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  • Status: Released
  • 27-12-2000
  • Runtime: 147 min
  • Score: 7.079
  • Vote count: 2274

An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.

Michael Douglas

Robert Wakefield

Benicio del Toro

Javier Rodriguez

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Helena Ayala

Erika Christensen

Caroline Wakefield

Don Cheadle

Montel Gordon

Jacob Vargas

Manolo Sanchez

Miguel Ferrer

Eduardo Ruiz

Luis Guzmán

Ray Castro

Topher Grace

Seth Abrahms

Tomas Milian

Gen. Arturo Salazar

Clifton Collins Jr.

Francisco Flores

Amy Irving

Barbara Wakefield

Dennis Quaid

Arnie Metzger

D.W. Moffett

Jeff Sheridan

Steven Bauer

Carlos Ayala

Albert Finney

Chief of Staff

James Brolin

General Ralph Landry

Enrique Murciano

DEA Agent - Trailer

Peter Riegert

Attorney Michael Adler

Benjamin Bratt

Juan Obregón

Yul Vazquez

Tigrillo / Obregón Assassin

Majandra Delfino

Vanessa

Alec Roberts

David Ayala

James Pickens Jr.

Prosecutor Ben Williams

Viola Davis

Social Worker

Andrew Chavez

Desert Truck Driver

Michael Saucedo

Desert Truck Driver

Jose Yenque

Salazar Soldier / The Torturer

Emilio Rivera

Salazar Soldier #2

Michael O'Neill

Lawyer Rodman

Russell G. Jones

Mark

Lorene Hetherington

State Capitol Reporter #1

Eric Collins

State Capitol Reporter #2

Beau Holden

DEA Agent - CalTrans

Peter Stader

DEA Agent - CalTrans

James Lew

DEA Agent - CalTrans

Jeremy Fitzgerald

DEA Agent - CalTrans

Russell Solberg

DEA Agent - CalTrans

Don Snell

DEA Agent - Trailer

Gary Carlos Cervantes

DEA Agent - Trailer

Leticia Bombardier

Ruiz's Secretary

Carl Ciarfalio

Ruiz's Assistant

Steven Lambert

Van Driver

Gilbert Rosales

Van Passenger

Rick Avery

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Mario Roberts

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Eileen Weisinger

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Keii Johnston

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Mike Watson

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Kurt D. Lott

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Lincoln Simonds

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Steve Tomaski

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Buck McDancer

DEA Agent - Public Storage

John Callery

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Ousaun Elam

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Brian Avery

DEA Agent - Public Storage

Corey Spears

F*****-up Bowman

Rena Sofer

Helena's Friend

Stacey Travis

Helena's Friend

Jennifer Barker

Helena's Friend

Dean Faulkner

Parking Valet

Daniella Kuhn

Tourist Woman

Brandon Keener

Tourist Man

Bill Weld

Governor Bill Weld

George Blumenthal

Partygoer #1

Stephen Dunham

Lobbyist

Don Nickles

Senator Don Nickles

Margaret Travolta

Economist

Harry Reid

Senator Harry Reid

Jeff Podolsky

Jeff Podolsky

Jewelle Bickford

Partygoer #2

Barbara Boxer

Senator Barbara Boxer

Orrin Hatch

Senator Orrin Hatch

Chuck Grassley

Senator Charles Grassley

Dave Hager

Partygoer #3

Tucker Smallwood

Partygoer #4

Marisol Padilla Sánchez

Ana Sanchez

Víctor Quintero

Salazar Soldier

Toby Holguin

Salazar Soldier

Ramiro González

Salazar Soldier

Elaine Kagan

Judge Reed

John Slattery

ADA Dan Collier

Jimmy Ortega

Arrested Man in Apartment

Greg Boniface

Tackled Man #1

Thomas Rosales Jr.

Tackled Man #2

Rudy M. Camacho

Customs Official

Vonte Sweet

Dealer

Ed Breving

Hotel Deskman

Jack Conley

Agent Hughes

Eddie Velez

Agent Johnson

Craig N. Chretien

Director of EPIC

John Brown

Assistant Director of EPIC

Mike Siegel

DEA Representative

Joel Torres

Porfilio Madrigal

Stephen J. Rose

Marty

Kimber Fritz

Rehab Counselor

Harsh Nayyar

Witness #1

Mary Pat Gleason

Witness #2

Vincent M. Ward

Man on Street

Jsu Garcia

Pablo Obregón

Gregory Estevane

Polygraph Administrator

Alex Procopio

Polygraph Assistant

Rita Gomez

Mrs. Castro

Kaizaad Kotwal

Teacher

David Jensen

John

Jay Krymis

Waiter #1

Mike Malone

Waiter #2

René Pereyra

Doctor

Kymberly Newberry

Press Secretary

Carroll Schumacher

Ayala Security #1

Ben Scott

Ayala Security #2

Michael Showers

Meeting Leader

Salma Hayek Pinault

Rosario (uncredited)

Fred Anderson

TV Reporter (uncredited)

David Bickford

Stan (uncredited)

Adam Clark

FBI Agent (uncredited)

Chic Daniel

DEA Agent (uncredited)

Sonia Debreczeni

Reporter (uncredited)

Alan Easley

Junkie (uncredited)

Choel Evans

Photo Journalist (uncredited)

Rod Fielder

Newspaper Photographer (uncredited)

Tony Guma

Detective (uncredited)

Valerie Hanna

Witness #3 (uncredited)

Dominic Koulianos

Reporter (uncredited)

Zachary Lindsey

Cafe Patron (uncredited)

Meagan Lopez

Cocktail Party Attendee (uncredited)

Ambrit Millhouse

Cincinnati Hooker (uncredited)

Ken Miyamoto

Guy by Swimming Pool (uncredited)

David Pittinger

Cincinnati Police Officer (uncredited)

Christopher Rogers

Businessman (uncredited)

Leo Rogstad

Stand-In (uncredited)

Laurent Schwaar

Art Appraiser (uncredited)

Joey Sotello

DEA Agent / Attorney (uncredited)

William-Christopher Stephens

Drug Dealer (uncredited)

Clyde Tull

Cafe Patron (uncredited)

Fairly Tull

Cafe Patron (uncredited)

Jim Cody Williams

FBI Agent (uncredited)

Anthony Hawkins Woods

Junkie (uncredited)

William 'Shorty' Young

Court Room Participant (uncredited)

JPV852

Seen this a few times over the years and still remains a compelling multi-character drama with some fine performances all around. Also has some great visuals depending on the storyline. Not sure where I rank it amongst Soderbergh's other works (Ocean's 11 has the fun factory going for it) but still love it no matter how many times I've seen it. **4.5/5**

5rJoud

**Someone needs to go back to directing school** This gem of the millennium comes with a great story (which has been done countless times before and after), great actors (funny faced most of them), and very well done action. Unfortunately all is wasted on the terrible actual telling of that story and its people in action. We get weird colors, useless zoom ins, shots into nothing, a boring soundtrack, the whole thing stripped off any continuity and stretched to 2 hours 30 minutes. It is understandable the makers of this film wanted to underline the realism with a documentary style, but come on. Or maybe they just were on some of the drugs shown in the picture, or maybe, and that must be it, they wanted the audience to feel like they were on drugs. 9 June 2017 I am migrating my reviews from a different site which has become simply garbage. TMDB looks awesome and I look forward to be a part of it.

CinemaSerf

Remember when western governments went through their phases of appointing a “czar” for everything? They clearly didn’t recall just what happened to the last one of them, and to be fair to “Wakefield” (Michael Douglas) his chances of success trying to stop the trafficking of drugs from Mexico to the USA wasn’t much likelier to succeed. In many ways the application of this task is little better than an honour amongst thieves arrangement with his own DEA officers trying to take down the “Ayala” cartel whilst south of the Rio Grande, law enforcement has rules that are more akin to survival of the fittest. They do make a semblance of a breakthrough, though, when they manage to arrest “Carlos Ayala” (Steven Bauer) thanks to some sterling work from “Gordon” (Don Cheadle) and “Castro” (Luis Guzmán). What they haven’t quite bargained on, though, is that his hitherto largely unaware wife “Helena” (Catherine Zeta Jones) is determined to avoid ending up on skid-row with her son, and so decides to take up some of the slack in her husband’s nefarious business enterprise. Meantime, different methods are proving effective for “Rodriguez” (Benicio Del Toro) and his partner “Sanchez” (Jacob Vargas) who are just as unscrupulous when it comes to tracking down these culprits and their mules, and after some success find themselves embroiled in a much more perilous endeavour to bring down the kingpin of the “Obregon” organisation. What doesn’t exactly help the new American boss is that his teenage daughter “Caroline” (Erika Christensen) spends a fair amount of her time stoked up with her boyfriend (Topher Grace) and their posh mates, sniffing or snorting whatever they can get hold of in their money-no-object, country club, lives and when that news leaks out, his own position might need him to start thinking about that second letter he had been warned to write. As the nets all begin to tighten, much hinges on the testimony of the dealer “Ruíz” (Miguel Ferrer) who has been promised immunity if he spills the beans, but - well, let’s just say that “Mrs. Ayala” wants her husband back. Rather than take a broad-brush approach to the national level of the politicking here, this works better because it focuses more on the people on the ground who are routinely making and breaking the rules to stay one step ahead of people who have ten times the budgets, the resources and the guile to ensure that for every one that are caught, another nine get through. Though I didn’t love the sometimes quite amateur-looking photography, and I felt the score frequently quite obtrusive, Del Toro is on great form exuding well the attitude of a pragmatic officer who has standards and red lines, but they can conveniently blur from time to time. Ferrer is also effective as the creepy snitch and the gradual incorporation of the threads into a single denouement works well in providing clear evidence that such a single conclusion isn’t ever going to realistically possible! Luckily, Douglas isn’t used so much because he’s pretty hopeless, but just about everyone else works well delivering a gritty dramatisation of what it could be like for the narcotics equivalent of King Canute.