Contagion

I am not much of a germaphob, but from the time this movie started until I finally started typing my review I had applied a generous amount of Germ-X to my hands five times and counting.

So, where do I begin? Well it is obvious that this is a film about a mysterious virus that begins to take thousands upon thousands of victims world wide, and there appears to be no known cure to stop it. Mass hysteria sparks fear into people all over the planet, and all the inflicted people all suffer the same symptoms but from where it originated is annoymous.

One thing that I particularly liked about this film is that from the get-go, the 'contagion' had already began. You didn't know how it was spreading, how people were susceptible to it, and from where it is was coming from. The theme of fear was very heavy and happened very early on. Like, Gwenyth Paltow dies within the first ten minutes. That really surprised me that people were going to start dying that fast! At first I was a little skeptical that they had done that too quickly, back after watching the entire movie it is self-evident and needed.
Also, speaking of Paltrow's death, her husband (Damon) didn't seem too upset, in some ways. He just seemed really mad and didn't show emotinal anguish. I was expecting tears and weeping when he discovered that his wife and step-son had mysteriously perished, but it was just really anger. So I wanted to see a little more reaction out of that. It is seen later on, but not initially.

The acting was pretty good. Damon was alright, Gwenyth Paltrow was great for the short amount of time she was on the screen; I think Kate Winslet did a fantastic job as the doctor driven by her goal to find a cure for the virus that she allowed herself to be vulnerable. Laurence Fishburne was also very good as the agent who worked alongside Winslet. Jude Law was also fair in the film, and overall, the acting was decent; I think it was a great cast selection, though most of them I would have never imagined in a science thriller sucha as this, so I found it slighlty ironic!

I do like how they showed the chronological order of how the virus all began and the cycle that followed. That was really good! It really showed in detail just show quickly the virus could spread, and I really liked the very end....which if you are curious you must go to the movie and see for yourself.

What I really wanted to see out of this movie was the fear of the virus, and the effects it had on people. This area was met partially. I just wanted to see more of the mass hysteria and more of the viral spreading; sure, I know it spread throught the whole world, but it never presented that evidence. It mainly focused on 4 or 5 major cities where the contagion was believed to be harboring and passed, but if it was infecting millions of people I wanted to see it. So I think a portion of the film was lacking in some ways. I wanted to see more. Yes, it did show some ruckess and chaos, but not what I was picturing in my mind.
I think the final destruction of the virus died out too fast; yes, it did take more than a year to finally find a cure, but I feel the contagion dwindled too quickly. I wanted to see it linger perhaps a bit longer or something. What I am really trying to say is....SHOW MORE OF THE GERM!!!

The movie just appeared to be lacking in some ways; there seemed to holes that needed to be filled. But on the contrary, the other portions of the movie were met excellently, such as the scientists working to acutally find out what this virus really was. I think that was explained pretty well. I never was confused throughout the movie, so they did a good job of explaining in full detail.

Overall, it is a good movie; I would recommend it to virtually anyone who isn't a germaphob, and you can decide for yourself. There wasn't anything astronomically phenomenal about this film, and at the same time I wouldn't mind going to see it again. It falls right in between of the two categories. So in the end, I feel they could have made some slight adjustments to enhance and improve the movie, but for what they presented I was impressed. Now I am going to go wash my hands......

B