Let's talk about Traffic by Steven Soderbergh
 

I remember when this movie first came out in the theatres I went and saw it, came back and posted on here telling everyone that read it that I thought it was to preachy. Well years have gone by and I'm a bit more mature now. I watched Traffic again last night and was incredibly impressed. Though I didn't come out of the movie learning anything I didn't already know about the drug trade, that was only one side of the film. Traffic was about impressive failure. I think that's the term. It was about the men who keep fighting in a losing battle. Benecio and Cheadle's characters knew that the war would never be stopped but still believed that they could make a difference. I thought the film was marvelous. The color filters at first I thought were a bit extreme but throughout the movie they helped place scenes and contributed to the mood in their respective scenes. I thought all the acting was great in the movie minus Catherine Zeta-Jones. I never really saw where her character was coming from. At first she's typical housewife and a couple scenes later she's a drug kingpin. Probably not Catherine's fault though. Well I could go forever about the movie. I really enjoyed it. By far Soderbergh's best film . So, if you're still with me...what did you like about it?

I haven't seen the film since i saw it in theaters back when it came out, and personally i disliked it quite a bit. I don't know, i suppose i didn't "get it." Maybe i need to watch it again since i think i'm a bit more mature now as a film fan also. I'm trying to remember what i didn't like about it... maybe it was that i really didn't care about what was going on and felt the individual plots were fairly boring. Nothing made me care about Benecio's character or Catherine Zeta Jones or Michael Douglas and... his daughter was it? I forget. The color scheme for the scenes in Mexico just annoyed me too. Oh well, i better rent it sometime, maybe i'll have a different outlook on it :)

P.S. Not a thread crap since the topic IS "let's talk about Traffic" not "who loves traffic!" in case someone wants to bring it up :P

I never got all the pissing over Catherine Zeta-Jones' character. As a parent, I totally understood her sudden change in character. Some guy she didn't know came up to her and threatened to harm her kids if she didn't come up with the money her husband owed them. With no where else to turn, she did was she could to protect her family. Very easy to understand for me.

For the whole movie, i always liked Traffic from the moment I first saw it. Thing is, at least for me, while I thought it was a good film, I haven't been able to watch it since. Just not a lot of replay value I guess for me. I even owned the original DVD and sold it off before I had even watched the movie a second time. Been tempted by the Criterion edition, but more for the extras than anything else.

But I think it was a great work of filmmaking and Soderbergh tried some creative things with the color filters. Too many people criticized this film as "not telling them anything they didn't already know." But like lesterlong said, that's really not the point of the movie. Moments like when Michael Douglas' character asks his staff to think out of the box on ways to deal with the problem and they all fall silent are great. It's about a fight that in more ways than one appears to be a lost fight and what people do when faced with that fact. Great movie.

Lesterlong - check out the Criterion DVD and it's deleted scenes. Soderbergh really gutted Catherine Z Jones character and lots of background. It wasn't really that she went from housewife to kingpin...good stuff, worth watching.

I love Traffic and it's a shame that I don't own the movie. I need to, I might pick it up today.

But watch the deleted scenes (there's like 25 of them), it'll add even more to the movie.

It's definitely a good movie, and I haven't seen it since the year it came out (late 2000? early 2001?) because I saw it like 3 or 4 times that year. I personally enjoy all the scenes in Mexico. But how many times do you get to see Cheadle and Guzman work together, not just in the same movie? My favorite scene is the one with CZJ walking up to the two agents with lemonade while they are staking her out.

Too thin, clichéd, and heavy handed for my taste. Like a TNT movie of the week, there was little beneath the surface, just a cadre of stereotyped characters going thru the motions in a paint-by-numbers plot. Save the cinematography and riveting performance by Benicio Del Toro, I found little to enjoy.

My sentiments exactly, audrey.
It's more like a anti-drug campaign than an actual film with interesting characterizations and an intriguing plot.

Easily one of the most overrated films in the last few years.

:down:

Besides Out of Sight, this is the best film Soderbergh has made, imo.

I loved the performances from Del Toro, Cheadle, Guzman and Miguel Ferrer. The rest of the cast did a good job as well, particularly a nice turn by Topher Grace.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography and the color schemes used throughout. The musical score was perfect, too, imo. The closing sequence w/ Del Toro at the baseball field w/ the music by Brian Eno is one of my personal favorites.

The best film of 2000. Everything went right with this movie. There's a tense, interwoven plot combined with a beautiful score. There's some tough, no frills direction from Soderbergh. There's a great cast , with standout performances from Douglas, Del Toro, Miguel Ferrer, and Tomas Milian. Combine these things with the overall relevance of Traffic's subject matter, and you have yourself a classic. Deserves all the hype.

Watched my copy when it was released and sold it on ebay......it was good once but I could not see myself watching this over and over again.

A film that does not quite hold up to the scrutiny of repeated viewings, but still a very solid film and one I still enjoy watching very much.

I fealt like the movie was trying to be like this huge reality check, anti drug thing, maybe this movie is how it really is, more than likely it isn't, either way I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with disgust, at the same time (strangely enough) I could tell the movie was very well done, so to each his own, I just couldn't handle a lot of the more powerful scenes in the movie, but I too haven't seen it since it's release, maybe I should give it another chance

Wow, you too? I had gotten the original DVD release used, but sold it just recently before I even got to watch it. I also haven't seen it since I saw it in the theatre when it came out. I thought it was really good, eventhough I never could put my finger on what was so great about it. It never seemed like the kind of movie that would appeal to me, but it somehow won me over. I'm most likely going to pick up the Criterion Collection DVD when my employee discount kicks in. If I can get Brazil for $36.50, hopefully there will be a nice deal for this one.

K

I saw this movie twice when it came out. I thought it was very good, with strong dialogue, characters, and technical craft. I didn't think it was the best movie of 2000 (I would give that prize to Dancer In The Dark), but I thought it was one of the better ones. However, as others have said, it's not a compulsively rewatchable film. After you get it, you've got it, and that's it.

I also don't think it's one of Soderbergh's best. Perhaps in some other director's body of work it might be, but Soderbergh has sex, lies, and videotape, Kafka, Schizopolis, Out of Sight, and The Limey, all of which I prefer over Traffic.

I found a used copy of the Criterion version the other day for 19.00, so I decided to pick it up as a blind buy. I watched it last night, and I was blown away. I thought the story was very engaging, and the directing, cinematography,and editing were top notch. I love Soderbergh's style in this film.

I thought it was great the way it showed the war against drugs as being pretty much futile. We didn't get a sugar-coated ending, but the viewer still goes away with hope that things can change.

I liked what it had to say about the "war on drugs" (and I agree with it), I liked Benicio, Cheadle and Guzman. The rest was a little preachy/hokey and melodramatic. Check out the original BBC miniseries (Traffik) for a better and more in-depth portrait.

I loved this film with the exception of Erika Christensen's acharacter,

Erika Christensen was my one big problem with the film as well. First of all, I hate her acting. She is so annoying. I didn't care about her character one bit. Second, her descent did seem too rapid. She should have been taken out, or at least replaced with a decent actress.

I guess I forgot to add this as well. I hate her especially on SNL, okay we get, you have kissed a black man, this is not 1958; move on.

You sure you're not thinking of Julia Stiles? I don't think Erika Christensen was ever on Saturday Night Live. I know people sometimes get them confused (when I went to see The Bourne Identity, a couple behind me started whispering to each other once Stiles came on the screen that she was just in that trailer before the movie for "Swimfan" when that was actually Christensen.