Traffic
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Movie Reviews of Traffic
Movie Review: GRITTY AND GRIPPING...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a raw and powerful movie on the drug trade and its corresponding law enforcement response. It is a series of riveting, interlocking vignettes that tell the story on all fronts of the war on drugs. It paints a picture that will stay with the viewer for some time, so powerful is the imagery employed and so compelling are the actors in their performances. Michael Douglas plays the part of Robert Wakefield, a newly appointed drug czar, who tries to mount an all points attack on the drug trade. Naive and well meaning, he is, unbeknownst to him, being manipulated by the powers that be in Mexico, who are fighting a turf war over the profitable drug trade. He is so clueless that when the drug war actually lands on his door step, as when his teenage daughter, wonderfully portayed by Erika Christiansen, succumbs to peer pressure and becomes addicted to drugs, he is initially in heavy denial and ignores all the standard warning circles, until it is nearly too late
Benicio Del Toro, in the star making role of Javier, an intelligent, decent, and honest Mexican law enforcement officer, who has his own war on drugs going on, is riveting with his quietly powerful performance . He, too, is being manipulated by the powers that be in Mexico. Nearly too late he realizes that the Mexican gweneral, who is ostensibly battling the war on drugs and to whom Javier had given his full support and cooperation, is engaged in some drug action on the side from which he hopes to profit. The only drug war that the general is really involved in is the one that one drug cartel has with its rival.
Meanwhile, back in the states, a wealthy and respected San Diego business man, played by hunky Steven Bauer, is arrested, as it seems that his businesses are really just a front for the drug trade. His assets frozen, this leaves his beautiful and greedy wife, played by the lovely and talented Catherine Zeta-Jones, picking up the pieces of her husband's empire while he is in jail, awaiting trial. As regent to the kingdom, she cold boodedly negotiates with the drug cartel to restore her and her husband financially. No shrinking violet is she!
There are several other subplots that are also of note and move the story along. All of these vignettes interlock with one another in some fashion, serving to bring the story full circle. To find out how they do so, watch this well directed and powerful film. It is certainly well worth watching and a welcome addition to one's personal film collection.
Movie Review: Drugs, Cincinnati- Who Can Ask for More?
Summary: 5 Stars
*Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 starts playing in the background.*
Ah yes. Today's journey takes us to the heart of America's Midwest to the manicured suburbs of Cincinnati. Urban sprawl. Rolling Hills. White, private school kids free basing in daddy's living room. This is the American Dream.
Traffic confronts dealing, selling, using and the "war on drugs" through three intermingled plot lines in this documentary-style film that take viewers from D.C. to Cincinnati to California to Mexico.
More well known actors grade the screen during this movie than is reallynecessary, but somehow director Steven Soderbergh manages to pull it off.People like Salma Hayek have bit roles and few lines. Other big names, likeBenjamin Bratt, don't make into the story line until the last fourthof the movie. But the main stars of the movie are Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones (looking *gasp* very pregnant for her role as a pregnant wife of a drug trafficker), TopherGrace (Eric Forman from That 70s Show with a good haircut finally) and ErikaChristensen (Leave it Beaver, the movie?).
The greatest part of this movie is its focus on Cincinnati Country Day high school in Cincinnati. For those of you have seen the move, you might be thinking, "What focus? They only mentioned the name of the school once." Well, let me fill you in.
Douglas' character and his family live in Indian Hills in Cincinnati (although the house they use is actually from Hyde Park). Indian Hills is where some schmo who raised like a bajillion dollars for President Double-yuh lives, as well as Marge Schott. Anyway, Douglas' daughter goes to Cincinnati Country Day, which is a REAL school. SO, when little, rich, white kids are doing drugs in the film, it's not reflecting well on Cincinnati Country Day with its $14,000 a year tuition.
This appeals greatly to my still-experiencing-horrors-as-a-result-of-all-girls-catholic-high-school-hell self.
So this movie is great. It really is and everyone should see it. And after you do, e-mail me. I have a question I want to ask you what you thought of this one scene I found very troublesome. (A little commentary just thrown in while Douglas and Grace go driving through Over the Rhine.
Movie Review: Traffic, not your typical Half Baked
Summary: 5 Stars
this movie ruled. the shaky camera and grittyness is awesome. but instead of some review on how it is an academy award brilliant film of substance abuse,etc i will tell you how cool it is, even if those cool parts glorify drug dealers. i like the part where that girl is at the party and the kid topher grace from that 70s show is talking all philosophically cause hes so stoned. and the kid on the other couch is like 'im so high' and he passes out and they drop him off at the ER and the cop comes and he yells the F word. ya i cant say it cause of amazon.com policies. its also funny when he has to get that girl messed up in a seedy hotel downtown to get with her. and theyre like doing trashy drugs too, whats up with that? since when do private school seniors do heroin through their foot? man i thought it was all about coors light and weed. guess not.
the movie starts out cool too when benicio del toro is in the mexican desert with his highway patrol giant sunglasses waiting for this plane to go over them thats traffiking cocaine. hes such a mexican badass. and his buddy cop next to him is playing game boy. thats the first noise you here in this 3 hour plus long drug war epic: mario jumping over a green tube. i love it.
another great part is when don cheadle and that funny peurto rican guy luiz something shoot that drug dealer in a san diego chuck e. cheese place. and the clown gets scared and goes back into the kitchen.
o ya when michael douglas takes topher grace out of spanish class and the teachers like where are you going and hes like im taking seth on a field trip and he takes him to the ghetto to find his prostitute heroin junkie 17 year old daughter.
traffic is a great movie cause it has moments like this. stephen s. the director is a badass who makes movies like the limey and this and the writer is good too. hes like 21 and he got the oscar for best adapted screenplay. this movie rules for stoners, concerned parents and politicians alike.
Movie Review: A must see movie
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Couldn't get any better
Summary: 5 Stars
Traffic definitely showed the world what goes on behind the closed doors in drug traffiking and how people handle it on both sides of the borders. From one side, It's hard to win the war on drugs when you're the drug czar (Michael Douglas) and your loved ones (Erika Christensen) are doing what you're strongly against. From another side, you want to protect your family (Catherine Zeta-Jones) but you can't help but know that all your wealth and lifestyles for you and your family are coming from something illegal; something that you know your husband (Steven Bauer) is doing but you refuse to believe it. As for the other side of the border, what can you do when you're an honest mexican cop (Benicio Del Toro who was just amazing) who's caught between doing the right thing and doing the right thing for the wrong people.
Traffic really opened my eyes from how people operate when it comes to drugs. It shows how we deal with stopping it, abusing it, selling it, and eventually how it comes to our countries. All 3 stories don't make sense with each other but seem to come together in the middle while drifting apart towards the end of the film. Sure it's long (146 minutes) but how are you gonna fit all the details in the movie in just under 100 minutes? Great film and the best job Steven Soderbergh has ever done in his career.