"Contagion" 3-D virus thriller dir. by Steven Soderbergh

I saw Contagion this afternoon, along with The Debt.

What a breath of fresh air. Both of them.

 

Agreed. saw Contagion on Saturday and The Debt yesterday. Two very good movies.

I liked the fact that Contagion wasn't a typical plague thriller like The Hot Zone. It was smart and well-researched and acted. It was like Mad Men, only starring the CDC.


And The Debt had the most unique final hero/villain battle I've ever seen in a spy movie.

 

The Debt was fantastic. Might have to check out Contagion if you think it's on the same level as The Debt.

 

Contagion is very good. It's a very serious movie--not at all like Outbreak, which was fun, but silly.

It's a bit like Traffic or Crash or Babel, in that it's a collection of micro-stories rather than a single story. The stories of a number of different people, and how they try to cope with the outbreak of a serious epidemic.

The whole thing is very low-key and naturalistic--which is one reason why I found it so refreshing, after a summer of bloated blockbusters. I have no idea how Soderbergh got so many big-name actors to star in this film, considering that no one's story (with the possible exception of Matt Damon's character) really takes center stage.

If I had to choose between the two, I would say The Debt was a bit better. But not by much. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

 

Sounds like they should have gotten Soderbergh to do World War Z.

 

Well, I saw this last night. (Not in 3D, though. )

It was... nteresting. .... Maybe, good.

I dunno. The pacing, tone and presentation of it was just a bit odd and off to me. It had a lot of interesting concepts and ideas in it but overall execution of them left something just a bit to be desired and it doesn't feel like all of the various points and such were completely fleshed out or resolved.

I liked more of the stuff going on with the CDC and WHO more than I the stuff with Matt Damon and his daughter, the stuff with the Blogger guy I didn't like at all but also understood his role as the "Matt Drudge type" who'd muck up the flow of information between professionals and the public, dilute the truth with his own conspiracies and generally rant about nonsense.

Laurence Fishburn was good as the CDC guy as was Kate Winslet as the field doctor for the CDC. The story line with Marion Cotillard and the WHO was interesting until it went off the rails into nuttsville.

I also would've liked to have seen more of the breakdown of society and the effects on the world with a virus out there that could potentially take out a meaningful chunk of the population. Most fo that seemed to happen in the background.

I also didn't buy the moment at the end where Matt Damon lets the now immunized boyfriend to his daughter have the impromptu prom. I mean I get why he did it but his understanding of his daughter's "love" for the kid never came through to me. I know he was only keeping the two away due to possible contamination but I never saw that he felt for his daughter and her quarantine keeping her away from her beau.

I did like how the movie ended with "Day 1" -though I figured it would happen- and showing just random series of events that occur that can cause these types of epidemics/pandemics.

An interesting movie with a lot of interesting concepts but the execution was a bit... dull. It felt more like watching a documentary on Discovery:Health than it did watching a movie. Not an overall bad thing, but it didn't leave me thrilled. I "liked" it, but I think that this one would have been better for home-viewing that theater viewing.

 

I agree. paced like a thriller and by the end it was pretty good.
loved the music too. The music reminded me of Hanna's soundtrack.

 

Very good movie, much better than the other big budget virus epidemic movie, Outbreak. Outbreak was a non-serious Hollywoodized version of the same theme, Contagion seemed like a serious cautionary tale, sometimes venturing into a public service announcement/documentary feel. Some interesting direction and editing choices. Also, is it just me or did it seem to be paying homage to Andromeda Strain somewhat as well?

RAMA