As with last weeks The Three Musketeers I wasn't all that bothered about seeing Contagion but as it had a semi impressive cast and potential to not suck I figured I'd end up seeing it anyway. And see it I did.
As the title suggests, Contagion is a movie about a virus and how quickly it, as well as fear of it, spreads through towns and cities all over the world. We follow several groups of people as they deal with the virus, a family in Minnisota who lose two members to the unknown and deadly disease, several doctors trying to find a cure, the Center for Disease Control who are having to deal with press as well as trying to learn about the virus and where it came from and a reporter who is trying to stop drug manufacturers from cashing in on the crisis, among others.
Contagion was actually a much better film than the trailer implies. It won't win any awards but the ensemble cast do a fine job of their respective roles and ultimately make the jumble of characters on offer into a bunch people that you care about. Not easy when you have so many big names all vying for a piece of the action.
And speaking of action, I also don't think the film was as horrific as I was expecting from the trailer. The film is only a 12A, which I don't think I realised when I saw the trailer initially, imagining a bit of a gorefest as suggested by some of the scenes shown. Instead it was a film that moved at a steady pace and kept me engaged in watching it and interested to know what was going to happen.
It had me intrigued from the opening minute as to why the film started on 'day 2' of the outbreak. I won't spoil it but I thought the way they wrapped things up at the end was a clever way to do it and finished things off in a very neat way.
Probably not the best film out this week, but certainly not the worst by a long stretch. 7 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 23rd October 2011
UK Release Date - 21st October 2011
Cast Overview:
Marion Cotillard ~ Dr Leonora Orantes
Matt Damon ~ Mitch Emhoff
Laurence Fishburne ~ Dr Ellis Cheever
Jude Law ~ Alan Krumwiede
Gwyneth Paltrow ~ Beth Emhoff
Kate Winslet ~ Dr Erin Mears
Jennifer Ehle ~ Dr Ally Hextall
Elliott Gould ~ Dr Ian Sussman
Chin Han ~ Sun Feng
John Hawkes ~ Roger
Daria Strokous ~ Irina
Anna Jacoby-Heron ~ Jory Emhoff
Brian J O'Donnell ~ Andrew
Director ~ Steven Soderbergh
Anna Jacoby-Heron ~ Jory Emhoff
Brian J O'Donnell ~ Andrew
Director ~ Steven Soderbergh
Writer ~ Scott Z Burns
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