Traffic (2000)
88%RT Audience Score: 85%
Awards & Nominations: Won 4 Oscars
74 wins & 87 nominations total
Soderbergh successfully pulls off the highly ambitious Traffic, a movie with three different stories and a very large cast. The issues of ethics are gray rather than black-and-white, with no clear-cut good guys. Terrific acting all around
Traffic is like a rollercoaster ride, but instead of twists and turns, it’s filled with drugs, violence, and depressing stories. Critics seem to be split on whether it’s a masterpiece or just another genre flick, but one thing’s for sure: Steven Soderbergh knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s a wild ride that’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re up for it, buckle up and enjoy the trip.
Production Company(ies)
RKO Radio Pictures, Mercury Productions,
Distributor
Criterion Collection, USA Films
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for pervasive drug content, strong language, violence and some sexuality
Year of Release
2001
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 27m
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Language(s):English, Spanish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 5, 2001 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 15, 2004
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Luis Guzmán, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Simon Moore and Stephen Gaghan, crime, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Nell Minow, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Andrew Sarris, Geoff Andrew, Rick Groen, Peter Rainer, MPAA rating R, Laura Bickford, Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick produced by, drug trafficking, ethics, interrelated stories, personal, intrigue, danger, some sexuality, pervasive drug content, strong language, violence, Dolby SR, DTS, SDDS, Surround, Dolby A, Dolby Digital, flat (1.85:1) aspect ratio, contemporary thriller, high stakes, high risks, drug trade, gray ethics, terrific acting, Road to Perdition, American History X, House of Flying Daggers, Layer Cake, Goodfellas
Worldwide gross: $207,515,725
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $349,723,854
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 436
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 38,137,825
US/Canada gross: $124,115,725
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $209,170,797
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 328
US/Canada opening weekend: $184,725
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $311,315
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,527
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $48,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $80,893,845
Production budget ranking: 520
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $43,561,336
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $225,268,673
ROI to date (est.): 181%
ROI ranking: 682
Don Cheadle – Montel Gordon
Benicio Del Toro – Javier Rodriguez
Luis Guzmán – Ray Castro
Dennis Quaid – Arnie Metzger
Catherine Zeta-Jones – Helena Ayala
Director – Steven Soderbergh
Producers – Laura Bickford, Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick
Writers – Simon Moore, Stephen Gaghan
Director(s)
Steven Soderbergh
Writer(s)
Simon Moore, Stephen Gaghan
Producer(s)
Laura Bickford, Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 4 Oscars
74 wins & 87 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (161) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (148) | Rotten (13)
Tons of drug use, violence, and depressing stories.
December 29, 2010 | Rating: 3/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
I don’t see this slightly better-than-average drug thriller, with slightly better-than-average direction by Steven Soderbergh, as anything more than a routine rubber-stamping of genre reflexes.
May 18, 2008
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
The promise of Sex, Lies, and Videotape has been fulfilled.
April 27, 2007
Andrew Sarris
Observer
TOP CRITIC
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.
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Director Steven Soderbergh is riding one of the hottest streaks in the movie world.
April 25, 2003 | Rating: 3.5/4
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
Soderbergh’s jazzed stylistics can be smartly entertaining. Without them, an uneven movie like Traffic might seem more of a mélange than it already is.
September 26, 2002
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
Apparently, the movie leads one to believe, Washington is fighting the good fight against lawless, amoral peoples.
March 5, 2021
Joanne Laurier
World Socialist Web Site
Though it’s overlong, it slowly builds to a monumental finale with an undeniable sense of satisfaction.
November 9, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
While one may take some time to settle in with the film, it nevertheless leaves one breathless with the finesse with which it tells the tale.
February 28, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Nikhat Kazmi
The Times of India
While the film does well at imagining a world cut loose from moral quadrants, where right and wrong are not clear choices and all decisions seem tainted by compromise, its imagination is confined to a US model.
February 25, 2020
B. Ruby Rich
The Nation
Despite some minor flaws, Traffic is a skilled, finely honed piece of filmmaking that suggests Soderbergh as an ever-evolving talent adapting his indie mindset to the demands of a more mainstream vision.
January 29, 2020
Felicia Feaster
Creative Loafing
It is such a complex film yet artfully done in such a way that you cannot help but sit back and admire it.
July 30, 2012 | Rating: 5/5
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures…
Plot
An intertwined drama about the United States’ war on drugs, seen through the eyes of a once conservative judge, now newly-appointed drug czar, his heroin-addicted daughter, two DEA agents, a jailed drug kingpin’s wife, and a Mexican cop who begins to question his boss’s motives.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Benicio Del Toro’s performance in Traffic earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Steven-Soderbergh.jpg
