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Steven Soderbergh’s
recent thriller
Contagion
is about what would
happen if a real
life pandemic
surfaced and started
knocking out people
left and right. It’s
easy to use a film
like this and notch
it up to Soderbergh
and Warner Bros.
using it to
capitalize on
peoples’ perception
and fear of
pandemics like bird
flu and swine flu,
but it’s more of a
conversation starter
than the
capitalization of a
scare tactic. The
movie’s not
flawless, but it
does some things
extremely well.
Soderbergh’s story
is simple. A virus
started in China and
was given to an
American woman who
works at a big
company and travels
around. She gets
sick and takes the
virus to the
airport, then she
takes it home, and
then it runs rampant
across America and
the world as
millions of people
die and chaos erupts
across the planet.
What’s terrifying
about Soderbergh’s
story isn’t the
story itself, it’s
the accuracy of the
story he’s telling.
This type of thing
could happen and the
modern world isn’t
equipped to deal
with it. As a movie,
Contagion
isn’t brilliant, but
as a conversation
starter it certainly
is.
Warner Bros. and
Soderbergh enlisted
an all-star cast to
feature in this
movie. It’s like the
solemn approach to
New
Year’s Eve
there are so many
high profile actors
here. Matt Damon,
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Kate Winslett,
Laurence Fishburne,
Brian Cranston. Jude
Law and others bring
a crazy story to
life. The cast is
terrific, although
some are just small
bit parts that add
nothing to the story
whatsoever.
Cranston’s role is
limited and we don’t
get to learn
anything real or
pertinent about him
or Jude Law’s
character- although
crucial and
relevant, the
character isn’t
developed enough.
The
story with
Contagion
is set up extremely
well. There’s this
slow build as the
virus starts and
what’s happening
centralized to Damon
and Paltrow but then
all of a sudden it
spreads rapidly and
all hell breaks
loose, it’s kind of
like the second half
of the movie was
forced instead of
developed.
Everybody’s sick and
dying…. That’s not
enough peril? People
have to start
rioting and looting
things too? That
should be shown, I
agree to that, but I
also think that
Soderbergh made
Contagion
a little too much
with the second half
of this movie.
Somewhere the story
just loses its way.
They should have put
more focus on Law’s
character and that
situation or focus
on the CDC
characters like
Winslett and
Fishburne- not both.
That’s too much
Unfortunately too
much isn’t a problem
that this release
has in terms of
special features.
There’s a short
comedic feature
that’s two minutes
long, animated, and
talks about what
would happen when a
worldwide pandemic
would break out.
There’s an eleven
minute feature on
pandemics themselves
and the people who
treat them. Then
there is a five
minute feature on
the people who would
actually have to
deal with the crisis
of a world pandemic
should it break out.
It sounds like
there’s a good
amount. But there’s
less than twenty
minutes of special
features on this
release and that’s
not enough in this
instance.
Contagion
is a good movie, one
that should be
watched by everybody
but that doesn’t
mean that it should
be enjoyed by all.
It’s a great
conversation starter
first and an
attention grabbing
thriller second.
Soderbergh and co.
could have done a
better job with the
last part of the
movie to be sure. A
strong start in the
first half is over
complicated and
needed to be
simplified to a
degree. Still watch
this movie and then
proceed to wash your
hands a hundred
times a day for the
coming weeks. I’d
recommend it.
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