Traffic: The Miniseries (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	250:28
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Eric Bross Stephen Hopkins
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Cliff Curtis Martin Donovan Balthazar Getty Elias Koteas Mary McCormack Ritchie Coster Nelson Lee Tony Musante Justin Chatwin Belinda Metz Brian George Jennifer Rae Westley Eden Rountree
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	Gregg Lehrman Jeff Rona

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The original mini-series of Traffik was a UK mini-series from 1989 that followed the heroin trade from Afghanistan to the UK where a British minister’s daughter was beginning her spiral down. It crossed political and personal barriers and was highly effective. In 2000, director Steven Soderbergh brought US audiences the blistering Hollywood movie adaptation Traffic which was closely based on the British mini-series and followed the drug trade from Mexico into the US.

    In 2004, writer Ron Hutchinson adapted the concept to take in far more than the drug trade for the USA Network mini-series production Traffic. This new version pretty much follows four storylines. First, there is DEA agent Mike McKay (Elias Koteas) who goes missing in Afghanistan with a known drug dealer. Second, there is McKay’s family, whose son Tyler (Justin Chatwin) is rapidly becoming mixed up with his junkie neighbour Angie (Jennifer Rae Westley), much to his mother Carole’s (Mary McCormack) consternation. Third, there is Fazal (Ritchie Coster), who is heartbroken after he discovers that his wife and daughter have died while being illegally shipped into the country and has made it his mission to discover what went wrong. And Fourth there is Ben Edmonds (Balthazar Getty) whose father’s shipping company is being used by the ruthless Ronny Cho (Nelson Lee) to bring in illegal immigrants. While at the outset these four stories seem unconnected, little by little they begin to form a tapestry.

    While broader in its canvas in some respects than some of the other incarnations of Traffic, this one spreads itself a little thin at times. The use and reuse of certain locales in Canada, doubling and sometimes trebling as the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan, was not always convincing and tended to detract from the series. Likewise, the use of stock footage, and the need to recap every hour or so for those members of the TV audience that had just joined or who could not keep up. Because of these things, it cannot belie its TV origins, and if this had had the budget that Soderbergh’s film did, I think it could have been a truly spectacular feature. As it is, it is still well above average, and kept me glued to my chair for its duration. However, in ex post facto analysis one finds oneself poking holes in various facets, although these were mostly to do with production.

    If you liked the British TV series or the Soderbergh movie, chances are you will like this. It offers no easy answers and asks a few hard hitting questions, and ultimately, just like the other two, it leaves you asking for more.

Video

    Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, this transfer is 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture is a little soft overall, indicative maybe of an NTSC to PAL transfer. Colours are well saturated and shadow detail is very good. There is some mild film grain, but much of this is the product of the film stock chosen for the show.

    The transfer has no glaring MPEG artefacts, however it is highly prone to aliasing and moire. Some of the more extreme examples of this are at 109:53 during Disc 1 on the roof of a house and at 113:25 onwards during Disc 2 on the arm of a cord jacket. Quite distracting. There is also an odd jerky panning shot at 42:08 on Disc 1.

    There is next to no dirt on this print except for the stock footage which is noticeably dirty and of poor quality by comparison to the rest.

    Subtitles are available in English for the Hearing Impaired. They are white with a grey edge and do not substantially deviate from the script.

    The dual layer pauses occur at 64:58 on Disc 1, which is during a scene change where it cuts off the last beat of music, and at 55:31, on Disc 2 where it is barely noticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is available in English 5.1 Dolby Digital only.

    Dialogue is clear and well rendered. There are no glaring audio sync issues, just some minor long distance ADR issues.

    The range is excellent, with plenty of directional cues to boot. Plenty of gunshots and traffic sounds and the like from behind and left-to-right and so forth. The airstrike scene is particularly impressive in this regard.

    The score by Gregg Lerhman and Jeff Rona is well mixed playing a subtle undertone to the action on screen.

    The subwoofer is put through its paces, used not only in the music, but also put to devastating force in the aforementioned airstrike scene. Not quite We Were Soldiers, but impressive nevertheless.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menus

    All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, and silent.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    Aside from PAL/NTSC differences and region coding, these are identical.

    Traffic is an interesting mini-series that could have been a lot better if given the budget and production values it required to be truly something.

    Video is marred by aliasing and moire, but is otherwise acceptable.

    Sound is extremely good for a TV production.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall