Contagion Review: I’m Never Touching Anyone Ever Again

So who wants to join me in my bunker? We’re going to consume nothing but gummy candy and vodka while watching DVD box sets of Mr. Ed because if things go down the way they are depicted in Steven Soderbergh‘s latest thriller, Contagion, we’re going to need any distraction and entertainment we can get.

How catastrophic can the events in the movie really be, you might ask? Well, imagine the world becoming infected with a disease that spreads like wildfire killing 26 million people in one month. Then imagine dead children, looting, riots, and the general panic that arises when the public at large doesn’t know if they’ll be able to survive another week. It isn’t pretty and as extreme as the events depicted get, Soderbergh makes sure they never appear unbelievable. In fact, I’m sure many filmgoers will leave the theater, as I did, convinced that this scenario could happen in the next decade, the next year, or even next week.

Woof.

Like great disaster films of the 1970s such as The Towering Inferno and Earthquake, Soderbergh has assembled a fantastic all-star cast to play the vast array of characters through whose eyes we witness these events. Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Elliott Gould, and Bryan Cranston are just the beginning of the familiar faces you see depicting the various medical experts, government officials, and regular Joes trying to survive the epidemic and save the ones they love in the process.

Matt Damon sort of leads the charge as a father and husband who must cope with his wife (Paltrow) and son falling as some of the first victims of the mysterious disease after she returns from a business trip in China. Although he finds himself immune to the disease he must deal with the troubling aftermath of the world crumbling around him. His character is great at keeping a stiff upper lip but when he finally cracks and gives in to the emotion of his loss, its a fantastic acting moment for Damon that is definitely one of the film’s highlights.

The most intriguing storyline for me though revolved around the officials at the Center for Disease Control including the Director (Fishburne), a field operator (Winslet), and Jennifer Ehle as a disease researcher who gambles to find an antidote. All three roles highlight perfectly the stress and pressure that such people would be under in this kind of situation without making them overly heroic in a bombastic way. I was particularly fascinated by the moral quandary that Fishburne finds himself in when he must decide whether to warn his own loved ones about the impending mess before the general public is alerted. His decision is handled fairly without the filmmakers passing judgment one way or the other leaving us as viewers to debate among ourselves. And I think the result is more than worthy of a post-movie conversation…that is if you’re comfortable speaking to anyone without fear of catching the plague.

Marion Cotillard also shines (doesn’t she always?) as an investigator for the World Health Organization sent to locate the initial source of the disease as a means of combating it. It’s a fascinating process to watch but then a strange twist befalls her character only to have her then off-screen for far too long as the film plays out. No one should ever put Cotillard in a corner. Ever!

If there is one storyline that doesn’t really work though, it is the one belonging to Jude Law who plays a conspiracy theorist blogger who is pimping a drug that allegedly cures the disease. His story produces the single best line of the film: “Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation,” but it isn’t initially clear what his goals or objectives are, which makes some of his scenes confusing and downright distracting from the far more interesting things going on in the rest of the film.

Soderbergh pulls all of the pieces together nicely in a balanced product that is both stylish, tense, and full of dread. I fear the musical score by Cliff Martinez will be comically dated within five years but everything else is top-notch and puts Contagion at the top of the heap when it comes to movies about disease outbreaks. Granted, the competition isn’t fierce in that department but this sets a new benchmark and we’ll definitely have something to look to when this story plays out in real life some day.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go start digging and preparing my bunker. I’ll be accepting resumes and headshots for those who would like to join me as well as donations of wood, Sour Patch Kids, and flavored vodka. Mixers optional. But until this mess goes down for real enjoy the movie and don’t touch your face.

Grade: B+

Images courtesy of IMDbPro.