I must admit that I was rather looking forward to seeing Traffic. A couple of friends had seen it and thought it was really good, and if the hype was anything to go by (not something I usually look toward though, I confess) I was in to see a really good flick. I was disappointed.
The story follows a whole bunch of people - we have the Mexican cop who is wanting to battle the drug cartels, we have the judge who has just been appointed head of the Anti-Drugs Commission who has a daughter who is a user (who didn't see that one coming?), we have the society wife who is "shocked" when she discovers that her husband is a drug lord as well as sundry little stories off the main three.
There was nothing new being told in this film - and I thought it lacked the punch that the hype had built. Not only that but it's overly long and seemed to be stuck in neutral half the film - it really didn't get going. The cast was terrific, but I felt that the scripting at times let them down - you can only work with what you're given, I suppose. Traffic struck me as a little Robert Altman ish in its use of several stories intersecting with each other - which I believe to be a clever genre if used well and in this case it was used effectively. Catherine Zeta Jones' character, Helena Ayala (not sure what accent she was trying to portray), was poorly written. She goes from completely ignorant of her husband's business to completely au fait then back to charming society wife without blinking - thoroughly unbelievable. Benicio Del Toro's character, Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez, was well rounded and Del Toro is rightly in the running for an Oscar for his performance - very solid. Michael Douglas is very convincing as the judge whose daughter is a user - showing real emotion.
I was a fraction bemused by the sepia colours used in the Mexican scenes (perhaps it was the old good vs bad colour thing reinvented: America the good in colour instead of white and Mexico the bad in sepia instead of black). There also appeared to be quite a negative portrayal of the Mexicans with regard to 'the drug war' whether or not this is true I don't know.
That said, it is worth seeing but I wouldn't hang out to see in in the cinema, it's a video flick.
The story follows a whole bunch of people - we have the Mexican cop who is wanting to battle the drug cartels, we have the judge who has just been appointed head of the Anti-Drugs Commission who has a daughter who is a user (who didn't see that one coming?), we have the society wife who is "shocked" when she discovers that her husband is a drug lord as well as sundry little stories off the main three.
There was nothing new being told in this film - and I thought it lacked the punch that the hype had built. Not only that but it's overly long and seemed to be stuck in neutral half the film - it really didn't get going. The cast was terrific, but I felt that the scripting at times let them down - you can only work with what you're given, I suppose. Traffic struck me as a little Robert Altman ish in its use of several stories intersecting with each other - which I believe to be a clever genre if used well and in this case it was used effectively. Catherine Zeta Jones' character, Helena Ayala (not sure what accent she was trying to portray), was poorly written. She goes from completely ignorant of her husband's business to completely au fait then back to charming society wife without blinking - thoroughly unbelievable. Benicio Del Toro's character, Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez, was well rounded and Del Toro is rightly in the running for an Oscar for his performance - very solid. Michael Douglas is very convincing as the judge whose daughter is a user - showing real emotion.
I was a fraction bemused by the sepia colours used in the Mexican scenes (perhaps it was the old good vs bad colour thing reinvented: America the good in colour instead of white and Mexico the bad in sepia instead of black). There also appeared to be quite a negative portrayal of the Mexicans with regard to 'the drug war' whether or not this is true I don't know.
That said, it is worth seeing but I wouldn't hang out to see in in the cinema, it's a video flick.
