Contagion

Contagion is a sci-fi film about a disease outbreak, which kills a lot of people. With all the talk about how this movie is too close to home and too realistic, I say nay. It is true that there is a very real feel to it and the star-studded cast does well throughout, but I think it’s pretty clear that the likelihood of a disease like the one breaking out is on par with the one in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It’s just not going to happen. Call me naïve or overly optimistic, but even if it did happen three out of four people would survive. Those are some good odds. (Should I throw in a “just kidding” here to let it be known that I do understand the severity of a quarter of the world’s population dying?)

Balancing a number storylines, the film shows the epidemic from the view of many different kinds of people, which is often intriguing. I can’t say that the famous actors are completely necessary though. Matt Damon and Laurence Fishburne star in the film and the other top billed actors essentially make cameos. Though the tough part is that individual story arcs tend to fall by the wayside when the character they are coupled with dies. I guess the debate with a money concerned public official becomes irrelevant when the character is living out their remaining hours on a hockey rink among other dying people. That image pretty much sets the tone for how depressing this gets.

Visually, the movie is strong, switching tones and looks between the many cities. So there is never any confusion as to where the audience is at any given moment. It’s odd to have a scientific thriller like this, which seems so grand in scale and never crosses into the realm of unrealistic fiction. The movie is actually very good. The disaster scenario imagery that commonly accompanies zombie movies plays for an intense setting and an interesting dynamic. But don’t worry if you think all the characters die. Just like in the movie, only one fourth bite the dust. (8.5 out of 10)