TRAFFIC
Released: January 5, 2001
The one sentence plot summary for Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic" goes like this: A conservative judge is appointed by the President to spearhead America's escalating war against drugs, only to discover that his teenage daughter is a heroin addict. However, this is only a bare bones surface description of the drama and action that is captured within this movie. To say any one character is the central one would be misleading. Michael Douglas plays the judge thrown into the war on drugs but while his character is important there are many other intertwining characters that are primary players here. Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman, both vets of P.T. Anderson's "Boogie Nights", return here as weary but devoted cops, Benicio Del Toro excells as the sleazey Mexican cop discovering his conscience, Catherine Zeta-Jones delivers the acting goods as the pregnant wife of a druglord who takes matters into her own hands, Erika Christensen plays the Douglas character's daughter who is strung on on a variety of drugs throughout the film, Topher Grace busts out of his "That 70's Show" TV image as her manipulating boyfriend and Dennis Quaid plays a weasel attorney. The already huge ensemble cast is rounded out with solid work from Peter Riegert (his work in "Coldblooded" is great), Amy Irving, Benjamin Bratt (also in "Miss Congeniality"), Albert Finney (who was in Soderbegh's other 2000 movie "Erin Brockovich") and an unbilled Salma Hayek. As this is Soderbergh's second movie from 2000, it does not suffer from a director being too prolific. Both "Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich" will likely get Oscar nominations, making Soderbergh compete against himself in this year's Academy Awards. If anything, this show's his versatility as a director. "Traffic" feels like a Michael Mann movie like "Heat" or "The Insider" mixed with part "Pulp Fiction" and part "Boogie Nights". The scenes in the US are in color while the Mexican action is shot in the most erie overblown sepia tone I've ever seen. At first jilting, it does indeed work. The screenplay is by Stephen Gaghan, which is surprising as he also wrote "Rules Of Engagement", a movie I thought was too simplified and dumbed-down for the audience. "Traffic" succeeds, albeit in the shadow of better movies like "Heat" or "Boogie Nights". That said, it is still an essential movie experience because it clearly shows a director who loves doing what he does.
147 Minutes
USA Films