Contagion Movie Review

Catch it, Kill it, Bin it. With the first onset of autumn sniffles and man flu being coughed up on public transport, it could be easy to ignore these three simple rules. The risk, of course, would mean you may contract a sore throat or, at worst, be bedridden for a couple of days. In Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion: It means death.  Welcome to a hypochondriac’s nightmare.

Contagion starts with Gwyneth Paltrow sitting in a Tokyo bar, sipping cocktails and taking pictures on a business trip. Two days later she has a seizure in her kitchen and is rushed to hospital by her husband (played by Matt Damon) where she dies. Within hours other people from the Tokyo bar suffer the same fate. By this point they have each, unknowingly, spread the mystery virus onto others who are also doomed. The basic premise takes the flu and makes it fatal.

Since Inception proved that blockbusters can have brains, there has been a recent run of smartly scripted mainstream films in cinemas. Source Code, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and now Contagion credit the audience with a degree of intelligence which contradict the child-like smashing and bright colours of Michael Bay’s Transformers. The technical details of the virus may interest the readers of New Scientist but this is no time for CSI style exposition: there’s a world to save.

 

Kate Winslet really hates being left on hold.

 

Contagion is obviously also helped by its constellation of stars. Ever since Ocean’s Eleven Steven Soderbergh has proved more than capable of filling a cast list and Contagion is no exception. When a director has no qualms about killing off Gwyneth Paltrow in the first five minutes then you know the hero may not simply turn out to be the biggest name on the payroll. Who will save the world? Will it be Kate Winslett; Laurence Fishbourne; Tom Wilkinson; Marion Cotillard; Jude Law; or by some miracle Matt Damon’s stay at home dad? The deaths come quickly and painfully as more people are exposed to the pandemic. This keeps Contagion suspenseful but by equal measures it may prove its greatest flaw.

Steven Soderbergh crams his films with so many subplots that it is probably necessary to have so many accomplished actors. Without that array of talent – the audience simply wouldn’t care. Oscar-winning Marion Cotillard’s role as a diplomat hostage could have been cut completely; yet; Matt Damon’s character (whose sole purpose to stop his daughter coming into contact with her boyfriend) brings across the personal cost but hardly warrants so many repeat visits in comparison. With such a weighty cast bill it is hardly surprising that Contagion could have done with shedding a few pounds before its release.

Minor gripes may also be aimed at Jude Law in Contagion. He plays a Journalist/Blogger who rises from one-man-in-his-bedroom to modern-day-prophet within weeks. Soderbergh may have felt Law was too pretty for the role but to make him wear Austin Powers’esque veneers detracts from a generally good portrayal of a smug narcissist. Stranger still, Law inexplicably speaks in a mock Australian accent (despite his character living in America).  Not that his accent is poor, but it feels like an actor flexing his muscles for no reason other than to garner attention (understandable in this cast). For a lesson in support acting in a stellar cast see Tom Hardy in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Contagion plays out like a thriller. It takes the paranoia felt by Julianne Moore in Todd Haynes’ 1995 film Safe and infects the world with fear and disease. A cough becomes worse than cancer and friends and family become potential murderers. If product placement were involved, a bottle of Domestos would be in every scene. Contagion is the film Roland Emmerich has been trying to make since Independence Day except, unlike 2012, the heroes are scientists in sterilised laboratories rather than John Cusack holding his breath. Expect sales of face masks to soar.

Scores 4 out of 5

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Go and See If…. you plan on wearing a Haz-Mat suit for a few weeks: just to be on the safe side.