A SERIOUS SOCIAL ISSUE CHEAPENED BY BLAND EXPLOITATION
Human trafficking is a real and terrible problem in the world and all right-thinking, morally accountable people agree that something needs to be done about it. Deon Taylor is a third-rate director of exploitation thriller/horrors that are this millennium’s equivalent of the 20th century’s drive-in films. Of course Taylor doesn’t think of himself as third rate and neither does whoever is responsible for writing his bio on the Internet Movie Database (the prime suspect is the man himself). The normally dry facts of birth, credits, marriage and so on are in Taylor’s case replaced by a page-long essay of self-actualising nonsense, declaring him “an idea generator ... a self-taught creative genius … [whose] vision is iconic ... a force to be reckoned with in the conglomerate world of entertainment”.
This is evidence that if you haven’t heard of this director, it’s for good reason. In Taylor’s vision of the world the phrase “inspired by real events” is permission to cheapen real issues by glibly chucking them into a cauldron of uninspired generic writing, acting and directing and hoping that they’ll prove to be the ingredients that make you forget about the overall blandness of this less than magic potion. Human trafficking may be a serious social issue but this is not the way to deal with it.
ROMANTIC WEEKEND SET UP
Brea (Paula Patton) is a journalist who is too idealistic for the fast-paced internet age. But she’s pretty and her doting, motor mechanic boyfriend John (Omar Epps) thinks she’s perfect. When John surprises Brea with a romantic weekend in a beautiful house in the mountains for her birthday, things are set for the exploitation staple: the couple in jeopardy, far away from home. In this case, the trouble comes in the form of a crew of stereotypical, greasy-haired boy bikers with whom the couple have an altercation at a garage on their way to “Eden” — the overthe-top house on the hill with its modern architecture and infinity pool.
When, inevitably, things get ugly late in the night, the film shifts into inanity with predictable results. Taylor’s “outside the box, creative genius,” cannot save it from its ridiculous descent. Patton as Brea makes a game attempt to keep the film from drowning, which makes you hope that one day she’ll make it in Hollywood and look back at her early work, shaking her head at things you need to do to break into the “biz”.
There are examples of the exploitation, wild, wild country genre that have received and deserve acclaim — Deliverance and Break Down come to mind — but Traffik will not earn a spot among them. Filled with sub-soap-opera dialogue, characterisation about as deep as a paddling pool and action less entertaining than a WWE match, this exploitation doesn’t warrant your time and should never see a late-night television screen, let alone a cinema. There are many things wrong with the world and this film is more evidence of its madness.
Traffik is on circuit.