This was the one that I REALLY liked, btw. I will get a review up as soon as I possible can today, and I hope you enjoy it.

Libs, can I slide on this one until tomorrow so that I can write a more detailed review? I truely liked this a tremendous amount, and I'd rather write more than just a paragraph, which is all that I have the enegry for tonight.

I loathe the Michal Dougles storyline (cliche ridden and boring), find the oen with Catherine Zeta Jones interesting and adore the one with Benicio Del Toro.

C, my dislike of one storyline really drags down my overall opinion of the film.

Vastly overated, the stories that I do care for was Don Chedle's character and Benicio Del Toro. I agree with Ripper that the story with Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones dragged the movie down a couple of notches. Nothing too extrodinary about the movie and I totally missed the point about the critics talking about how the movie sends a message about how drug smuggling cant be stopped Blah Blah Blah

B/B-

Agreed, this movie aside from the Del Toro satory is rather predictable and says nothing truly compelling about drug trafficking.

I thought the film was so overrated and ridiculous when I saw it from watching the kids overdose and then Michael Douglas dealing with his drug addict daughter, Catherine Zeta demanding over the phone that the assassin kill them, and other scenes that I've forgotten at this point. The film was interestingly made with the tints used for each of the different story lines but I just found myself completely bored and repulsed by it.

Maybe I'll get to posting this review tomorrow.

First and foremost, the best film of the year, but this is also a film that may introduce the rest of us to one of the best actors of our generation., 19 January 2001




Maybe it was by design and maybe it wasn't but one of the best aspects of Traffic is that it doesn't preach. It does show us the potential damage hard core drugs can do to you but it never really comes out and says that drugs are bad, drugs ruin you and drugs should be forbidden. What it does instead is tell about five different stories that all inter-connect in some way or another. There is the Michael Douglas story about an Ohio judge that is appointed to head a committee on drug enforcement, and also has a daughter that is hooked on crack cocaine. Then there is the story of a wealthy business that is the biggest supplier of narcotics in So Cal and his wife. He is fingered by one of his associates when he is busted and hopes to weasle his way out of his impending prison sentence. Then there is the story of the two cops that are trying to keep the witness alive long enough to testify. Don Cheadle has an astonishing performance here and he could be nominated for an Oscar. Then there is the story of a Mexican General that is trying wipe out the drug trade in Tijuana, or so he says. Then you have the story of the other drug cartels that are trying keep their business thriving and finally you have the most intriguing story in the film and that is the one about the two Mexican State policemen that are trying to help General Salazar wipe out the drugs. Benitio Del Toro plays one of the officers and this is one of the most intriguing performances that I have ever seen, in any language. We'll get to him in a minute.

Every story is given ample time to grow and develop and we are equally intrigued by each of them.

Traffic is brilliant in every way. Especially intriguing is the use ( or lack thereof ) of music and the way it is photographed. There is no music in the film except when people are moving around. But never during dialogue is there any musical interludes. This gives it the feel of reality. It looks like you are watching either a documentary or like you are watching a Super Eight home video tape that one of your friends filmed. The editing is so obvious and deliberate that it looks like someone just spliced the pieces together without any care, and yet it just the opposite. Technically speaking, this is a film that goes against perhaps everything that you may learn in film school. No music, choppy editting and a grainy look to film that may put some people off. Others will appreciate what the film stands for. I am not talking about the message because frankly the message is one that we have seen before. But what this film stands for the triumph of film making. There are incredible, grandiose performances and Steven Soderberg should easily win best director this year. There is no other film out there that can come close to this one.

What is also incredible about the film is some of the ideas and the writing of the thoughts behind it. It will go on to tell you that drugs are an intracal part of American society and no matter how great an effort you give to eradicate them, they will always exist. Put one drug Lord out of business and another will thrive. Don Cheadle's character actually shows his only sign of mistrust towards himself and every ideology that he ever believed in when one drug dealer tells him that his whole life is transparent because by having him testify means that one drug lord is gone but the other is waiting eagerly to break into the same market. In essence, Don Cheadle and the rest of the DEA are really working for a drug lord. Deal with that, he is told. It is one of the great moments in the film.

Far and away my favourite part of the film is Benitio Del Toro, who plays Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez. We may all know him as Fenster from Usual Suspects, whose performance has given drones of loyal fans hours and hours of enjoyment by imitating his talk, his mannerisms and his whole persona. I honestly did not know if his accent was that of the one as Fenster, an American accent like the one in Way Of The Gun or if he was really as Mexican as he is in Traffic. That is how layered and brilliant this man is. I would not have understood a word he said in this film without the aid of subtitles, but I would have been just as mesmerized by him even if I didn't. Everyone that I saw this film with ( all four times ) knew that this was a performance of monumental significance when we saw Rodriguez walk into a San Diego bar and work his magic to try and pick up an assassin named Frankie Flowers. His smile is perfect, his nervous walk is brilliant and his flow during the flirtation with this man is nothing but perfection. Then we see him telling the DEA all that he knows and he is troubled. He goes through the widest spectrum of emotions in this film and we can feel every one of them with him. Del Toro is, in my opinion, the best actor working today and he should be proud of his turn here. If he does not win best supporting actor this year then the person that does should just give it to him and apologize.

Traffic is the best film of the year and if anyone else tells you otherwise, don't listen to them. See it for yourself and be your own judge.

10 out of 10- Will garner many Oscar nods this year and will make everyone aware that Del Toro is a special actor. I absolutely love this film.

This is for the Queen, and I'm sorry it's so late. :mirrorbow: and I'm sure you all know that I'm not talking about Queen Elizabeth

Traffic is one of those pictures that just grips you, and it's different in it's execution, but not so much as it doesn't have mainstream sensibilities. The war on drugs is a very relevant social and political issue, so it always makes for an interesting subject matter, and having such a great ensemble cast involved was just the icing on the cake for me. It's another well done movie in the spirit of Crash, in which a common theme connects the lead characters, and each of the stories told is interesting. I have had a hard time writing this for some reason, and it's definitely not going to be worth the wait.

Michael Douglas plays the judge who is put in charge of the drug enforcement commitee, and his fight against drugs come crashing home, when he discovers that his own daughter is a drug addicted teen. The realities that he faces are much different when he's not on the outside looking in, and it was in the scene in the car with Douglas and the teen friend of his daughter's that summed this movie up for me best.

It was about the power of drugs. As a musician, I've seen lives destroyed and controlled by drugs, and we see how his daughter would sell her body for a fix. It goes deeper than the power it has over the addicts, but the power that it gives dealers. The speech about how you could make 500 dollars in 2 hours and then have the rest of the day to do what you want, really showed how the pushers can capitalize on the addiction, and profit much better than all of those honest people going to law school to make a good living. In a world where competition and favoritisms can cut your throat, it's easy to understand taking the surer bet, but even then, we are shown just how small potatoes those pushers are.

The story involving the businessman who gets ratted out and put on trial, shows exactly how rich it is to get off of drug money, and how steps can be taken to eliminate problems and get off on all charges. He lived a life of wealth, and he had millions of dollars that didn't come from honest business dealings. In the end, his drug money bought his freedom, after the key witness against him was killed, even while being under government protection. It gets even bigger, as we see that this power and corruption even gets to the level of high ranking government officials, like the General in Mexico who was mixed up with the drug cartel, and that's why I think the Douglas scenes were so profound, because he's appointed by the president to deal with things on that level, but discovers it on a much more personal level, and it made him realize exactly how widespread the problem was, and how nobody was untouchable. Something he didn't realize when he was appointed, as it was just a big scale problem, with the smaller scale not even being considered by him.

All of the performances were top notch, and the directing was very inspired. The two standout performances for me were, Don Cheadle, who was very good here, and he is quickly becoming an actor that is gaining my interest more and more. Haven't seen Hotel Rwanda yet, but I hear he's good in it, too, and Catherine Zeta-Jones was great as the business man drug dealer's wife, but she was ruthless herself, even though her demeanor didn't suggest it. I really loved this film!

A

I still didn't see this, I'll have to check it out!

When I entered the thread, I expected to see A's only. Glad I'm not the only person who thinks this movie is utterly overrated.

I liked Traffic. Didn't think it was great, but was brilliantly made.

Soderbergh used color in a very original way. The scenes in San Diego were bright and natural. Cincinnati was dark and dreary. Mexico had a yellowish, almost dirty look.

Did anyone seen Traffik, the BBC mini-series? I really enjoyed that. It gave the writers and director a chance to really tell a long, complicated story that spanned the globe. I highly reccomend it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096716/

A

In my top 5 of 2000.

The two gentlemen above already posted terrific reviews of this movie, so I'll just echo their sentiments that this was a stunning film. I remember coming out of the theatre with my buddy, we got in the car and looked at each other and just knew we had seen something special. We both then expressed that no other movie was going to touch it for best of 2000 and no movie did. Exemplary acting across the board, Del Toro the standout, and a series of gripping stories, but the one aspect of the film that truly astonished was the cinematography, probably some of the best seen in the last decade.

An A+ for Traffic.

C+


To me, this movie suffers under "The Insider" syndrome because just like with that movie, I simply found myself very desinterested in the story, despite the fact that the mvie itself is "technically" very well-made. I can't list many flaws of Traffic here because it really doesn't have many. It just, at no point, managed to involve me emotionally into the story or made me attached to any of the characters. Most of the actors deliver good performances with Benicio del Toro being a particula stand-out. However, I thought that Joaquin Phoenix and not del Toro deserved the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year. The technical aspects of the movie are all good and the use of colors and contrasts is masterful, but as I said, I fould this movie uninvolving and it did drag quite a bit and never achieved to make any kind of an impact or to leave any lasting impression on me.

Extremely overated. Sometimes too many characters but not enough development for each one destroys the movie. I mean some of those characters I dont give a shit about except for Don Chedle and Benecio Del Toro's characters. Is the movie supposed to be a statement about cocaine and drug trafficing because I learned nothing about. Blow was vastly better than this movie and overlooked

B-

Very well-made movie, though it sometimes loses my interest. The interconnecting storylines are interesting, but some of the individual plots don't hold my interest. The acting is all superb and the film is technically sound. It's too long, though, and missing that emotional edge to make it excellent.

A solid A-. Compelling, but it didn't really stay with me like it should have, and I just felt a wee bit underwhelmed.

Traffic

I had previously labelled this film as one that I disliked, but perhaps I watched it at too young an age. I just watched it and I think, while it's not a masterpiece, it's a competent film about drug trafficking and kept my interest. Douglas is a great man, I really like him in movies, but Del Toro is the shining star here for me. Soderbergh did a good job with Traffic, but he's really gone down hill in recent years ever since Che; case in point...The Informant! was pretty bad. I've yet to see Magic Mike, Haywire and Contagion, but they all look terrible.

B

D-

One word comes to mind: boring. So much so, that I fell asleep while watching.

One of the best films of the last 15 years.

It certainly is one of the best of 2000. I think its way underrated (these days anyway).

And it wasn't boring at all.

It's solid enough though I did get a bit tired of the film within the last half hour. Everyone does a fine job acting though.

One of the most overrated BP nominees of the last decade.