Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageTraffic (2000)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Just as supreme court judge Douglas is made US drug tsar, his teenage daughter (Christensen) is sliding deeper into drug abuse. Douglas's Mexican counterpart (Milian) says he'll pool resources, but Tijuana cop Del Toro finds his efforts to prevent smuggling under pressure from cartels and corrupt authorities. In San Diego, meanwhile, dismayed to find hubby Bauer is indeed a drug baron, Zeta-Jones discovers she'll do anything to defend her kids and comfortable existence from threats posed on both sides of the law and both sides of the border. There's so much going for this movie. The performances are all topnotch, while director Soderbergh's seemingly effortless mastery of his medium goes from strength to strength. Steering us through a densely detailed script with a clear-eyed sense of purpose and balance, he contributes gritty reportage-style camerawork to enhance an aura of authenticity. It's wise about different kinds of addiction and concepts of family, about the folly, futility and hypocrisy of anti-drug 'wars', and about the awful human cost of it all. And it grips like a vice from start to end.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Producer: Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, Laura Bickford
Cast: Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Luis Guzmán, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Steven Bauer, Erika Christensen, Amy Irving, Tomas Milian, Albert Finney full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 147 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now