TRAFFIC -------
When conservative Judge Robert Wakefield is asked to lead the President's war against drugs, he takes the job seriously even as his predecessor (James Brolin) gives him edgy advice. From this springboard, director Steven Soderbergh takes us on a journey that stops at every link in the drug chain, from Mexican state cop Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro, "The Way of the Gun") to corrupt Mexican General Salazar, to Californian distributor Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer, "Primal Fear"), his fingerer Eduardo Ruiz (Miguel Ferrer, "Robocop") and money launderer Artie Metzger (Dennis Quaid) and the NARCs that tail them, Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle, "Boogie Nights") and Ray Castro (Luis Guzman). The circle is closed with the drug user, Wakefield's sixteen year old daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen, "Leave It to Beaver") in "Traffic."
LAURA:
Adapted by Simon Moore from the 1989 British miniseries "Traffik" (by Stephen Gaghan), "Traffic" presents a mosaic of the drug trade as something as inevitable as human greed. Soderbergh gives his audience a lot to think about with this powerful film, while also delivering an entertaining crime thriller.
"Traffic's" 'good guys' are represented at opposite ends of the pole by Douglas' ineffectual drug czar and Del Toro's melancholy Mexican cop. As Judge Wakefield makes the political rounds, Rodriguez encounters General Salazar (Tomas Milian) at a remote drug bust and gets pulled into the nuts and bolts of fighting the Tijuana cartel while trying to keep his partner Manolo (Jacob Vargas) from taking the low road.
In San Diego, Gordon and Castro nab Ruiz who leads them to Ayala, one of the big guys. Ayala's wife Helena (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is left in a financial predicament, discovering her husband's indebtedness to viscious drug lords is jeopardizing their young son's life as well as her cushy lifestyle. A hit man known as Francisco Flores/Frankie Flowers (Clifton Collins, Jr.) is used in both countries. Wakefield's chilly home life (wife Barbara (Amy Irving), a former drug using hippie, is the liberal to his conservative) is contrasted against Caroline's hanging with the philosophical cool crowd that leads her to heroin and inner city slums.
The story is fascinating, peopled with compelling characters. Soderbergh and his editor Stephen Mirrione bring an urgency to this film that makes its 135 minute running time race by. Acting as his own cinematographer, Soderbergh visually separates the Mexican action from its corresponding events in the U.S. by shooting in a sun baked golden hue that prisms into a myriad of colors in monied San Diego before chilling to blue when shifting to the Ohio location of the Wakefield household.
"Traffic" showcases the best ensemble cast of the year. Douglas seems so much more right for Judge Wakefield than Harrison Ford, who walked away from the role. Douglas is believable as a righteous man who takes on the world only to find he can only take on his own family. It's Del Toro, though, who most fully encompasses the circular nature of the beast. He seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, yet has the humor to give over to the battles not worth fighting. Caught between a rock and a hard place, he can speak volumes just staring off into space.
Surprisingly good is Zeta-Jones, who takes her character down very unexpected paths and has the chops to do it convincingly. Cheadle and Ferrer interact to represent the middle layer, with cool Ruiz expressing disgust that Gordon will continue to fight drugs while never making progress. Topher Grace of TV's 'That 70's Show' makes a strong impression as Caroline's boyfriend Seth, the pied piper of bored, privileged teenagers. The cast also includes cameos by Albert Finney as the President's Chief of Staff, Salma Hayek as a drug lord's mistress, Peter Reigert as the Ayalas' lawyer and James Brolin as Wakefield's wry predecessor. Playing themselves are former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and Iowa's Senator Chuck Grassley.
Soderbergh has had a boffo auteur year, first with the mainstream favorite "Erin Brockovich," now with "Traffic," the best American movie of the year.
A
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