Action-thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and the international team of doctors fighting the outbreak. Directed by Steven Soderberg (Traffic), with an all-star cast including Matt Damon and Kate Winslet.
As the epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community (Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard) races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus. The film also follows ordinary folk (Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow) struggling to survive amongst city quarantines and a society falling apart.
Whoever came up with the idea to put a bunch of people together in a theatre and then screen a movie about fatal germs is a genius. Director Steven Soderbergh isn’t the first but he makes the most of the notion with Contagion, a film that you’d be best to suggest any germaphobes in your life should avoid like the plague.
Inglourious Basterds and 1985's Demons may have used their cinema setting to great effect but during Contagion you can sense the anxiety that comes from human proximity, let alone the angst accompanying an audience member’s cough. Soderbergh zeroes in on the gross yet banal communicability of disease, with lingering shots of surfaces being touched, coughs and splutters being made, and plenty of other daily hygiene crimes committed.
Whilst borrowing visually from post-apocalyptic zombie movies, Contagion wisely refrains from going too far in the direction of Stephen King’s The Stand, instead focusing on the storylines of a few largely unrelated characters. With star power to burn, the film is happy to kill off characters with little warning.
It does come off a little removed — the epidemic’s rapid spread, wide scope and high mortality rate mean that much takes place off-screen and Soderbergh doesn’t do the greatest job of bonding us to his characters — but at a time when we’re preoccupied with what we consider crises due to financial systems, Contagion is a reminder that we’re hardly in as much control of the globe as we think.
By Steve Newall, Flicks.co.nz
this was more like a drawn out 60 minutes documentary but worse. the stars did not do it justice, they could have been anybody and did not add anything to the movie. poor scripting to say the least.
was interesting not entertaining
What a very poor movie for Matt Damon to star in, only watch it because he was in it,wish there was more action or could see some of the goss stuff
I got lost 1/2 way through this, there wasn't really enough going on to keep me glued to it at all.
Thought it would be alot better then it actually was.Shouldve been a mini-series on TV
A starkly effective ensemble drama which could well do for the sniffles what Jaws did for great whites.
With simmering tension and some memorable acting performances by a stellar cast, Soderbergh's disease thriller is worth catching.
Contagion’s not the feel-good movie of the year, then, but it’s effective, compelling and smart and will have you twitching at every cough you hear for days afterwards.
Soderbergh brings a cold-blooded approach to Contagion, and the chill generally serves the material well.
Soderbergh shapes this story with muscular confidence.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 10th Nov 2011.
Release date: November 10th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
