It’s been a while since I’ve seen a new movie at the theater, and it’s not surprising because August generally tends to be pretty lame, both in terms of the quality of its movies and their performance at the box office. The last movie I watched was Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a surprisingly good prequel to a franchise that was created more than 40 years ago. Unfortunately, I cannot say that Contagion is good enough to compete with the Apes, and it’s a sad truth given its interesting plot and strong cast. You have no doubt seen the countless commercials for Contagion both in the theater and on your television set, and probably wish to have a look at the movie yourselves. However, there isn’t much else to see other than what is shown in the commercials, as there are no surprises and the movie ends up being a generic disease movie. If anything, the only thing I learned outside the commercials is that in the case of an epidemic, a vaccine will take too long to develop and distribute to the public. This was the case with the H1N1 virus, as it took months until it was widely distributed.
Contagion is about a disease which spreads into an epidemic and kills off millions of the worldwide population. It’s led by a strong cast, including Matt Damon, Lawrence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard, among others. The acting is solid throughout the movie, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from that list of actors. For me, Matt Damon’s “WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?” scene ended up being less funny that I thought it would be, and then became increasingly stupid the more I thought about it. Since there are so many well-known actors in the movie, none of them really get enough screen time to engage the audience with their characters. Besides Matt Damon and perhaps Lawrence Fishburne, I really couldn’t care less about the other characters.
If I’m looking at Contagion as a movie in terms of purely what was shown on screen, not taking into account the originality, twists, and character development that most other movies have, I would probably give it a score in the mid 7s – possibly an 8. It’s an interesting idea and the movie is entertaining for the most part. Unfortunately, there really is nothing surprising about the movie, and it isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. If you’re going into this movie expecting something to shock you or to see something that you didn’t see in the commercial, you’re going to be disappointed. I’m disappointed this review can’t be any longer, because I don’t have enough to talk about.
One thing I liked about it however was the direction by Steven Soderbergh. It’s filmed in a way which keeps you involved and entertained even when there is very little happening. The background music was amusing to me, used at the right times to initiate suspense and maintain it throughout the scene.
I don’t know – maybe I’m overreacting and maybe you’ll find the movie to be better than what I gave it. But I hate being disappointed in a movie with such a promising premise and well put together commercials that make the movie seem better than it actually is. Go watch the movie if you wish, but it’s not necessary to view in the theater, and if you can, wait until it comes out on TV to give it a watch.
Score: 6.5/10
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