Traffic

This edition of the screenplay to "Traffic" is great for a number of reasons. One of which is that they have kept the edition in its shooting draft format, instead of doctoring it to match the version that ended up in the movie theaters. So some scenes are not arranged in the chronology that they appear in the finished film, which is a good insight into the filmmakers' process in putting the film together in the editing room. Another reason is the actual physical formatting of the text, which they have left alone in the standard script format with the courier new font. The conversation between the writer and the director in the introduction of the book reveals how the project originated and their reaction to critics' responses to the film. My only minor complaint is the fact that they did not publish the earlier draft of the screenplay; they have omitted the scenes that did not make it into the shooting draft. For educational purposes it would have been better had they included the omitted scenes, and simply note that they were taken out of the shooting draft (preferably with some explanation as to why they did so, but mere inclusion would have sufficed).Over all this is a great edition but I would wait to get the early draft which will inevitably become available on the Internet in the months to come.

The movie looked more like a docudrama or a special report than a fictitious thriller. Traffic is very realistic. Soderbergh, the cast and the film crew did an excellent job. To have the shooting script is another advantage and for film aficionados and film students this screenplay is a "Must" in their collection and valuable resource material. Another powerful thriller that I've recently come across and I very much recommend as the scenes come alive from the written page with one scene after the other like in a movie, is the very realistic and edgy thriller THE CONSULTANT by Alec Donzi.