Genres

Visitors Review

Robert Collins 2012-05-25 12:35:13

Slow paced, somewhat boring, but stays with you after you've left the theatre.

Contagion is a movie that on paper ticks all the boxes, a cast full ofbox office gold, a smart storyline and a budget to back it up, howeverfor me this movie fell short on the staying interested factor. Itstarts out a tad slow, the it speeds up in the middle then it getsterribly slow again, the pacing was the main problem for me.The storyline is fantastic, a smart medical thriller about an epidemic/pandemic that very quickly starts cutting the world populationdramatically, it's a great storyline that at times will have you reallythinking about all the things you do each day, shaking hands, coughing,chewing nails etc, it is packed with medical facts which give thismovie the smart boost that Hollywood films lackMost of the cast are OK, Gwyneth Paltrow stands out in a very tiny roleand Kate Winslet shines as usual, the rest kind of plod along with thestory, Matt Damin is boring and Marion Cotillard is terribly underused,and don't even get me started in Jude Law's "Australian" accent, howembarrassing for him, it's pretty bad. Contagion isn't all bad, it hassine really great moments, the scene where Kate Winslet is on the phonewith the guy telling him to get off the bus is very tense and also thescene where a mass amount of dead bodies are being buried has a veryapocalyptic feel to it.I mean it could have been a lot worse, but it also could have been alot better too, there's just no highs or lows, not good or bad.Unmoving I would say. But give it a go, maybe you might enjoy it morethan I did.

del91 2012-05-25 04:13:50

Very good but were it longer, it would've been a classic

Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion" is possibly the most realistic "virusoutbreak" movie ever made. That's not to say it is the greatest, but itcould've been. Compared to other films in the genre, say "I Am Legend","28 Days Later" and its sequel, and Wolfgang Petersen's "Outbreak","Contagion" is the most downbeat, grim and most importantly, chillingof them all.Soderbergh rounds up an all-star cast - Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard,Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow - asdifferent characters intertwined with the pandemic - a storytellingmethod similar to Soderbergh's own "Traffic". It's just as gripping andeffective here, as Scott Z. Burns' script leaves little room fordramatics and more on the effects of the pandemic, directly andindirectly.While the actors do a credible job, notably Law, Winslet, Fishburne andDamon, some of their characters are underwritten. Had Burns wrote moredialogue, or Soderbergh kept more juicy dramatic scenes in, it would'vebeen a classic. There were some really great scenes and reallyinteresting questions posed - ethics of personal problems againstresponsibility, fear being more dangerous than the actual pandemicitself, questioning and accusing the government for taking financialadvantage of the situation - yet these themes are scraped upon withoutgoing deeper. At least the atmosphere of the film is grim and chillingenough to be highly engaging.On technical points, Cliff Martinez scores an excellent, tension-filledlow-key electronic score that hits all the right notes at the rightmoments; Soderbergh (as Peter Andrews) frames the scenery perfectly(nice to see a movie in a long time that is all steady-cam and notshaky-cam) and gives some scenes an ominous feel about it. The editingis fluid and keeps the film moving coherently although the film isrelatively slow-paced.In short, as a thriller it is effectively creepy and disturbing andwill no doubt leave some people paranoid for some time. But it could'vebeen so much better. At least Soderbergh had the great idea of makingthis virus movie as realistic and close-to-home as possible, offeringup a different and unique movie of its kind. Although if there was anextended cut needed for a movie, this one is it.We're often told that some of the viral diseases like SARS and H1N1 aredeadly and will kill us, but in truth the media's exaggeration of thedanger scares people, and this causes fear. Too much fear is far moredangerous than any virus in the world because fear causes people topanic and thus do irrational things. I think this is the film's mainpoint and for that it succeeds strongly.Overall rating: 78/100

thinker1691 2012-05-23 15:33:23

" Don't Blame others! We did it to ourselves "

This story was written by Scott Z. Burns for the big screen which wasdirected by Steven Soderbergh. The film " Contagion " assembles a wholeplethora of fine actors and actresses who then do a remarkable job offrightening the audience into an awareness they should already bepracticing. The film's subject is taken from everyday world headlinesand depicts what would happen if a dangerous, transmittable airbornepathogen were accidentally transported from Asia to the rest of theworld. It begins with an American tourist vacationing in Japan and whocontracts' a dangerous virus and unknowingly brings it home to herunsuspecting family. Like the proverbial wildfire, the virus infectsthem and then leaps across the continents to threaten the globalpopulation. The film is well structured in that it begins with a singleindividual, then with little effort, frightens everyone in it's wake,up the social levels to include the President and his staff. Whileskilled professionals do their best to locate, identify and contain thelethal bio-hazard, other, less scrupulous individuals seek tocapitalize on the problem for their own gain. It is to the CDC, WorldHealth Organization, Red Cross and to the tireless individuals thatthis picture is dedicated to. Easilly Recommended. ****

ldrakemarketingfirm 2012-05-22 19:46:22

Um this was OK until the End...

I gave this movie a 5 only because of the way the movie ended. This isthe first movie I ever watched where it looked like the producers andtalent just gave up and said "THE END" instead of properly ending themovie. There was no real story line in the movie either it just raisedyour awareness on germs and how quick a virus can spread. I guess thegood thing is it made me go get some hand sanitizer for my purse butfor movie purposes I would not recommend this movie to anyone. I hatethat it ended the way it did I really do...It looks like a lot of moneywas put into the movie so I don't know why they just gave up on the endso for me and everyone else in the theater it was a bigdisappointment...Seriously they did not properly end this movie and I'mcurious to know did the director or some producers quit during theproduction and thats why they didn't put any thought into it?? Itsalmost like you don't realize your being robbed of your moeny when youwatch a movie until the very end.

Dave Voyles 2012-05-22 17:37:30

Where is the second half of the movie?

I went into this movie with high expectations. I was pleased for nearlythe entire film, as it is very thorough and in depth. The characteracting is spot on, and each provide believable performances. There are two major issue with this film, however. 1) They try to putentirely too many plot threads into the film. Despite them beingrelatively easy to follow, it does lead into the second issue....2) THERE IS NO ENDING! The film abruptly ends! It basically closes noneof the threads which it opens, and answers none of the questions itposes. The entire audience sat there for 2 minutes after the film,expecting to see the rest of the movie spliced back in.It really is as though they ran out of steam half way through writingthis film and completely gave up. As an actor, I'm honestly quitesurprised that none of them read the script and asked "where's therest?"Skip it. You'll only be disappointed.

Jizdenky 2012-05-22 02:26:58

Soderbergh's Forgettable Outbreak Flick

I doubt whether 'Contagion' would have gained as much recognition ifthe cast comprised of lesser known actors. With Steven Soderbergh asdirector and a host of talented actors, I'd expected somethinginteresting that would at least be a step ahead of those outbreakflicks. Unfortunately, it isn't that different from other outbreak-typemovies except for the big names involved and money.The movie does attempt to address some interesting themes and raisesome questions for example how scammers take advantage of suchsituations, media manipulation, government manipulation etc but at thesame time the movie is filled with clichés and poorly developed. Thebehaviour of the characters is hardly believable. For example, whywould a WHO investigator walk around without a mask (when her fellowresearchers are), why would a CDC scientist not take all the necessaryprecautions and so on.'Contagion' boasts of big names of international actors like KateWinslet, Lawrence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, GwynethPaltrow, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle, Sanaa Lathan, John Hawkes, BrianCranston, Enrico Colantoni etc. This is obviously an ensemble. Yet,given the talent involved, 'Contagion' is far from any of the actors'best works. Either their screen time is too limited or their roles arepoorly written for any single one of them to stand out. I thought JudeLaw's 'Australian' accent was laughably bad. How many episodes ofCrocodile Hunter did he watch to prepare for this role. I mean nodisrespect to the late Steve Irwin but Law saying the word crikey hadme laughing out loud.The execution is quite adequate. The colour tone is particularlywell-used and the score is awesome.Anyway, there's nothing memorable about this Soderbergh flick. Hope hegoes back very soon to making worthy stuff like he did early in hiscareer.

Fr. Ryan Humphries 2012-05-19 07:07:15

Overlong propaganda piece.

This film should have been amazing. The acting was quite good. Itshould have been everything "Outbreak" wanted to be 15 years ago. Thetragedy is that it took exactly 10 minutes to realize that it was justa propaganda piece - oh no, if we don't go green the world will end...The story is dull beyond imagination. At no point was there even thevaguest sense of suspense. Everything was entirely predictable and theworst part is that unlike other "post-apocalyptic" films that have theplayed the hum-drum slow moving suspense to great effect (I'm thinkingof "The Book of Eli" and, to a lesser degree, "I am Legend"), this justlaid flat. You'd really do better to save 2/3 of your time and just getMichael Moore to direct something for the History Channel.Please, please don't waste your time.

vibor123 2012-05-18 08:50:55

Finally solid non zombie disease movie

Finally. Star casting, great plot, famous director.....what could gowrong? My criticism will go more towards the end, it was clearly theywant it to end it quickly, because ending sucks. The story is good, butthere is no heartbreaking subplots, or evil masterminds, or evenlikable characters, everything was done pretty messy, it could be donemuch more better.The music is unfitting, it was more for a action movie than disaster.But it can pass. They could make the atmosphere more "apocaliptic", forexample, few billions people are dead and you have a feeling thateverything is fine. But OK, there was some descent scenes. Thecharacters are serious, but poorly characterized, you have no feelingsabout them dying.Truthfully I was expecting little more, but in the end, it was soliddisaster movie with great performances and striking first 11 minutes.

hapyzachy 2012-05-16 05:24:42

So much potential, and so much meaning, but it went so wrong.

Honestly, i don't understand why 35% of the votes on this movie are10/10. I didn't enjoy it as much as the others did. I'll tell you why.They framed it on a bird, a bat, and a pig! They didn't show itrealistically. This type of virus wouldn't just come from nowhere. Itwould come from government testing, and used as biological warfare.Then the movie didn't close up right. The denouement was completelyloaded with questions. There were some good things about the movie thati liked though. I liked that there was such good acting. People reallyacted the part well! But even though they acted well, the plot wasflawed, and there didn't seem to be an ending that was worth waitingfor. The cinematography was great actually. They told a great storywith the camera. Breaking the 180' rule to confuse us with perfectefficiency. Overall, i'm glad i watched it, but i'm mad i went to thetheater and payed $8 to do so. Don't see it in the theater. Wait forRedbox!

philrusted 2012-05-15 12:43:19

Absolute rubbish

Not sure how, or why, I sat through nearly two hours of this film. JudeLaw is an awful actor, but his Australian accent reminded me of BradPitt in Seven Years to Tibet - it really was that bad! The plot was soshallow and there was no suspense, drama or interest at a ll. Some ofthe negative reviews here are absolutely spot on so I won't re-inventthe wheel. Yet another American centric movie on a par withIndependence Day and all the other disaster films where only theAmericans can save the day. RubbishDon't watch it unless you really have nothing else to do. Watchingpaint dry is infinitely more interesting. And more suspenseful

Lee Eisenberg 2012-05-10 12:20:31

ten years after 9/11, people still do irrational things

People have spent today remembering the tenth anniversary of the 9/11attacks. One of the important things to remember about that day (or thedate of any similar event) is the fear that took over. Such fear is thetopic of Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion". While the movie initiallyfocuses on the spread of a deadly disease, it then shifts to showingthe irrational things that people do in desperate situations. Uponhearing of the pandemic's spread, everyone flips out. It doesn't helpthat there are cover-ups and conspiracy theories.Jude Law's muckraking journalist mentions the H1N1 virus, and much ofthe movie does seem to be alluding to the hysteria that surrounded it.It's also worth noting that the large amounts of antibiotics given tofarm animals have caused diseases to mutate faster than humans cancontrol them, much like the disease in the movie does.I probably wouldn't nominate "Contagion" for any Oscars or anything,but it is a good look at how irrational situations can cause even moreirrational activity. Fear and the manipulation thereof can be asdangerous as any infectious disease.

averybrooks 2012-05-10 00:42:21

Average, very average.

This film is VERY average. The acting and production quality was veryhigh and the concept/story line was very intriguing; the issue is thatit was very hard to buy into the protagonist even while being played byMatt Damon. They didn't stick with his story and even had they done soit was him care taking for his daughter. This story needed more civilunrest, there shouldn't have been a cure at all; this is the kind ofthing people who live in the real world would like to be entertainedby.The issue is that just like any melodrama at the end someone saves theday. In this case it just wasn't very spectacular and in general wasvery average in the manner in which they did it.I wouldn't recommend watching this film, unless you enjoy being bored.

2012-05-10 01:05:41

Alex Jones is a shill and the government only want the best 4 U :)

One of the best adds for the New world order to date. Christmas iscoming the federal reserve is almost feked! Lets make another movieabout how the powers that be(Shiff,Oppenheimer,Rothschild andRockefeller) can save you from the disaster they created. Only troubleis,I think there might be a spanner in the works,that smacks themstraight in the face. How that will smart. I got it on a TS whichwasn't bad quality. You would have to pay me quite a bit to watch thisat the cinema. Now i've got to waffle on to make enough sht to get thisposted. I'm still waiting for a decent version of conon. I haven't beenor payed for the cinema for must be 10 years :) More crip and somemore. I need the bog here goes Contagion 2011 TS XViD-ILLUMINATI.avi

madamexopinions 2012-05-09 10:52:21

Disappointing

The stars shown in the previews in this movie entice you to think itmay be good based on their past performances,their performances haven'tchanged but their actual time on screen in this movie has been cut veryshort so you are left with not so top notch stars. for example I wasexcited to see G.Paltrow appear in this ,she dies less than 2 min in,so I am already disappointed here and then it unfolds,what I see asMain characters are dying before they are even introduced to us ,theexcitement shown in the previews was about all the excitement there wasand so not worth the $$ at the theater,If I were to be chatting withsomeone about this movie Id say wait for the red box,that way you willonly waste a dollar.

Bruce L. Jones 2012-05-09 05:37:32

Better than expected

This is a fine - even superb - suspenseful drama from director StevenSoderbergh, and writer Scott Z. Burns, with a modern but familiartheme: the devastation of disease. The film begins with the mysteriousand fairly sudden sickness and death of Beth Emhoff, superbly played byGwyneth Paltrow. Her death foretells terrible events to come and we seewhat happened to her in flashbacks. Those events are what transpireswhen a new and extremely virulent virus appears in the world, beginningin Asia and rapidly spreading throughout the world. What is depicted inin the wake of this horrible outbreak is an epidemic as bad, or worse,that the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918 that killed between 50-100million worldwide.Paltrow's husband is played, in an equally fine performance, by MattDamon as Mitch Emhoff, a plain, ordinary man caught up in incredibleand devastating events that suddenly kill his beloved wife andstep-son. Damon's daughter, Jory, is played by newcomer AnnaJacoby-Heron who is virtually imprisoned in the house with her fatherfor the duration as he is terrified that it will infect her althoughhe, himself, is immune. Damon and Jacoby-Heron are then theframe-of-reference for the film and how this terrible thing affects allof humanity. Through them we see what happens in America when people goberserk with fear and desperation. I tend to think the depiction ofthat is an accurate, probably conservative, representation of whatwould actually happen if such a pandemic were to happen today, which isall too possible. I feel that possibility makes this film far more of ahorror film that anything produced by Hollywood with all the usualblood, gore and special effects of monsters and madmen. It is morehorrifying because it is all too possible and what we see on screenfeels all too real.Most of the rest of the "name" cast, comprise the "good guys" who areworking on a way to save the world as civilization crumbles beneaththeir feet. They are Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Ellis Cheever, MarionCotillard as Dr. Leonora Orantes, Kate Winslet as Dr. Erin Mears andElliott Gould as Dr. Ian Sussman. They provide the intellect andstability that leads to the discovery of ways to treat the disease andthrough them we see some of the scientific process involved in fightingmodern diseases.There is a semi-badish kind of guy, portrayed by Jude Law as a selfish,self-serving blogger named Alan Krumwiede. In him we see some of theworst parts of society and how unethical people take advantage oftragedy to empower and enrich themselves.In all, the film is riveting and interesting throughout. It has theright note of suspense and discovery to keep us interested, awake andnot fleeing for the exits. Therefore, the writing, directing, costumes,makeup, cinematography, sound, music, everything, is expertly,professionally and superbly done.Bruce L. Jones http://webpages.charter.net/bruce.jones1/

siderite 2012-05-08 15:54:21

Clinical view of the human society when faced with a biological crisis

Usually, a film with the same subject as Contagion features a valianthero, his girlfriend, some helpful characters that either die, betrayand die or don't really matter and a egotistical bad guy. In the end,they save the day. Sodebergh doesn't do that. Instead, his perspectiveon the matter is so clinical that the film ends up exaggerating in theother direction.The directing is close to perfect, great actors act great while leavingthe stereotypes we are accustomed of associating with them, the storyis so realistic the scientific community applauded it. There is,however, no real lead character. There is no major characterdevelopment, either. In lack of a few people to identify with, oneempathizes with no one or with all people at once. And it is hard tofeel that way with a human society described realistically.Bottom line: This was like a Hurt Locker for contagious diseases. Themovie missed an important human component, though, and failed toconnect with the audience at the level it deserved. Other than that, itis just perfect.

jane-burkhart 2012-05-07 03:42:16

I agree. It fizzled.

The movie started out quickly getting to the plot, but then it fizzled.It left too many questions, and a confusing ending. Was I supposed toguess the ending? It could have been a better movie with more specificsto the plot and a better ending. I couldn't believe the movie was over.It felt like it was still in the middle, waiting for a good ending. Theacting was great, but the screenplay was terrible. It looked like itwas going somewhere exciting, then went downhill from there. Therecould have been more specifics about the vaccine, the CDC, FEMA, andthe journalist. What was the real cure or prevention? Was thegovernment right or was the journalist right? This movie reminded me ofthe movie U571 (2000). The history of this event could have made anexciting movie, but it sizzled. We need better writers.

kgprophet 2012-05-06 20:40:08

Bizarre Living in Minneapolis, Still Feeling OK

No reviews I read implicated that my current residence in Minneapoliswas a major center of an epidemic, killing thousands, maybe millions ofpeople. AAAAAHHH!!!! As a Minneapolitan, I know as a fact that L.A.style rioting would NOT break out. We Minnesotans are very orderly andtidy. It has become a movie cliché that people take the time to throwall their clothes out into the street before bolting out of town.Again, too tacky for Minnesota. I hate to laugh at such a seriouscalamity, but the clichés started rolling out about mass chaos andpeople breaking into banks. Wait, what good is a bunch of money from abank if you are simply trying to stay alive? It felt cliché, whetherthe story intended to avoid it or not. Did I start paying attention tohow many times I touched my face? Yes I did. It was no where near acouple thousand times a day like Kate Winslet said.All the great actors and a pretty good director only slightly elevatedthe "Hot Zone" freakout attempted by "Outbreak" a while back. ReplaceDustin Hoffman with Laurence Fishburne. Toss in that younger guy fromcomedy central. Almost got away with it. There are scenes that aresupposed to tug at your heart at the end. For some reason it felt morelike a TV movie, somehow less affective. I will give credit to thescreenplay for not trotting out strange twists or unrealistic reactionsto unfolding events (save for the clothes in the streets). One shouldbe aware that although Matt Damon has adequate screen time, many otheractors are featured. Primarily Fishburne, with more urgency in hisposition as head of the CDC to save the planet than the other majorcharacters. I can't say I've been a big fan of Marion Cotillard, thego-to lady for films such as "Public Enemies", "Inception", as well asthe upcoming "Dark Knight Rises". She's pretty, but put her in the samemovie as Winslet, and it's two different levels of acting. Damon seemsto wander aimlessly, not knowing what to do in the darkest moments ofthe pandemic. Again, I credit the screenplay for letting Damon'scharacter act normal, not become some crusader.Jude Law gives off a different vibe. His scenes are played a littlemore over-the-top than the gravitas given to the rest of our characterspredicaments. Perhaps he is serving the role of comic foil to take abreak from the doom we are feeling. Clocking in at less than two hours,the constant doom facing everybody nevertheless gets stuck in clichéterritory. I was getting impatient waiting for the resolution totranspire. The moments of deliberate confusion were better moments tovisit, but I guess it would be unfair to confuse the audience too much.So a lot of expected character arcs begin and take their course, onlyto skip into a different arc. Thankfully, these alternate arcs sparesthe audience from the hokum shoved down our throats in "Outbreak".Almost. I say wait for the DVD.

monkrocker 2012-05-05 23:22:07

I like the name of this Movie

I like the name of this Movie.http://heavisidelayer.yolasite.com/contagion.phpThis is a Heaviside Layer Production movie trailer for The Movie"Contagion" Starring Tony Montanaro, which premiered in FlagshipCinemas in Oxford Maine in 1999. Arnold Jackson's film credo: After seeing a documentary on ancient civilizations, it occurred to methat maybe at a certain point in our evolution, we started tounconsciously replicate the same design function as our DNA. We couldbe building the "cell linings" of the walls of our civilization in sucha way that mimic the exact function of how the cell works. For example,the market place acts in the same way as mitochondria. The exchange ofcommerce, or money gives the civilization, the rest of the cell, morepower. When we wonder why we are living in this civilized world, wedon't realize that we are innately designed to build it like this. Wejust follow the blueprints of our DNA to act in the world; our actionsare following that plan. Civilizations use symbols that atone you witha memory, or resonance of the epiphany of it all. Civilization gets sobig when you are building it, that you can't see that it is a mirrorreflection of yourself. I believe that is why we have developedreligions with temples. Temples are like schools; they are a storehouseof the information from the past. They are designed in such a way thatcondenses the information of the history of man's paradigms up untilthat point in a sacred way.The artifacts, the statues, and theprecession around sacred temple designs, invoke memories of how we gotto where we are today. It may be like watching civilization go throughthe embryonic maturating points of evolution. In doing that, we tend toget the literal interpretation mixed up with the spiritualenlightenment; the awareness of the essence of what it all means andour connection to it. That is how we are one with God; it is when wehave that religious experience. It is the satori, "ah, I am connectedto all and that is my purpose! It is to contribute to this foundation."That is what church is. A house that stores the blueprints andknowledge of our oneness with a cosmic design. What we are doing as alarger society is trying to figure out what the worldwidereligious-evoking symbols are. I think movies come close to that. As anartist, I want to show that we are all doing the same thing, regardlessof what language we are speaking. We are evoking these remembrances ofthe creation of everything and how we are connected to it all. I thinkthat we perfectly reflect that.

ghardy-908-981155 2012-05-05 11:05:20

Can we say Disappointed???

While I may be a little jaded from all the disaster preparedness work Idid for the H1N1 perceived disaster, Contagion was a hugedisappointment. By the end of the movie I really didn't care whathappened, I just wanted it to end. I guess it will be an eye opener to many people but yes, a virus canspread unbelievably fast. The only saving grace for this movie is that it was well acted.Otherwise I probably would have left early.One day I will learn that the most hyped up movies are always thebiggest disappointments.