Traffik - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Traffik

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

​

Movie
Not to be confused with Steven Soderbergh’s classic film Traffic, Traffik is a well intentioned thriller about a very real world issue going on right now. The infamous (and very real) incarnation of modern slavery, otherwise known as sex trafficking. Estimations of 600,000 to 800,000 women (and some men) are kidnapped each year and sent across the borders (usually to Europe), garnering up to 30 MILLION men women and children in the “industry” to this day. Celebrities like Ashton Kutcher have made it their passion to expose this horrible issue to the world, and while great leaps have been made in this last decade alone at curtailing them, it is still the world’s more prolific form of slavery (and profit) in existence at this time.

Now, you noticed that I said Traffik (yes, it’s spelled with a K instead of a C) was a well intentioned film and not a good/great film. Yup, you guessed it. While the movie has a solid cast and a great message, it’s extremely predictable and isn’t really “thrilling” until the film’s final act rolls in. Much of the movie is spent setting up the inevitable capture of our heroine, and some stilted dialog that will frustrate any cinemaphile. Even the final act delves into a bit of a ludicrous wrap up, despite being the best portion of the entire film.

We open up with a scene where a sobbing young women is herded into a truck and chained, obviously being sent off somewhere to be sold into sexual slavery, but we nearly instantly seque into meeting Brea (Paula Patton), a young and plucky journalist (aren’t they all in these types of films?) who just had her story scooped out from under her by another reporter. After a little back and forth sobbing between herself and her boss Mr. Waynewright (William Fichtner), she is summarily fired from her job for not “playing ball” with the pecking order. Sadly it’s also at what is supposed to be a happy time in her year, as Brea’s birthday is that week, and her boyfriend John (Omar Epps) is taking her on a little vacation at a snazzy house out in the woods of California.

John and Brea have their own issues, as John is getting ready to propose, while Brea is conflicted about WHAT she wants in life. We get a few short scenes with the two fighting, only to jump ahead to the fateful trip. However, once out in the snazzy little country estate, John and Brea start to mesh a little bit better. That is, until their friend Darren (Laz Alonso) and his girlfriend Malia (Roselyn Sanchez) show up out of the blue (Darren is that douchey friend who barges into everything like the Kool-Aid man), sidelining the experience into an awkward scenario where all parties are uncomfortably waiting for it to end. Unfortunately their trip is going to get even worse, then a gang of human traffickers show up to retrieve a phone full of incriminating evidence that was put in Brea’s purse by a desperate victim of theirs.

Traffik is a bit of a mixed bag here. It’s got a great message, and takes some fun liberties with the subject of sex trafficking, but it’s Achilles heel starts and ends with blatant predictability. Most of the film’s twists and turns can be guessed way before the events actually occur, as director/writer Deon Taylor paints with a pretty heavy handed brush that doesn’t stray very far from classic home invasion movies. There’s a bit of a Straw Dogs to the mix as well, as the sleazy traffickers (who’s leader is played by Luke Goss) terrorize their victims, as well as the typical duplicitous law enforcement officer (Missi Pyle) who makes a simple call to 911 futile. It’s simple, fairly predictable, and well, kind of overly played out in many aspects. HOWEVER. I really did enjoy the third act of the film a lot more than I was expecting, and it kind of made up for some of the predictability of the first two acts (which are not BAD to begin with).

Deon Taylor (according to one of the special features) actually got the idea for the film from a news bulletin that listed his home tome of Sacramento as one of the top 5 cities for human sex trafficking. It seems from there he got some basic facts about the premise, and plugged it into a basic home invasion thriller scenario. While it’s not exactly inventive or wildly innovative, Traffik is a fairly enjoyable thriller that makes it due to the intensity of the cast and a solid array of talent on scene. Paula Patton has always been a favorite of mine due to her passionate personality and incredibly intense acting style. Omar Epps and Roselyn Sanchez are actually rather tame throughout, and the incredible William Fichtner is really only a glorified cameo. B actor Luke Goss is one of the highlights of the film, as his strong personality make him the perfect fit for the greasy leader of scumbags, and even Missi Pyle puts in a rather chilling performance as a dirty cop (she’s mostly known for her comedic rolls).




Rating:

Rated R for violent and disturbing material, language throughout, some drug use and sexual content




Video:

Once again we have another film that falls under my “rule of 4” (basically, a modern film that receives competent filming and audio scores on the Blu-ray release, with a standardized 4/5 rating on both), and looks pretty typical of a modern digitally shot film. The movie is fairly neutrally graded for the most part, but the darkness (where the movie lives for a good chunk of the time) is given a pretty hefty blue/green/yellow tinge to it that can promote milky blacks and some sickly facial tones. With that being said, there is plenty of detail throughout the film with some startlingly sharp clarity scenes. The end scene with the Sheriff and Brea in the gas station shows some absolutely mind blowingly clear shots of the two women’s faces. And the scene where Brea exits the sex trafficking lair into the sunlight is just dazzling to behold. Like usual, Lionsgate films suffer from a bit of banding, and you can definitely see it raise it’s ugly head a few times during the darker outdoor shots. It’s a solid looking digital shoot, and while it has a few issues, manages to look rather nice the vast majority of the time.





Audio:

Traffik boasts a rather energetic track that really does fulfill all the needs of a good audio track. Dialog is crisp and cleanly replicated, even though there is a LOT of whispering going on. The dynamics range from quite and subdued, to intense and powerfully vibrant as the heavy score from Geoff Zanelli. Surrounds are active at all times, with little sounds of forest activity, or rocking gunshots replicated cleanly and with great directionality. The LFE channel is constantly given something to do, with great power and weight added to the gunshots, as well as quite a bit of midrange kick from the score. I won’t say that Traffik is the single best audio track I’ve reviewed, but it does everything asked of with enthusiasm and clarity, making it a very GOOD sounding mix for sure.









Extras:

• "Journey into the Depths: Making Traffik" Featurette
• "Deon & Dante: The Look of Traffik" Featurette

Final Score: ​

Traffik is not a GREAT movie, but it is entertaining enough and made for a fun watch with some great camerawork by veteran cinematographer Dante Spinotti. The idea to blend a home invasion thriller with a sex trafficking ring is a nice idea, but sadly in motion it’s not nearly as homogeneous as hoped for. There’s some good acting from the main cast, and Paula Patton really is the shining light of the film. While not overly long at 96 minutes from start to finish, it’s still a bit of a meandering film at times, spending a lot more time than was needed setting up some unneeded interpersonal conflicts between the cast. Lionsgate does a commendable job with good video and audio, but once again skimp on the extras. I wouldn’t exactly recommend the movie as a multi-watch blind buy, but if you’re intrigued by the trailer it makes for a solid rental.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Paula Patton, Missi Pyle, William Fichtner
Directed by: Deon Taylor
Written by: Deon Taylor
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, Spanish
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 96 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: July 17th, 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will take a look once available on amazon prime/netflix.