By Eric Greenwood Steven Soderbergh s engrossing ensemble thriller realistically delineates both the diffusion of drug trafficking in America as well as the futile war on drugs. Soderbergh s second film this year unfolds like a documentary without Hollywood s plastic hand getting in the way. Ensemble casts typically muck up films with too much baggage and showy story intertwinings, but Soderbergh handles each of these vignettes with masterful aplomb. Each story carries its own suspense and intrigue and Soderbergh links them seamlessly. It s a fine line when you juxtapose such obvious and seemingly moralistic scenarios as drugs are bad and the government s war on drugs is pointless , but Soderbergh avoids cartoonish proportions by shooting from the inside out.
Every scene is up close and personal.
The camera rarely sweeps for landscapes or setting. Instead it follows each character s every expression to the point where you really feel like you re right there in the thick of it. Benecio Del Toro puts his awful turn alongside Alicia Silverstone in Excess Baggage to bed forever. No one will ever question his judgment again. He is astoundingly good as a Mexican police officer resigned to the massive corruption that surrounds him.