Traffic - The Miniseries (The Director's Cut) (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)The original version was done by the Brits in 1990. Titled "Traffik" - it concerned the herion trade from Pakistan and its impact on life in Great Britain. It's a fascinating story with major characters in three distinct locations: Britian, Hamburg, and Pakistan. The characters of these three story-arcs interconnect and intertwine as the devastation of drug use and the futility of the drug war are laid bare.
If the story seems familiar, Steven Soderbergh retold it in his feature film "Traffic" in 1991. While shifting the locale to America, changing the drug to crack/cocaine and moving the source to Mexico, Soderbergh's version retains the essential elements of the British original:
A high ranking gov't official charged with fighting illegal drugs, his struggle as the problem hits close to home, the upscale wife of an arrested major drug dealer who steps into the drug trade to maintain her family's lifestyle, the local cops doing their best in the drug war, and the locals of the third world country - the source of the drugs - caught up in the dangerous business in their efforts to merely survive.
Now, 13 years later, USA network has updated the story yet again for the post-9/11 world. And a magnificent job they have done. While Soderbergh was content to do a straight remake, this newest version resets and recasts the characters and locations while only retaining the basic bullet-points of the plot. As dark, moody, and despairing as the original, the newest "Traffic" hits the mark.
I watched it as it ran on USA some months back and decided it would be a "must-buy" when it came out on DVD. To see that we will be getting a "director's cut" - well, that's just icing on an already delicious cake.
If your tastes run toward the gritty crime genre - Homicide:LotS / The Wire / French Connection / Prime Suspect - and you don't mind a little pessimism in your entertainment - you definitely want this latest telling of a story of our time.

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Go beyond the Academy Award-winning film, Traffic, in this electrifying USA Original Miniseries, Traffic: The Miniseries, from directors Stephen Hopkins (director of the thrilling TV show "24") and Eric Bross (On the Line). It's a life-and-death struggle for most secret agents on America's borders. In the sinister and seductive world of illegal trafficking, most supply and demand isn't for drugs it's for chemical goods, weapons and even human beings. When three men attempt to apprehend the elusive criminals behind these illicit trade organizations, they find their lives intertwined in ways they never could have imagined. Go deep undercover in this heart-pounding, edgy race for survival, and now, in the must-own Director's Cut, experience even more of the intense action with exclusive uncensored footage and an all-new, edge-of-your-seat twist ending.

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