REVIEW: CONTAGION

My Rating:

Contagion is a big ambitious movie, taking place across the globe and covering multiple story lines from multiple perspectives dealing with numerous emotions. This movie is so big in fact that nothing is developed enough to make me care about it, and ultimately this is why I think this movie fails.



Contagion is told from the perspective of six perspectives. Each of these characters has a unique view of the epidemic as it travels the globe. Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) works for the World Health Organization investigating the spread of the disease in China. Mitch Emhoff (Mattt Damon) plays a caring father directly effected by the disease who is trying to protect his daughter. Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) works at the CDC investigating the disease. Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) is a blogger and conspiracy theorist who first discovered the significance of the disease. Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) wife of Mitch Emhoff was one of the first people to die after traveling to China. Finally, Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) a member of the CDC is investigating the death of Beth Emhoff. 

With all of these people and all of these different story lines, there wasn't enough time for me to get emotionally invested in any of the characters because the perspective of the movie kept changing. I think the weakest character arch/ most underdeveloped was Marion Cotillard's character. Her story, which I won't spoil had the potential of being one of the most emotional, instead her character is developed, then forgotten until the end of the movie. The events that transpire between her development and her return are a mystery so there is no emotional weight to the events that happen when she returns to the movie.

I feel this movie works only because it's depiction of a global epidemic seemed so real. It was that reality that saved the movie for me and helped to engage me. If the story could have been cut down and some of the characters removed, I think this could have been a much better movie. If the movie wanted to keep the multiple story lines I would have preferred that it was done in a manner similar to Vantage Point. 

While I was watching Contagion I kept waiting for something to happen, something big, something to pull me into the movie. It never did and before I knew it, the movie was over. I guess I expected Contagion to be a different movie than it actually was. I saw elements of it that I liked, really liked but as a whole, the way it was presented just felt lacking. 

Released: September 2011
Length: 1 hr 46 mins
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh 
Written by: Scott Z. Burns
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Mattt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow,Kate Winslet

Rating: PG-13