An incurable deadly virus exposes itself to the world — namely a large cast of high-profile actors — providing a hauntingly realistic account of a modern-day plague in director Steven Soderbergh’s newest film, Contagion.
During a business trip to Hong Kong, Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) unknowingly catches a new, deadly virus, which spreads through her various encounters from people of multiple nations. Upon returning home to the U.S., Beth feels symptoms such as hard swallowing, headaches and numbness. When her husband, Thomas (Matt Damon), watches his wife fall under a seizure, he rushes her to the hospital to find that she has unexpectedly died. Under shock, he comes home to find his stepson dead as well.
As the virus continues spreading, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) president Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) sends Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) to find and contain the disease sources. Along with Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) and multiple other scientists, the CDC rushes to end the widespread disease from killing more. As the public gains more understanding, namely from independent British blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), panic ensues.
Soderbergh expresses both his independent and commercial film sensibilities into one successful package. He is able to make audiences engrossed within its story and characters. Fast-paced but unrushed, the sense of urgency eclipses each event and helps tie the multiple storylines together. Because of this, some flaws found in Scott Burns's well-written but over-plotted storyline are glossed over.
While the film promotes itself as an “action-thriller,” it’s more of a “drama-thriller” that focuses on multiple topics that would arise under these circumstances. While the quietly dramatic aspects of Contagion are not for everybody, those that appreciate lengthy dialogue-based scenes will be fascinated by what happens onscreen.
With an incredible amount of characters on screen, the story doesn’t allow itself to be fully developed, leading to plot holes and unanswered questions throughout. However, it rarely overfocuses on certain characters, and therefore provides a majority of actors their time to shine. Which makes sense, as Soderbergh is familiar with working with multiple character arcs, such as with the Ocean series and Traffic.
As the virus spreads, many topics are and are not explored to their fullest potential. As shots show the rise of crime (as all these movies do), fear, panic, irrational and rational villains and idolism, the film rarely or never focuses on issues such as grief, widespread suicide, political responses and others.
Ultimately, these developments don’t rise until the third act, and therefore Contagion begins to fall apart towards the end. But it’s because these topics are brought up that the movie becomes more honest and thought provoking.
The film is a powerfully realistic account of a modern-day outbreak of a widespread plague.
