DVD Review: Traffik

STUDIO: Lionsgate | DIRECTOR: Deon Taylor | CAST: Paula Patton, Omar Epps, Laz Alonzo, Roselyn Sanchez, Missi Pyle, William Fichtner
RELEASE DATE: July 17, 2018 | PRICE: DVD $26.87, Blu-ray $19.99
BONUSES: two featurettes
SPECS: R | 96 min. | Thriller | 2.40:1 widescreen | Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 | English and Spanish subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie  | Audio | Video  | Overall


Traffik
plays like a drive-in movie from the 1970s that seems to want to tackle important issues on its surface, but, in reality, really desires to give audiences a thrill ride using exploitative components.

Paula Patton (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) plays Brea, a dogged investigate journalist who takes a break from the daily grind by way of a romantic weekend in the mountains with her car mechanic boyfriend John (Omar Epps, TV’s House).  A bizarre incident with a troubled young woman (Dawn Olivieri, Boy Toy) and a surprise visit from the couple’s boisterous attorney pal (Laz Alonzo, Detroit) and his girlfriend (Roselyn Sanchez, TV’s Devious Maids) lead to horrific encounters with a biker gang and a human trafficking ring

Traffik starts out as a “B” movie variation on home invasion thrillers a la Lakeview Terrace and Unlawful Entry and eventually morphs into a creepy social drama. For those able to appreciate this shift and writer/director Deon Taylor’s (The Hustle) presenting the darker material in a slightly over-the-top tabloid style, Traffik should more than do the trick for audiences looking for some visceral kicks to go with the somber stuff.

Helping matters is the work of Patton and Epps and a game supporting cast showcased by such reliables as Missi Pyle (Barry Munday), William Fichtner (Elysium) as Patton’s old school editor and Luke Goss (War Pigs) as the hissable British villain of the piece.

Buy or Rent Traffik

About Irv

Irv Slifkin has been reviewing movies since before he got kicked off of his high school radio station for panning The Towering Inferno in 1974. He has written the books VideoHound’s Groovy Movies: Far-Out Films of the Psychedelic Era and Filmadelphia: A Celebration of a City’s Movies, and has contributed film reportage and reviews to such outlets as Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Video Business magazine and National Public Radio.