6.9 out of 10
‘Contagion’ will make you paranoid enough to stop touching everything, at least for the first few hours after you watch it. But ultimately the film is nothing special, wasting a ridiculously talented cast on a fairly superficial story. As enjoyable as the movie is it leaves you wanting more; more twist, more look at the devastation, more explanation, just more. It’s as if the film is a 105 minute trailer. Still, ‘Contagion’ is a decent movie and won’t feel like a waste of time.
It’s easy to catch ‘Contagion’ but this is one virus that leaves you wanting more when it’s all over.
Any spoilers will be clearly marked so you can avoid reading them if you so choose.
Contagion will be available on video in Baltimore on January 17, 2012.
The Good
Contagion has a fantastic cast including Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet. They all do a fine job but are limited by the script. The one thing the film seemed to get right was the response to a global pandemic. It seems realistic that the panic would build slowly as information is kept close to the vest in the early stages and then all hell breaks loose as the truth gets out and people go primal. Contagion also appears to be fairly true to how government agencies and scientists respond and how they attempt to keep things under control.
In order for a film like this to be successful it has to hit close to home. The audience has to realize how possible it is for something like this to happen. Contagion scores high marks in this category. I was carrying around a bottle of hand sanitizer for the first few hours after seeing the movie and steering clear of anyone even breathing in my direction.
All in all the film is enjoyable. It’s not too long and does not drag. It gets off to a fast start as the virus is already spreading from the first shot. And it is a satisfying experience.
The Bad
It felt like director Steven Soderbergh (The Informant! and Ocean’s Eleven trilogy) gave us a really long preview for a much longer film. At every turn Contagion left me wanting more. I wanted more explanation at each stage of discovery rather than the 1 or 2 explanation sentences the scientist gave. I wanted more laboratory scenes with experiments as the scientists tried to find a cure. I wanted more gritty human interactions as the panic set in. I wanted to see more chain reaction as they tried to piece together the origin of the virus. I wanted more about Jude Law’s character. Pretty much every path the film took was too short. It would have been better if they went with maybe half of those story elements and developed them further.
The dialogue was pretty weak. None of it was engaging, clever or witty. Contagion was no comedy but neither was Outbreak and they managed to have some fun dialogue in that film. I still can’t figure out how Contagion rates higher on both RottenTomatoes.com and IMDB.com than Outbreak.
The Bottom Line
Contagion is a good film; it’s just not a great one. Ultimately it was too ambitious trying to show so many different angles and storylines without delving deeply into any of them. The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired and makes the great cast feel wasted. I may be one of the few critics out there who thinks Outbreak was the superior film and if you haven’t seen that one yet I recommend it over Contagion. Contagion is worth a look and worth a cheap rental, but it just feels like it could have been so much more with a little tweak here or there. Maybe one more rewrite of the screenplay taking out a couple side elements and exploring the others a little more could have turned this one into a contagious treat.
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