Contagion

[Vanilla]

Review/Discuss

[CoolioD1]

Dear Hollywood - Please give Jennifer Ehle more roles like this. She's fantastic.Oh, and the rest of it was fine as well. I have no real problems with it. Though admittedly it wasn't particular memorable aside from The Ehle, the score and Jude Law.

[IndustriousAngel]

Just home from seeing this. I liked it a lot; a disaster movie without action: Strange idea but nicely realised. Performances were good but the best thing were the documentary-like pace and restraint. The score was fitting; a very cold film as a whole. Light could have been better; I really dug the docu-style but in places (especially when shooting against windows) it was a bit overdone. Hey, that's film and not TV!

[TheMovieman]

Watched this earlier today and thought it was good, though nothing particularly special. The performances were fine but a couple of the characters seemed to be useless (like Marion Cotillard's who disappears for a good portion only to show up again towards the end). The direction is solid in typical Soderbergh style (not a bad thing) but otherwise this isn't a movie I'm going to remember tomorrow.

3.5/5, B

[fmpro]

Outbreak light for me..6/10

[Travod]

My review for the school paper, lol. But before that, I love it. And Jennifer Ehle rocks. On the bus ride home from Contagion, you may find yourself shifting uncomfortably in your seat as you hear a cough or a sneeze. You’ll get out the Purell and rub it violently into your hands, cover your face with your hoodie and hope the bus drives faster. Contagion, released on Sept. 9, 2011 to a $22.4 million opening weekend in 3,222 theaters chronicles the outbreak and race to find the cure of a new and unknown disease as it ravages through the continents. The movie has an ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Lawrence Fishburne, and more. Most of the characters don’t know each other - the story is told through many different plot lines; some characters claim to have the cure, and others try to find the origin of the disease. Needless to say, Contagion requires full attention to keep track of the 105 minute narrative - you may be in China one moment and California the next. The cast all play their parts well: Damon is an overprotective father, Law is a journalist seeking answers, and Winslet is a doctor racing against time. While everyone is at the top of their game, Cotillard doesn’t add anything to the movie; her plot line doesn’t relate to the others, and she is just used as bait for a kidnapper. The filmmakers probably realized her, as they ignored her plot line at the end of the movie. To make up for the potentially confusing plot, Contagion boasts superior cinematography; this movie is amazing to look at. There’s a contrast in styles; the indoor settings are simple and clean, with many close-ups to show the varying emotions of the characters. On the other hand, the outside shots depict a post-apocalyptic wasteland: garbage is strewn about the streets, stores are broken into and empty, and people are scrambling for supplies and food. Another high point is the score. The music is electronic to fit with the theme, a high tech thriller with the world frenziedly trying to find a cure. The titles are simple: “They’re Calling My Flight” is the first on the soundtrack, as Paltrow is ready to board a flight home. The music builds tension, starting ominously like a breeze at the end of the world, becoming louder and more frantic as time runs out, which compliments the movie perfectly. The loose ends are tied up in the last few minutes: the outbreak is explained from how it began to how it spread, and a map illustrates how quickly it spread. It’s a satisfying conclusion that gives closure and a feeling along the lines of, “I need to wash my hands right now.” Contagion currently has an 83% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 70/100 on Metacritic. This is the rare entertaining September movie in the consistently lowest grossing (and lowest quality) month. Go see it. And bring hand sanitizer.

[Ariadne]

B-Okay film, but pretty forgettable. The performances were good but I wasn't very engaged in the characters or story.

[tommycruise]

Pretty lame.Wish the disease had just killed everyone...C

[cookie]

Possible side-effects of watching this film include marveling at Matt Damon's awkward acting, ponder at odd camera placing rather than being invested into the plot, inability to care for any of the characters and reduced consciousness from the fact that it's so fucking boring. Do not watch with decent expectations stemming from hype.

Edited January 22, 2013 by C00k13

[Gopher]

I didn't love it the first time I saw it at all. I've now seen it four times (it's on HBO a LOT) and it has become one of my favorite films of 2011. It's definitely the best 'worldwide disease' film I've seen because of how Soderbergh explores the realities of the situation. Damn good director!

Edited January 22, 2013 by Gopher

[Ezen Baklattan]

Stephen Soderbergh released 3 films in a time frame of 10 months: Contagion, Haywire, and Magic Mike, and all of them were certified fresh.Damn, it's like he and Woody Allen are having a contest to see who can make movies the fastest.

[rockNrollaDIM]

I wanted to see this for the longest time and I finally did on demand recently but I don't remember much about it, except seeing Gwyneth Paltrow get scalped. I liked the atmosphere though.

[4815162342]

The only thing that stops me from giving the film an A is the dead-end plot with Marion Cotillard and the Chinese.

[Gopher]

Stephen Soderbergh released 3 films in a time frame of 10 months: Contagion, Haywire, and Magic Mike, and all of them were certified fresh.Damn, it's like he and Woody Allen are having a contest to see who can make movies the fastest.

His recent hit-fail ratio is much stronger than Allen's. Three legitimately good films and apparently Side Effects is very strong as well.

[lab276]

The only thing that stops me from giving the film an A is the dead-end plot with Marion Cotillard and the Chinese.

So it is a dead end? I must have found it so unbelievable that they would just drop such an important storyline that I convinced myself that I missed it.But I did find the film thoroughly horrifying, excellent stuff.

[cozmeesah]

So it is a dead end? I must have found it so unbelievable that they would just drop such an important storyline that I convinced myself that I missed it.But I did find the film thoroughly horrifying, excellent stuff.

I don't know... it kind of is. But I just assumed that she was running out of the airport to go back to the village to warn them that they hadn't gotten the actual vaccine because she'd begun to care for the people there. That doesn't give us any less of a plot wrap-up than Jude Law's storyline.

[IndustriousAngel]

As to the "dead end"-plotline - yeah, it served no purpose storywise, just tried to show a different part of the catastrophe. I liked that about Contagion: It has a certain docu-style credibility, and as in real life, not every action carries meaning or forwards a plot. The same is true for Jude Law's character: If you only look at the "plot", he might as well be cut. He's neither responsible for finding the remedy nor does he hinder it, in fact he turns out a much smaller cog than he thought he was. His presence in the film just serves as an additional light on society's behaviour towards a pandemic.

Edited January 28, 2013 by IndustriousAngel

[luna]

too many storylines meant some of them were almost completely forgotten (the chinese one) and the end result is pretty limp. good atmosphere, though it rather felt like a tv drama at times. ending was totally underwhelming given how quickly it skipped through the final days.

 

essentially kind of a good idea executed poorly.

 

C

[CaptainJackSparrow]

Watching this now. Loving it so far.