) is the newly appointed Drugs Czar for the United States of America. He quickly discovers that he has a next to impossible fight on his hands. Even the wealth of the United States can not stand up to the billions raised in drug money. He also discovers something more important - his only child is fast becoming a druggie herself. Erika Christensen puts in a wonderful performance as Caroline Wakefield. Her bad influence boyfriend (Topher Grace) is an a-typical brat pack kiddo and is entirely believable.
I do believe that Michael Douglas’s own son was arrested on drugs charges while this movie was being filmed! That might go some way into explaining the quality of the performances here.
> Direction
There were some brave and interesting choices here. Benicio Del Toro spends much of his time talking Mexican Spanish and so this leads to a lot of subtitles. That doesn’t bother me one jot but given the notorious American audience to which this film must have been targeted to it was a commendable decision.
The Mexican scenes are also filmed through a yellow filter and the effect seems to make everything seem more real. I found myself thinking how odd it is that by lowering the cinematic clarity of the image that a scene becomes more real. My wandering mind was also an indication that I wasn’t enjoying the flick. Clearly, I think, we’ve become used to Hollywood productions being squeaking clean in terms of appearance and lower budget documentaries
The one advantage of the three twisting story lines is that Soderbergh can direct for the MTV generation. Don’t expect any scene to linger to long in any given direction from any given camera.
This grew to annoy me. Traffic couldn’t seem to decided whether it wanted to be an Intelligent movie or an Action one. We’d be given standard action-flick cinematography just when things should have been moving into an all-together subtler mood.
> Acting
It is a shame. The acting through the film is always first class - I can’t really fault the actors for the shortcomings of the movie. Everyone was clearly geared up for the Golden Globe and Oscar nominations that they must have sniffed coming their way.
I’m going to point the limelight of special acclaim at Benicio Del Toro and Erika Christensen though. I am sure Erika will go on to become the next Christina Riccie. It is about time that Del Toro had the chance to prove himself a bigger roll. He was simply marvellous in the Way of the Gun, I feel.
> Overall
As you can see, I’ve plenty of positive things to say about Traffic but that doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t enjoy it that much. Its lack of direction (where it wanted to go - rather than the control of the Director) was a constant thorn in my side. The reason why I failed to enjoy the movie as much as I should have was because it was neither as intelligent as it should have been nor as fast paced as it should have been.
The overdose scene started a few of the brat pack getting high, drinking and debating academic anthropological theories. Snore. These might have been revelations for the druggie school kids having the debate but it was all old, old hat for me. I found myself thinking `you’re not as clever as you think you are`. That, I’m afraid, sums up the entirety of Traffic for me.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2002 - Drama - Director: Todd Haynes - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Viola Davis, James Rebhorn, Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson
I felt this was a long and rambling review that failed to get its point across concisely. A longer opinion does not necessarily equate to a better one, though you do raise some interesting points.
Alex1226 27.02.2001 02:35
I felt this was a long and rambling review that failed to get its point across precisely. A longer opinion does not necessarily equate to a better one, though you do raise some interesting points.
Squidget 06.02.2001 14:06
was going to give this a whirl but think i will wait till DVD is released.
Featuring a huge cast of characters, the ambitious and breathtakingTrafficis a tapestry of ... more
three separate stories woven together by a common theme: the war on drugs. Bold in scope, it showcases Steven Soderbergh at the top of his game, directing a peer...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Traffic is the Academy Award winning thriller set in the world of drug trafficking, from ... more
the cartels in Mexico to the wealthy dealers across America. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Traffic evokes the high stakes and high risks of the drug trade, as see...
Featuring a huge cast of characters, the ambitious and breathtakingTrafficis a tapestry of ... more
three separate stories woven together by a common theme: the war on drugs. Bold in scope, it showcases Steven Soderbergh at the top of his game, directing a peer...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon...
A high-ranking judge with a vendetta against drugs learns his own daughter is a cocaine ... more
addict - a San Diego housewife must suddenly take over her husband's drug dealing business when he is arrested - a Mexican police officer struggles to do the right ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Traffic [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78540259.jpg "Traffic [DVD] [2001]")
Feb 3rd, 2001
very helpful by (86%):
helpful by (12%):
somewhat helpful by (2%):
