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Excellent but underrated film

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

My first thought for this movie is that I want to see it again. I found parts of it very hard to follow, mainly the Mexico story line, but I think that the things that I missed on my first viewing will give me a better appreciation of the movie as a whole once I understand them better. There was a lot that I liked in how it handled the drug issue in my first viewing, especially in the Wakefield family line. It is good that the movie shows the different aspects of the war on drugs with the foreign war in Mexico, the domestic dealers and the empire surrounding it, and perhaps most importantly the individual addicts.One could argue that the movie gets too preachy at a couple points, but for the most part the dialogue maintains a realistic tone that is concerned more with being a narrative than an infomercial on drugs. However, I did have some problems with the long runtime. Most of the time I don't mind movies that are longer than the conventional 2 hours, but in this case, there were enough scenes that dragged that I got bored. There are really only a few scenes that I remember clearly, a few months after watching it, which doesn't speak great to the movie's ability to engage the viewer. Still, I remember that it was eye-opening to how complex the war on drugs is and how difficult winning the war is. I guess that shows my hand as an anti-drug person, so I will say now that this is not a movie that pro-drug people will like. The movie doesn't exactly tear down people who take drugs or overly demonize them, but it is intended to show the futility of the war on drugs, which by definition makes it anti-drug. That's just something to be aware of if you're considering watching it. It's also not concerned with showing any drug rehab process as in something like Trainspotting.In a technical sense, it is easy to tell that there were a lot of deliberate decisions made with the different color tones in the different story lines and the lack of score and the handheld camera. I suppose it was to good effect, though not the best that I've seen. I was surprised that it got as much Oscar recognition as it did, but I suppose 2000 was sort of a lower year for movies. Not to say that Traffic didn't deserve its awards, but it was surprising to me that there was nothing better to beat it out in its categories. The acting was all pretty good too, not spectacular but good for the story. I wouldn't recommend this as something to watch for fun as it's a pretty heavy movie. I watched it because I had to, and while I thought it was pretty good it still got to be a little bit dense. It is a good movie, but I would recommend watching it alone and as food for thought rather than entertainment. Overall Rating: 8.1/10.

In the year 2000, a new USA drug czar has been appointed, Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas). As a former well-regarded judge from Ohio, Bobby has the credentials and the smarts to try new approaches to fighting drug trafficking. But, he soon learns, its complicated. Meanwhile, his own daughter Caroline, an intelligent, beautiful sixteen year old, is experimenting with drugs with her boyfriend, Seth (Topher Grace) and his gang. Her parents seem not to know. Also, a Mexican police officer, Javier (Benicio Del Toro) works for a small salary to try to stop the huge cartels from sending their wares to the USA. A good guy, Javier suspects his bosses are in bed with the traffickers. He witnesses torture. Lastly, rich beautiful Helena (Catherine Zeta-Jones) lives the good life in an exclusive community near San Diego. Her husband, Carl (Steven Bauer) is, to her knowledge, a hydroponic fruit grower and exporter. But, he's really the kingpin of drug smuggling in Southern California and well protected with his own lawyer (Dennis Quaid). Yet, police, especially Gordon (Don Cheadle) , determined to find out who he is, captures an underling and makes him talk. Now, Carl is arrested and the business is shut down. Helena, unaware of her husband's profession, receives threats against her five year old darling son and jumps into the fray to save her wealthy existence, despite being six months pregnant. Man, is this one tough lady who has no scruples about bumping off witnesses. Far away, Robert travels the country to learn how he can change the drug smuggling, Caroline disappears into the underground world of drugs, and Javier does the tap dance of a lifetime to stay alive. Who will make it in a dangerous, dangerous situation? This complex, amazing film, surely the best on drug trafficking ever, has a mesmerizing, four-tiered plot and a wonderful, huge cast. Everything it takes to make a movie terrific is here; cast, script, costumes, scenery, cinematography, and direction. One more important ingredient is its ambiguity, for it tells a tale and makes no judgments of what is right or wrong, for the most part. Do you love thrillers with a profound impact? Traffic is this and more.

The film 'Traffic', directed by Steven Soderbergh, traces three different stories in one movie, with one theme holding them together. The war on drugs. This film is so far one of the most intriguing and creative thriller movie I have seen. With a somewhat common bond holding this movie together, the government's attempts to abolish the drug industry, the film still makes no problems making this subject seem fresh and new with creative filming and editing as well as the different story arcs. This lead to this movie standing as a masterpiece in present time, due to it's wild creativity with editing and complex yet intriguing storylines. This 18 year old film is not only a film that hasn't aged, but something that will never rot. The most beautiful feature of this film are the bittersweet endings for all three stories shown in this movie. Unlike a wild racing ending like many crime action movies, the film decided to capture, bitter endings. In the end of story one, the arc with the two policemen caught in this war, we see Javier (Benicio Del Toro) sitting alone in a neighborhood kids baseball game. There are two things to catch in this final scene of the movie. We see his subtle complex melancholy facial expression, battered up and exhausted with his partners horrific death, excellently presented by Benicio Del Toro. His once sunglass shaded eyes are now visible, showing off a blank, grey pupil. However, it is not only grief we see in his facade. We also see relief, relief from the escape of this corrupt drug war. As a baseball is smashed by a child, we see his hand slowly clap subtly, but eventually forming a prayer. The second thing to notice is the baseball game, well lit with electric light. These new lights are from Javier himself, when he asked his new boss drug lord kingpin for baseball lights so that children don't have to play in the dangerous dark. These two things, Javier's relieved yet melancholy face, and the well lit baseball field, shows us a perfect bittersweet ending. The scene is trying to explain to us, without any words, that even though the war on drugs will never be over, Javier tried to make his own town a little better and safer with his small demand. This heartfelt scene is the final scene of not only Javier's arc, but the whole movie. As the baseball game continues, the credits roll. Even though it was a long movie with a whopping two hours and thirty minutes, this heavily emotional and simply beautiful ending itself will be worth your time. Another bittersweet ending can be noted from an another arc. The second main arc of the film is the drug czar. After watching his daughter prostituting herself, Robert wakefield (Michael Douglas) claims he can't have a war with his own family, and leaves his position as the drug czar. This ending is quite a surprising one, as Robert showed no change of plans to his job before his quitting. However, after long hesitation, he finally speaks his thoughts, and rushes off the podium. This ending shows us that Robert will spend more time with his family after realizing that the war on drugs will never be one. The director purposefully connected the police duo arc and this arc with a smaller theme: a never ending war. Both started eagerly to participate in this forever war on drugs, each taking different sides. However, at the end, they realize what was more important was right in front of them: The daughter and the neighborhood. Arguably, the most beautiful perk of the division of stories were the overlapping themes. These bittersweet endings really contributed to painting this masterpiece. Apart from it's simply amazing storyline and ending, another act we have to praise is the way of filming and editing. This movie was filmed by the director himself, and is purposely meant to look unstable. The camera is never completely still, and resembles a way a documentary or an indie film is filmed. Even though it was a movie that starred several hollywood stars, the filming and editing seemed cheap. Some might disagree, but I believe this was not a blunder by the director. To match the sketchy, unstable tone of the whole film, being a thriller, the way it was caught on camera was perfectly suitable for the tone and mood for this film. In the editing process, the editing team implemented a creative way to differentiate the complex stories and set the mood: colour. The colour plays a gigantic role in this movie. It helps the audience to understand the tone and mood as well as which story arc we are in. The two police arc has a heavy orange and yellow colour, matching the deserts they are usually in. It also matches the heated action and thrill in their scenes, engulfing readers into the movie. The czar arc's colour is the complete opposite. It is a cold, strong blue like the arctic sea. It seems to display the cold, corrupt world of governments and the political side of the war on drugs. The colour freezes the audience on the spot, making the thrill of the movies scenes more powerful. This technique was not only a mere gimmick, but something that bonded the movie together and what truly painted the movie. This movie was truly something magnificent. It sucked the audience in with vibrant colours. It made the audience bite their nails in the tense mood. And at the end, gave a truly satisfying bittersweet ending. This movie, though not the easiest to watch and understand, was a full course meal of fine story, filming, and intensity.

When Traffic came out it won 4 Oscars including Best Director and Best Supporting Actor. I was looking forward to seeing it in film class because of all the recognition it gets. In the end I don't think Traffic is quite as good as people say it is. One flaw that stuck out for me was that at times the pacing dragged a little bit, specifically when it cuts to Catherine Zeta-Jones' character. I didn't latch to her character as much as the other characters like Benicio Del Toro's character. But the story of this movie is the most interesting part about this movie. It shows you different sides of the war on drugs and it is still a relevant topic which is why it has aged very well. One of the best parts of the movie is the arc of Michael Douglas' character. In the beginning of the film he is on the anti-drugs side of the war but towards the end he finds out that his daughter is a crack addict and then he drops out of his position. Reasons he dropped was because he can't fight a war where he has to fight his own family, he would rather support his daughter rather than be at work all day and even if he would win the war someone will eventually start it up again. Steven Soderbergh chose a very interesting choice on how the movie looks. When it is in Mexico it is very over exposed and when it takes place in Washington it has a blue tint to it. It didn't add that much to the story but it was an interesting directing choice.