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6.8
Genres are ThrillerDramaSci Produced in 2011, USA, United Arab Emirates
Available Quality: DivX, iPod
Rating: 6.8 out of 10 (53910 votes)
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480x272 | 282 MiB |
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524x288 | 1615 MiB |
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| Actors | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| John Hawkes | Jude Law | Gwyneth Paltrow | Matt Damon |
| Laurence Fishburne | Josie Ho | Monique Gabriela Curnen | |
| Directors | |||
| Steven Soderbergh | |||
Storyline
Plot Summary:
Soon after her return from a business trip to Hong Kong, Beth Emhoff dies from what is a flu or some other type of infection. Her young son dies a few days later. Her husband Mitch however seems immune. Thus begins the spread of a deadly infection. For doctors and administrators at the U.S. Center for Disease Control, several days pass before anyone realizes the extent or gravity of this new infection. They must first identify the type of virus in question and then find a means of combating it, a process that will likely take several months. As the contagion spreads to millions of people worldwide, societal order begins to break down as people panic.
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featheredsun
25 May 2012
Realistic and and engaging - no nonsense
I've seen a few bad reviews here that seem to stem fromover-expectation. Some people look at the cast and seem to think - WOW!This is going to be like Jason Bourne -vs- Morpheus in the AI SpidermanHot Zone!!! Please.This is a fairly paced imagining of what a superflu outbreak would belike. The story is thoughtful, solid, and very realistic, covering allthe themes of man-at-his-worst, paranoia, helplessness, beingoverwhelmed, etc... It doesn't veer into any hard-to-believe covertaction nonsense that so fills the cinemas these days. There's noblack-ops CDC teams, alien genetics, or grim revenge raids onhigh-security quarantine facilities.Sorry. Look elsewhere.Like Traffic, from the same director, we simply have a calm look at afrightening situation and an observation at the human interactions andemotions that go with it.And as such, it works, it is enjoyable, and it is well done.
Film Flare
24 May 2012
Fascinating.
Contagion, a 2011 medical based thriller posing an eerily accuratedepiction of a lethal epidemic. Created with assistance from the CDC,the film spans a period of time from discovery through control to curewith (seemingly) a very high level of accuracy.Steven Soderbergh very ably intertwines several individual narrativesand characters successfully, each one a different aspect and angle ofthe epidemic. Also, considering the not terrible cast list (wiki),Soderbergh controls every aspect of this complex and intelligent filmwith a mastery of balancing the micro with the macro, mainly by usingMatt Damon.Damon is the emotional core of the film, whilst other characters facetrials and hardships, it is Damon's character the film returns to asthe small-scale individual effect of the large scale epidemic. Othercharacters work for the CDC or WHO, others are scientists orepidemiologists but Damon is just a man, a human being on the ground.His story is therefore the most painful, emotional and scary. Damonhimself is more than capable of carrying the film on his own, actingwith aplomb.The film was described to me as a medical horror, a term I found didn'tdo the film justice. It was not horrifying in the way I had assumed, Iwould say it was more of a medical thriller. It makes you think anduses suspense and tension rather than exploiting a fear which horrorfilms usually do. I personally did not find the film scary, I found ita fascinating study of what would (probably) happen if a very nastyepidemic did spread.Although if you are a germaphobe, you will be terrified. Soderberghlingers the camera on surfaces that could and would cause a contagionto spread, you end up being able to trace the spread back to its GroundZero as the characters do.One of my main problems with the film was that I found it very hard toplace events that occur within the overall narrative structure. It isnot an overly long film but characters would get sick, recover orwhatever and I couldn't place if the narrative was near the end. Isuppose this adds to the realism but it wasn't structured like aregular film. It threw me off at several points where I assumed the endof the film and yet it continued. Overall, I was very impressed with the technical ability of the film,the soundtrack adds a nasty electronic pulsing to the proceedings whichhelped the film's tone. The main successes of the film are the nearreal feel of it as well as using one character as the emotional core ofthe film to identify mostly with.Impressive, and interesting.
Paul p Pluteau
23 May 2012
Keep away - youll be contaminated.
I give Contagion 0.5/10 (there's bound to be a tiny thing positive -I'm still searching) so I can be at the top of the dislike list andhave you avoid this movie.This film is so full of clichés, the writers were on automatic driveand asleep at the job: altruistic doctors who test vaccine onthemselves, panic stricken metropolitan areas ransacked to justifyhomeland security measures, so on and so forth. And it shows in theacting; very bland. Sub-par use of Matt Damon who is shown grievingonly at the very end and even worse for Jude Law; a disregarded bloggerwho's even told that blogging is "graffiti with punctuation"; cute.What about the origin of shaking hands? That one comes at the very end.What's with one of Law's front tooth on his otherwise perfect grin asany studio picture of him will show? Oh yeah, a blogger has to be areject leaving out of his parents' basement with asocial tendencies andwho he's untrustworthy and a crooked front tooth will make that morebelievable. Give me a break.And why is Chicago always picked for disaster movies lately? We hadSource Code where Chicago was set for nukes (much better film), nowit's where a big contagion outbreak gets started. Could that be "TheLone Gunman - 9/11 predictive programming" way of letting out where thenext "terrorist" attack is set to be? One shot shows the Sears tower(whatever its name is now) looming as a beacon in the distance. Notcute.Do yourself a favor - stay away from that movie so as to not becontaminated with unsavory propaganda.
spotlightne
23 May 2012
Talkative, slow and very boring
Contagion is an incredibly tedious, slow, talkative movie that getsnowhere.A virus sweeps the world. Characters are introduced, you don't learnanything about them as people. You don't care about them.Matt Damon walks around as if he's busy learning the script for hisnext film. He looks totally disinterested. And who can blame him? It'shardly a part to get your teeth into. Not that Matt can act anyway.Also, we have Gwyneth Paltrow in an almost non speaking role. KateWinslet rushes about trying to look concerned, and trying even harderto do a convincing American accent. She fails miserably on both counts.But worst of all is Jude Law who plays an Australian journalist. He'strying to do the accent too, and he fails. Sounded like a Cockneybarrel boy's accent gone wrong.All in all a dismal movie that should be avoided. Well, I watched about55 minutes then gave up. Whizzed through to the end and even the endingwas boring.1/10.
semasa-40-516428
20 May 2012
Lacked Excitement
I thought that this movie was a sure winner, given all of the fairlybig name stars and the subject matter involved. I took my family to seeit yesterday with high hopes. By the end of the movie, we were allstaring at each other in disbelief. Where was all of the excitementthat was inferred in the trailers? Was this all that there was? Was itactually over? Two of my family members asked me if the movie was somesort of documentary. They said that, instead of an exciting "action"movie, it seemed to them to be more of a movie that the teacher wouldshow you in science class, informative, but boring. I am not totally,100 percent sorry that we went to see this movie, but I would notrecommend it to my friends. Maybe they spent so much budget money onthe stars salaries that there wasn't much left for writing, directing,or special effects.
hapyzachy
19 May 2012
So much potential, and so much meaning, but it went so wrong.
Honestly, i don't understand why 35% of the votes on this movie are10/10. I didn't enjoy it as much as the others did. I'll tell you why.They framed it on a bird, a bat, and a pig! They didn't show itrealistically. This type of virus wouldn't just come from nowhere. Itwould come from government testing, and used as biological warfare.Then the movie didn't close up right. The denouement was completelyloaded with questions. There were some good things about the movie thati liked though. I liked that there was such good acting. People reallyacted the part well! But even though they acted well, the plot wasflawed, and there didn't seem to be an ending that was worth waitingfor. The cinematography was great actually. They told a great storywith the camera. Breaking the 180' rule to confuse us with perfectefficiency. Overall, i'm glad i watched it, but i'm mad i went to thetheater and payed $8 to do so. Don't see it in the theater. Wait forRedbox!
dapplegrey13
18 May 2012
Disappointing. Not enough character development.
Well, we had high hopes, but we were all disappointed when my friendsand I went today to see 'Contagion'. It was certainly a veryreal-to-life scenario of an out of control, deadly virus in moderntimes. But I enjoyed "Outbreak" with Renee Russo and Dustin Hoffmanbetter, really.This movie was way too choppy, too unbalanced, it had WAY too manycharacters to keep up with and try to get to know. So, we didn't get toknow any of them, and therefore, we didn't really care who lived or whodied. My friends and I agreed as we were leaving; we could take it orleave it. I'd recommend waiting until it comes out on DVD.One more note, with that incredibly brilliant stellar cast of fineactors, the filmmakers should be a bit ashamed that they came away witha film that didn't draw a single tear or stir up conversation fromanyone in our audience.
TheLittleSongbird
18 May 2012
An excellent film
I heard much about Contagion and having loved Traffic and Oceans Elevenand also the concept, I was really intrigued into seeing it. And I wasvery impressed. Okay, Contagion's drama and tension levels are notquite as effective as those of Traffic, and some scenes could have donewith more conflict.However, it is not devoid of any of those things, and there are someshocking and suspenseful moments to savour as well. As you would expectfrom Soderbergh, Contagion is a slickly made film, with an intelligentand taut script, efficient directing and a well paced and interestingif sometimes wordy story.And I can't not mention the cast. Of an exemplary cast, GwynethPaltrow, Jennifer Ehle, Bryan Cranston and Kate Winslet are solid, andJude Law in an unlikely role is much better than expected. ElliotGould's cameo is nicely understated, and Laurence Fishburne and MarionCotilard are as usual very good. Matt Damon was the standout for me,and one of the highlights of the film.Overall, excellent, while not either among the best or worst of theyear, it was one of the most interesting. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Shane Kolacz
15 May 2012
Excellent, understated big budget movie. Highly recommended.
'Contagion' has an almost documentary type of approach to a genre whichhas been virtually turned into parody by films such as 'The Day AfterTomorrow' and 'Armageddon'. In some ways it is reminiscent of some ofthe great WW2 blockbusters such as 'Tora, Tora, Tora' and 'A Bridge TooFar' in that it lets events tell the story without injecting melodrama.Contrary to some other reviews I have read 'Contagion' benefits ratherthan suffers from having no protagonist. The hopelessness experiencedby all the characters in the face of a disease which has no emotionsand no agenda other than to multiply is made all the more tangible bythe understated nature of how the film is played. Characters die withno swelling music and little time for survivors to dwell or mourn. Theediting is judicious and keeps the movie skipping along at a pace thatmaintains interest in all the different story lines. Each character istelling a different side of how society would face such an outbreak andeach story is compelling in its own way. My only criticism is that someof these different sides could be explored in greater depth (i.e howlong would the power last once society starts to fall apart?). Maybethat is to come in an extended DVD release?
Niklas Pivic
14 May 2012
Money unwell spent
Well, this was pap. Fodder. Nothing. Depressing.The actors behaved like they were actually depressed: very littlehappened. I'm all for non-Hollywood-esque acting; indeed, I was bettingon Soderbergh's helming to be of help, but instead this seems about asfailed as "The Island".The story is simple: a germ has been released and is quickly spreading.The incubation time is next to nothing, and people start dropping likeflies.A bunch of celebs turn up to die, conspire, try to find a vaccine andlive.The best part of the film: the soundtrack. The worst part of the film:the rest.I didn't much care for the characters in the film. Some turned up, somevanished, some turned up later. There was very little building ofsympathy for the characters, which I felt was really odd consideringwhat kind of film this is. Sure, I liked the callous scientific senseof the WHO researchers, but that quickly delved from beingthis-might-turn- interesting into sheer bureaucratic dribble, almostlike a chemistry lesson: this cell goes in there, and turns thatcell...I didn't care much. It was like playing Grand Theft Auto for too longin one go: once you go there, you end up doing stupid stuff, likeshooting people or wrecking your car just to get a rise. Watching thisfilm was like that, except you couldn't control any of the charactersand they were just...below plain.Not even the conspiracy bit - courtesy of Mr. Jude Law - wascaptivating, despite seeing him in hefty breathing apparatus which wasfunny.I must admit: the bit where the kids dance was lovely. Nothing else.Nothing.
virek213
14 May 2012
Going Viral (Quite Literally)
The fears and realities of global viruses have always been in existencesince travel was basically invented; but with the explosion of allkinds of technology and modes of transportation, those fears andrealities have exploded. Even as far back as 1918, a virulent strainknown as the Spanish flu killed 800,000 people in the United Statesalone, and as many as eighteen million more across the world. In ourtime, such things as bird flu, swine flu, SARS, and H1N1 have puthealth officials in all corners of the world on edge, especially whenit is found out that the strains often develop immunities to the veryvaccines we use to treat them. This is the subject dealt with inCONTAGION, a solid medical science fiction/suspense docudrama that hasa degree of realism fueled by a combination of fact and speculation.Like more than a few disaster epics of the 1970s, CONTAGION puts alarge cast of all-stars in an insightful, disturbing, and highlycharged situation as an unnamed virus, which begins its deadly spreadthroughout the world as the result of an innocuous occurrence involvinga female executive (Gwyneth Paltrow) in Hong Kong spreads into America,infecting just a few people at first, but pretty soon exploding into ahealth crisis the likes of which no country has ever seen. LaurenceFishburne and Kate Winslet are the doctors based out of CDCheadquarters in Atlanta who try to develop the appropriate vaccines forthis strain, which, like so many flu bugs, has a genetic code to itseemingly meant to ward off any kind of medicine applied to it. MarionCottilard is the French doctor sent by the World Health Organization(WHO) to Hong Kong to track the exact origin of the flu. Jude Lawportrays a conspiracy blogger who contends that the CDC and governmentsall over the world have the antidote in their hands but are not willingto share it so as to cash in on the deaths of what eventually turn outto be tens of millions of people. Matt Damon portrays Paltrow'sgrieving husband who has to stand watch over his two motherlesschildren who might be infected, even though he himself already has theright amount of antibodies to avoid catching the strain.While there have been more than a few "virus/disease" films over theyears, CONTAGION seems to be the most realistic of the bunch, and, as aresult, probably the most frightening. The tendency to have the entirecast go into hysterics over people dropping dead like flies all aroundis wisely avoided by director Steven Soderbergh, whose credits includeERIN BROCKOVICH and TRAFFIC. Instead, he opts for a docudrama-likeapproach, with numerous sequences of hand-held camera movements thatmake the drama seem as realistic as possible without dipping intotechnique for technique's sake. The situation is highly realistic, asanyone who has studied the history of previous viral epidemics willeasily attest to; not only are such pandemics possible today, they arepractically inevitable when taken into account the way technology andtravel have evolved, and given the everyday habits of people that canlead to viruses being spread around without anyone knowing about ituntil it has already happened to them.Instead of being another scary Hollywood shocker (though it isdefinitely scary), CONTAGION largely succeeds at putting up a plausiblescenario for an infectious disease mutating into a worldwide problem inwhich a cure can't come fast enough. Furthermore, it also urges us tothink about how the entire world's population has become sointerdependent on others in times of crises, such as viral epidemics ofthe kind depicted in this film.
CylonTheater
13 May 2012
Movie a 7, soundtrack a 2
Okay,I enjoyed the movie overall and there are so many good reviewswritten on IMDb that I will just get to the part that almost made itunbearable to sit through... the music soundtrack! How would I describeit? Horrible, annoying, 70's meets 80's with a dash of porn? I'msitting in the theater and wishing Mike Tyson would show up to chew myears off! Does that explain it well enough? I get that they may havebeen going for a certain mood or feel, but they could have done awaywith 90% of that music and improved the movie a lot.The acting was very good and the plot was well thought out and done. Ijust wish the movie was made a bit more to modern standards ortechnique I guess....
markdroulston
13 May 2012
Felt like it should have been better
Few filmmakers have the ability to draw the same kind of star power asSteven Soderbergh, and his latest film Contagion is no exception. Infact, it might be his most star-studded film to date, with a mixture ofhuge lead names and excellent character actors all coming together in afilm that, unfortunately but perhaps unsurprisingly, bites off a littlemore than it can chew. That's not to say Contagion isn't good; it'sarguably the most frightening film of the year, and the massive castlargely turn in solid performances, but the relatively brief runningtime (106 minutes) sees some of the story threads left underdeveloped,while some could arguably have been jettisoned altogether.Contagion documents the spread of a mystery disease outbreak named MEV-1, and how people, fed by the media, deal with the epidemic, and it'sin this aspect that the film shines. It's familiar cinematic groundthat has had some mixed results in the past, with movies like TheAndromeda Strain and Outbreak being decent examples, but Soderberghpresents the subject matter in a much more realistic way. Not known forbeing overly flashy in his direction, Soderbergh takes a much moreobjective stance, simply letting events unfold in a credible fashion,and the level of research he must have done is clear to see in theprocedural, bureaucratic handling from the Center for Disease Control(CDC) and various other governmental agencies. There is some subtlevisual flair however, with the majority of the film shot in sicklygreen and yellow tones, and lingering shots on door handles, hand railsand the like, driving home the concept of our lack of awarenessconcerning the spread of disease, and how easily a virus like MEV-1could get out of control in the real world. There are plot holes, butfor the most part the scenario is a believable and terrifying one.Where Contagion is less successful however is in its treatment of theviral nature of modern media, and how the internet and social mediahave changed the spread of information across the globe. There arebrief mentions of phenomena such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, butthe idea that the internet is feeding the developing panic isn't quitefleshed out enough. The biggest problem comes down to Jude Law'scharacter, blogger Alan Krumwiede. It's an interesting idea to place afreelance, whistle-blowing character at the centre of the panicsurrounding MEV-1, but given that Soderbergh is juggling several otherstory threads simultaneously, Krumwiede's presence simply doesn't havethe impact he should. Soderbergh clearly wants to critique this conceptof unaccountable journalism and fearmongering within the blogosphere,but Law's over-the-top, mustache twirling performance doesn't fit thefilm's tone, and the issues surrounding Krumwiede and his allegedhomeopathic 'cure', while again potentially interesting, aren't pursuedenough to be compelling. Soderbergh tries to show as many aspects ofthe crisis as he can, yet had he excised one of the less vital stories(perhaps those concerning Marion Cotillard or Elliott Gould), thepervasiveness of the internet in the media could have been explored inmuch more depth, using the disease as an effective macguffin to examinemedia-fuelled panic in society.A new Steven Soderbergh film is always worthy of discussion, especiallygiven that, if we are to believe the director himself, we're unlikelyto see too many more of them. Contagion is a textbook example of theadage that 'less is more', and while it presents a realisticallyunsettling story, ultimately the film tries to do to much and losessome impact as a result. You will possibly walk out of the cinema moremindful of the unseen dangers that are all around, but because of itsmis-steps, Contagion isn't as frightening, or simply as good as itfeels like it should be.tinribs27.wordpress.com
chrusokomos
12 May 2012
A docu-fiction which promises more than it delivers
"Contagion" is basically a 'what if' movie about a possible scenario incase of a global pandemic. In this respect, I think it is well done andwell researched, with only two caveats - the usual focus on the US(saviours of the world yet again) despite a global setting, and anoverly optimistic resolution to the crisis. The actors are also verygood, if a bit under-utilised (you would expect more screen time forsomeone as good as Matt Damon, for instance).However, this movies fails as a movie, in my opinion, in two respects:first, and most importantly, it has no real sense of drama or plot.There is no message to it, no final catharsis - nothing. It reads likea documentary, and not a very good one at that. We don't know enoughabout the characters to feel sorry for them, and the final moral lessonseems to be, "If you want to survive a pandemic, either be a top guy orclean their apartment".Secondly, the reason behind the pandemic are not explored at all. Themovie is a glorification of animal testing, and only two minutes at thevery end are spent showing the real reasons behind most modern pandemic- the awful conditions in which farm animals are kept. I don'tunderstand this at all, because Ian Lipkin, the professor called in asexpert for this movie, clearly states that "We are one world  humansand animals  and we need to take care of one another." This is animportant message in our overconsumeristic world, not only for basicanimal welfare, but also, increasingly, for our own protection. Yet thefilm completely ignores this aspect.Soderbergh is brilliant in directing multi-faceted movie, but in thisone it looks like nobody had a real plot in mind. A real pity.
mctagga9
11 May 2012
CDC propaganda and just plain bad
I actually signed up for an IMDb account just to give this film ahorrible review. It is chock-full of propaganda attempting to convincethe watcher that the CDC should be trusted, that vaccines will saveyou, and that you should not trust bloggers who attempt to tell peoplenot to take vaccines.This parallel to the real globalist plan to use vaccines as a softkillmethod on populations in a time of manufactured crisis, so that we areforced to take poisonous vaccines against our will, because the policymakers "know best". Don't listen to alternative media (or your ownintuition) just do what the government tells you to do, be scared andtake your vaccines.Besides being a despicable propaganda film, the movie is just badmovie. The acting is subpar, while the story of how the alleged diseasewas started is haphazardly explained (don't want to give it away if youdecide to watch it, but it really is shoddy at best) Anyhow, worstmovie i've just about ever seen.
Lee Eisenberg
11 May 2012
ten years after 911, people still do irrational things
People have spent today remembering the tenth anniversary of the 9/11attacks. One of the important things to remember about that day (or thedate of any similar event) is the fear that took over. Such fear is thetopic of Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion". While the movie initiallyfocuses on the spread of a deadly disease, it then shifts to showingthe irrational things that people do in desperate situations. Uponhearing of the pandemic's spread, everyone flips out. It doesn't helpthat there are cover-ups and conspiracy theories.Jude Law's muckraking journalist mentions the H1N1 virus, and much ofthe movie does seem to be alluding to the hysteria that surrounded it.It's also worth noting that the large amounts of antibiotics given tofarm animals have caused diseases to mutate faster than humans cancontrol them, much like the disease in the movie does.I probably wouldn't nominate "Contagion" for any Oscars or anything,but it is a good look at how irrational situations can cause even moreirrational activity. Fear and the manipulation thereof can be asdangerous as any infectious disease.
Harry T. Yung
07 May 2012
A trilogy without parts 1 and 2
Towards the end of the movie, a clever, simple shot is used to signifythat the deadly new epidemic is finally under control  a three layerbox containing specimens is put into the lab's archive. The bottomdrawer, looking quite new, is for this new string. The top two layers,looking warn and rusty, are labelled respectively "SARS" and "H1N1".Comparison of this movie with "Outbreak" (1995) is inevitable. Yet theyare quite different. "Outbreak" is an all-out thriller, verging onmelodramatic, albeit melodramatic of the first class. Soderbergh's"Contagion" is almost clinical in its documentary flavour. There is aconsiderable amount of scientific details. Even when a lay audiencecannot tell how authentic they are, their effect on enhancing thecredibility of the movie cannot be disputed. Although not grippinglyentertaining as "Outbreak", "Contagion" is entertaining in its own way,through knitting together several parallel plots developed through astellar cast.Gwyneth Paltrow is the first victim in the movie, appearing onlybriefly at the beginning when she contacts the disease in either HongKong or Macau and dies soon after going home to the U.S. Throughflashbacks, an investigative series tries to find the source, which isdisclosed only in the very last shot. Matt Damon plays her husband wholoses both her and her son (his stepson) but is himself immune. Hisonly emotional support now is his teenage daughter (Anna Jacoby-Heron)from his first marriage who hurries to his side at the tragedy.Laurence Fishburne is the deputy director of the Centre and DiseaseControl, who has the unenviable job of facing the public. His own storyincludes sending a trusted friend and colleague (Kate Winslet) tohandle an affected region and, tragically, to her death. His care foranother colleague (Monique Gabriela Curnen), whom he later marries,leads him to disclosing to her privileged information. Overhearing thisis a janitor (John Hawkes, who recently had a marvelous performance in"Winter's bone" as "Teardrop") who seeks the rare vaccine for his son.The story of Marion Cotillard's character is a little far-fetched butnot totally unrealistic. A World Health Organization investigator sentto the Far East, she is kidnapped by a local man (Chin Han) for ransomin the form of the vaccines to save his village.The best performance in the movie comes from Jennifer Ehle (mesmerizingas Christabel LaMotte in "Possession" and also appeared in The King'sSpeech as Geoffrey Rush's character the speech therapist wife) as thedoctor who discovers the vaccine.Jude Law steals quite a few shows as a blogger with zero scruplestrying to make money out of this biological disaster of globalproportion.Not necessarily with a laboured "message", this movie shows what astring of virus can do to humanity. Driven home most clearly is theconcept of triage: in the scarcity of resources, the decision of who isto survive.
Scott Baldwin
06 May 2012
Theres an evil virus thats threatening all mankind, not state of the art, a serious state of the mind...
My review's title comes from Iron Maiden's 1996 song, "Virus", in whichBlaze Bayley sings of a life threatening virus. That line is followedby "The murderers, the backstabbers, the two-faced elite, a menace tosociety, a social disease...". The "virus" in the song evidently takesin a double meaning. And what's really odd is that once I left thecinema at the end, I realized how well the song fits the movie. InContagion, the main force of the film is people's perception of fear,just like the song.Over the film's opening black screen, we hear a cough. The film's firstshot then appears, and we see a very miserable looking Gwenyth Paltrow.Boy, she has clearly had better days. Sadly, this is the best she looksin the entire film. Even adding to the sadness, the film's subsequentsubtitle reads "Day 2". It does indeed get worse; a number of peopleall the world have this virus. One even gets hit by a bus, he's socontrolled by the virus.The person most affected is Mitch Emhoff. His wife has returned from atrip, and has contracted the virus while in China. She dies right assoon as she is taken to the hospital, and the son soon follows.Meanwhile, a blogger attempts to come up with a scheme to get moreinformation from the CDC about the virus, The CDC keeps track of thevirus, tracking where it goes, a Swiss worker in China is held to stayin a village where the population of living and healthy people isminuscule due to the sickness... Ad the tension explodes, thus onlybuilding to an unforgettable conclusion.Soderbergh has managed to do here what most movies nowadays don't. Hedares to go outside the typical comfort zone of viewers and give us astory that begins right in the middle of it all. Normally this wouldannoy me, as I like to have things developed before the story begins totake off. But here it's masterfully done, to the point where moreshocking secrets shout the virus get revealed. And the film's codais... Well, let's just say, jaw-dropping.Another thing that makes this a special one is it's lack of a climax.You may argue as to whether or not this film had a climax, but, to me,the film was anti-climatic for a reason. Because really, in the eventof a real epidemic or pandemic, the vaccine never is really the end...One place a vaccine emerges, another the virus manages to take over. Like I said, the major force in the movie is fear. It's everywhere inthe film. One person fears for his village because of the fact thatthere's very few healthy left. Another person fears because he only hashis daughter and her boyfriend. Two people fear to then point wherethey go on a rampage, searching for a possible cure. The fear itself islike a virus, leading to the decay of mankind. To use another line fromthe Iron Maiden song, "Watching beginnings of social decay, looting andsneering at life's disarray..."In addition, the acting is fantastic. Matt Damon gives a stellarperformance as Mitch. This may be his first believable performancesince The Departed... He puts so much emotion in the role, and inngeneral just really gives it his all. Jude Law, Marion Cotillard andKte Winslet are all fantastic in the movie as well. The film'scinematography is nothing short of stellar too. Shot in the Red Epiccamera in 1:78.1, the film is essential IMAX viewing too, as not onlydid it take up most of the screen, the look of the movie also issomething quite different as well.In short, Contagion is a masterfully done thriller, a total recommend,and will leave you thinking long after the credits have rolled. If youwant a good movie among a recent s--t storm of bad movies, do checkthis movie out!"Watching beginnings of social decay..."OVERALL: 10/10PROS: Beautifully shot,, well written and amazingly acted and directed,Contagion is the provoker of the year for sure. you will be discussingthis film with who you saw it with for hours after you have walked outafter the cinema.CONS: None to speak of, though those expecting a conventional narrativeor action packed film may want to see another film instead.
link9913
06 May 2012
As a chronic nail biter of 20 years, I quit after seeing this movie
Do you realize how many surfaces you hit, and how many people havetouched those surfaces? Sure, you come in contact with germs, but whatif these germs caused an epidemic? What I liked the most aboutContagion was the fact that this could happen at any time. Theyhighlight how the world overreacted to the Swine Flu, and is nowreluctant to take the new virus seriously. In addition, right from thebeginning of the movie, you are reeled into the movie with the amountof action. Further, while all this action is going on, you see theepidemic from everyone's point of view from different parts of theworld.These are a few of the reasons why I loved this movie! It is realistic,action packed, suspenseful, touching, informative, and sad. The actingwas great. I do not have too much to say about this movie because itwas THAT great :)
jjnoahjames
06 May 2012
Cough! Cough! A contagious eight star movie!
Contagion is spread by Matt Damon and Gwenth P. in a story aboutunstoppable disease. Multiple story lines release their spores but themost enticing are led by Kate Winslet who oversees activities for theCDC, Jude Law who's an underground Gonzo like blogger, but thestrongest, in my opinion, was by Marion Cotillard. I wish there wasmore of her story.This brings me to my first negative about the the film. Even thougheverything was done well. I feel like I want a bigger bite of thesandwich. I wanted more. In a way this was a moderately paced indie film, but that makes ithighly realistic. So if you love blood, guts and over the top end ofthe world movies this will be just o.k. for you, but not amazing. Ifyou hate Zombie flicks, or Saw style movies you will enjoy this movievery much!Contage keeps you interested but not any more than the average crimethriller, or Law and Order, CSI episode. But that means a lot. Boththose shows are classics.
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