 A high-ranking judge with a vendetta against drugs learns his own daughter is a cocaine addict - a San Diego housewife must suddenly take over her husband's drug dealing business when he is arrested - a Mexican police officer struggles to do the right thing in the midst of corruption. Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Benicio Del Toro star in Steven Soderbergh's amazing intertwined stories of the failing war on drugs. It's the high-stakes, high-risk world of the drug trade as seen through a well-blended mix of interrelated stories: a Mexican policeman (Benicio Del Toro) finds himself and his partner caught in an often deadly web of corruption; a pair of DEA agents (Dona Cheadle and Luis Guzman) work undercover in a sordid and dangerous part of San Diego; a wealthy drug baron living in upscale, suburban America is arrested and learns how quickly his unknowing and pampered wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) takes over his business; and the U.S. President's new drug czar (Michael Douglas) must deal with his increasingly drug-addicted teenage daughter. Cast Notes: Steven Bauer (Carlos Ayala), Michael Douglas (Robert Hudson Wakefield), Benjamin Bratt (Juan Obregón), Don Cheadle (Montel Gordon), Jsu Garcia (Pablo Obregón), Benicio Del Toro (Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez), James Brolin (General Ralph Landry), Dennis Quaid (Arnie Metzger), Erika Christensen (Caroline Wakefield), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Helena Ayala), Luis Guzmán (Ray Castro), Clifton Collins Jr. (Francisco Flores, aka Frankie Flowers), Miguel Ferrer (Eduardo Ruiz), Albert Finney (Chief of Staff), Topher Grace (Seth Abrahams). User Comment: (Lunchbox-8) Chicago, IL • This definitely was a great movie. It combined a) a great and unique plot, b) stunning cinematography and visuals, and c) spectacular acting to come out as a whole a superb movie. The plot was unique not because of the basic ideas of the plot, but because of the way they were presented. Three stories, all with charcaters unknown to each other, are simultaneously presented, each as interesting and engaging as the next. The cinematography was so good because of how each story was filmed in literally a different light. The story with Benicio was filmed to be very hot-looking (to say in one word). It was filmed to look very yellow and bright. There were a lot of sun caused glare and almost every character brandished sunglasses and profusely sweated. The camera also seemed to be much shakier as well and all together made the entire setting look like, well...Mexico. The Michael Douglas story was filmed to look very greyish and bluish. It looked very much like the north-eastern U.S. Catherine Zeta Jones' story, though, was just filmed in normal looking light. The acting in Traffic was spectacular. Everybody's favorite, Benicio Del Toro, really was great. He is definitely one of the best foreign actors in our modern age. Michael Douglas and his character's daughter (the actress, I mean, I don't know her name) both were great by themselves and funtioned well together. Everybody else, especially the police officers in Catherine Zeta Jones' story, also acted very well. All together the movie was very, very good. It was a gem in a long line of terrible movie theater films. It really had everything that you want in a movie: good plot, action, acting, filming, and directing. Summary: One of the few great films I've seen in 2001 IMDb Rating (09/23/06): 7.8/10 from 50,959 users
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