There are so many movies out there that just tend to get lost in the shuffle and more often than not end up being just more of the same good or bad that fans want. The latest, Traffik features a good cast including Paula Patton, Omar Epps, Missi Pyle, William Fichtner, Roselyne Sanchez, Luke Goss, and Dawn Olivieri, but seemed like it just came and went without too much impact. Could this film be hiding something more to enjoy or will it expose the true nature of its business?

 

Traffik follows a couple off for a romantic weekend in the mountains are accosted by a biker gang. Alone in the mountains, Brea and John must defend themselves against the gang, who will stop at nothing to protect their secrets. Going in I figured this was going to be one of those pretty generic action thrillers and it is just that. There are some good elements here, but often times get overshadowed by the predictable or annoying decision making of the characters.

 

The story here is pretty predictable initially and most of it is all the build-up that is intended for us to meet the characters and understand their relationships, but it feels unbalanced. I never found myself all that engaged with anything going on prior to the bad guys showing up and in fact wondered if anything was going to ever happen. Once the violence and chasing kicks in it does get a bit more interesting, but most of it is pretty generic and never does much too fully stand out.

 

There is a moment in the film with some predictable twists, but the ending direction had the chance to do something darker and more out of the norm, but instead stuck with some of the Hollywood by the numbers stuff that kept it from ever being something that could have been a stand out on its own. If you like the actors here and enjoy these kinds of films then give it a try and decide for yourself, but keep your expectations in check.