Plot:
Mitch (Matt Damon) found her
wife, Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) fell sick and died with unknown symptoms
after just got back from work trip. Soon within the same time line, other
people from different locations randomly also died with more or less same
symptoms. Afterwards, number deaths are increasing. It is inevitable, a
lethal virus breakout has spread throughout the world. An international team of
doctors contracted by Central for Disease Control (CDC) to deal with the sudden
outbreak. Each person has different agenda but together they are mixed up to
survive.
Review:
Watching the trailer of 'Contagion' brings
memories of the 1995 hit 'Outbreak', starring Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman
(it was a very good movie). But, Steven Soderbergh provides a different taste,
a more realistic and drama, and less Hollywood approach for 'Contagion',
compared to 'Outbreak'. Soderbergh is quite known on assembling
A-list cast, remember the 'Ocean's Trilogy' and 'Traffic'? 'Contagion' is a mix of those
movies with a mouth-watering cast from Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence
Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard. Not many
directors who can do this, but Soderbergh always able to bring out the best
from his cast selection, and 'Contagion' is a proven one!
I can't say 'Contagion' is a thriller;
it's a more drama for me, and part semi documentary you've seen on TV, but
minus the interviews of course. The pace is quite steady, not too fast nor
slow, it was okay for me since I was hooked after the first 10-15 minutes.
But the great thing is, 'Contagion' manage to provide the 'fear effect' halfway
through the middle. It's pretty scary to see how the virus managed to spread
sporadically, without knowing how to contain it. Trust, you'll get paranoid for
a while, even I felt uneasy when
somebody coughed in the cinema. What makes it even more scary is that
Soderbergh put all the plots as if this thing a real deal, talking
about realistically creepy. A world-wide scale panics, socialization
becomes your worst enemy, people are separated from their lovely ones, and even
the President has to go hiding in his bunker.
Laurence Fishburne plays the role of Dr.
Ellis Cheever, the head of international team to handle the outbreak. I like
the way his story evolves that he’s just a normal human being, not Superman or
has special power, but spend most of the time, scientifically, medically, and
not to mention politically to put an end to the issue, and at the same time he
has to take care his loved ones. As his team member, Kate Winslet has different
role as Dr. Erin Mears, who has to go to the contaminated city, collect data,
interview patients, and arranging countermeasures to keep the sick people
contained. However, dealing with the sick people directly proved to be the most
dangerous task she has ever been handed. While Jude Law is Alan Krumwiede, a
famous blogger who tries to dig up conspiracy theories about pharmacy
industries who tries to hold up the cure for the disease. What makes his role
is believable, is that in this modern era where people can be easily connected,
it is scary to see how an unknown persona can reach millions of people and
could ask them to do stupid things. While Marion Cotillard plays a WHO officer,
Dr. Leonora Orantes, who goes to Hong Kong, where it was assumed the location
of the ‘first patient’. However, she has to deal with some unrest from local
officers, and mixed up in a desperate attempt by these guys, which by the way (no
spoiler!) could happened in the real world.
And this brings us to the last main cast,
Matt Damon as the husband of the first known body count caused by the deadly
virus. Almost half to the storyline tells us about how to deal with the
outbreak from the government perspective, while Damon’s character tells us the
story from the normal people, how he has to go through daily life activities,
and protect his daughter altogether.
After a series of bombastic summer movies,
it’s nice to see a change of menu, and ‘Contagion’ deserves an appraisal on its
effort to bring us a realistic survival story, without zombies or end of the
world disaster. It’s damn spine-chilling, thrilling, and makes you a bit
paranoid at least (use Purell all the time, and avoid Hong Kong, perhaps!). ‘Contagion’
is perhaps the best epidemic/pandemic movie to date. It begins with a high
tense moment, and it stays there right until the end, with no breaks or happy
moments in the middle. The downturn, is that, it ends up in a loose end with no clear conclusion or direction, leaving audiences craving for a more definite and purpose. Nevertheless, it is still a great movie, something like an adult movie that makes you not
want to touch any adults near you when it’s over. In short, ‘Contagion’ is a disaster
movie with brains involved.
My Rating: 8/10
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