Well, I think this movie perfectly sums up how I feel currently. I am in the midst of battling illness, one that is definitely winning as I came home work and pretty much it all hit me like a sack of bricks. I was fine Saturday, I was ok this morning, but something about coming really lets your defenses down and the cold to take over. I assure you, I don’t need Matt Damon to come and help me out, but it would be cool to hang out with him for the day. Just saying if that ever happens it would be cool.
So, what a perfect movie to instill fear in the populace with the threat of a global pandemic of sinus infections, coughing and chest congestion. CONTAGION!
Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. — (C) Warner Bros.
I know that there was a lot of people out there that wasn’t a fan of Contagion. I will admit that the thing that kills me with this movie is that there are too many stars in this movie that you constantly see a different actor for like 10 mins and never see them again. You sit there spending your time being like, “Oh there is Matt Damon, there is Marion Cotillard, there’s John Hawkes, there’s Demetri Martin, or there’s Bryan Cranston.” Believe me, I did that when I first watched the movie and had to review the movie a second time in order to gather my thoughts on the movie. That would be my biggest complaint about the movie, too many stars in such throwaway roles that detract from the movie.
Contagion was an enjoyable movie for me the second time around. I have always really liked Post Apocalyptic films, mainly because I enjoy seeing directors vision of how society itself goes to shit in the face of extinction. I am not rooting for anything like this, but I enjoy the psychology behind watching society lose what holds them together. It makes for interesting visuals and also offers up an opportunity for a wide reaching storyline with tight tension. Soderbergh does an amazing job with the movie and tone of it, with society and the world starting to split apart at the seams, he manages to weave together a global story with think tension that sits on a knifes edge. I have always enjoyed the way his movies look and Contagion is no different. It looks very sterile and surgical, never cluttering the scene the with a lot of useless filler, but always packing in relevant moments of scenery that add to the atmosphere of the world. Stadiums packs with the dead, destitute cities that are abandoned, and paranoia that is on the face of all those that are fighting to survive. It is a well done movie from a technical standpoint and for that I can enjoy it.
The acting isn’t anything to sneer at either, with Damon, Winslet and Law all carrying the brunt of the story as they each add a different perspective to the world of Contagion. I like Damon as the common every man who was first affected by the disease when his wife dies and has to search for answers. Law is out to bust open a conspiracy in terms of the disease and that offers up the paranoid aspect of the movie, hinting that something is afoot. Winslet is relegated to trying to cure the disease, those that are working round the clock to save humanity.
It’s really a frightening movie when you look at how easy it is to spread disease in such a globally connected world. I know it probably doesn’t help peoples paranoia about getting sick, but then again you have to realize that the threat is out there and this is a strikingly realistic portrayal of a global pandemic. Now if you excuse me, I am going to take some medicine and cry in the corner of my bedroom.