Contagion

Starring: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, John Hawkes, Jennifer Ehle, Demetri Martin, Elliott Gould, Bryan Cranston
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Thriller
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: As a global pandemic breaks out, a father (Matt Damon), CDC official (Laurence Fishburne), blogger (Jude Law), WHO official (Marion Cotillard), and others try to survive.

Review:

Tim: Contagion is an interesting movie- it actually got better the second time around. Steven Soderbergh is definitely a polarizing director. He typically doesn't make movies that are cookie cutter or expected. His film here is very different from most outbreak movies- it's firmly grounded in reality (sometimes almost too realistic). The film shows fairly accurately what it would be like if a deadly virus traveled the globe. I love the realism, but I would have also liked to see a little more Hollywood magic and excitement. Still, I appreciate how Soderbergh took painstaking efforts to make sure everything that happened in this film was rooted in realism.

The first time around, the movie felt just a bit slow and occasionally a little boring. That's because Soderbergh resisted the urge to sacrifice his gritty realism for Hollywood thrills and chills. That makes this movie pretty unique and an oddity.

The cast is pretty excellent, although not all get enough screen time. Gwyneth Paltrow has a small role, but it's important. I applaud her for signing onto this unconventional role. Matt Damon is good, but not great. He played the everyman caught up in the outbreak. Laurence Fishburne was very good as a high-ranking CDC official. Jude Law felt a bit annoying as an ambitious blogger. Marion Cotillard was fine, although I felt like her storyline was the weakest of the bunch. It felt like a little too "Hollywood"-ized to me. Kate Winslet was especially strong, and I very much enjoyed her in this film. It was also fun to see Elliott Gould and John Hawkes in small roles. What's funny to me is that the cast has all these huge names, and yet, I thought Jennifer Ehle clearly gave the best performance of the film. She's one of the scientists working on finding a cure, and I was transfixed by her performance. She was excellent in the movie.

What's funny is that Soderbergh deserves a great deal of credit for creating a thrilling, informative movie that's likely the most realistic disease movie ever made. That's pretty incredible. However, I would have liked to have seen just a bit more excitement and entertainment- really, anything to make me think I was watching a movie that I was supposed to enjoy. I'm not suggesting I needed a Mickey Mouse, tickle my toes type of moment, but this film is a bit of work to get through. I think the absence of this element (we're intellectually stimulated by the events, but our hearts are mostly untouched) prevents this film from achieving greatness. When a main character died towards the end, I thought, "Wow, that's too bad" but didn't really feel anything for the character or the situation.

While I believe Contagion just misses out on greatness (and I mean just misses it), this is still a very solid movie. Soderbergh should be applauded for creating a unique film and doing it his way. I still very much enjoy the movie, and consider it an especially strong film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Outbreak, 28 Days Later