Wick's Review

Summary - Good 3.0

This movie is sick, literally. That’s not a bad thing as star-studded disaster movies go, though this one is more paranoiac than most. Fantasizing about the Mother of All Communicable Diseases does make it more than a little fascinating. Is that sick to say?

The star-studded cast proves its necessity as various members start dying. Good thing the big names keep appearing, otherwise things would get thin pretty quickly. So it goes with big-time disaster movies.

Acting - Good 3.0

Gwyneth Paltrow and Matt Damon make an interesting couple, she flirtatious and outgoing, he somber and stout. Together they anchor the rather episodic plot. Paltrow deserves special props for dropping her glamour after the contagion hits.

Laurence Fishburne and John Hawkes disappoint. These two lauded actors need the right parts to shine. They don’t find them here.

Jude Law rides the line between annoying and amusing as a pesky blogger.

Marion Cotillard has an undefinable charisma, though her part barely allows her to use it.

Kate Winslet is stuck with some of the less believable dialog, so doesn’t come across as strongly as she often does.

Film - Good 3.0

Episodic, as disaster films typically are, Contagion manages nonetheless to maintain a pulsing energy. Credit that to ace director Steven Soderbergh.

The story is just OK however, straining evermore to maintain credible tension about who knows what when. In a real epidemic, everyone in the world would know how dangerous it is by the time thousands of people have died. In Contagion, everyone thinks they’re keeping a secret.

Edge - Risqué 1.7

The Fierce violence rating mostly reflects the disease-caused deaths, and at least one wonderfully gross autopsy. Nothing to lose your head over…

Reality - Glib 1.4

The New York Times describes what’s real and what’s not about Contagion in The Cough That Launched a Hit Movie.

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