Anticipating the Outbreak of Contagion

 If you’re like a member of my family you worry about diseases a lot.  I expect that if you think similarly to her, this movie is not going to be your favorite movie ever. For all the hypochondriacs out there, this movie is designed to prey upon all your fears, and I believe that it will do a fantastic job.

Contagion, opening this weekend, will be one of the last films directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s movies, Traffic) before an early retirement and looks just as good as most of his past efforts.  Unlike other films that have portrayed epidemics like 28 Days Later or the Outbreak, Contagion appears to be far more accurate about the science behind the pandemic.  In 28 Days Later, the disease causes humans to essentially become zombies within minutes of exposure.  This film will not turn towards the ridiculous, but instead be more realistic at to how a disease is spread, how vaccines are developed, and how the world might react to a rapidly spreading disease.  From the trailer, Contagion appears to emphasize the interpersonal relations of its all-star cast rather than the disease itself, and I believe will likely feature a story line similar to Traffic, Crash, or Babel, in which the characters’ stories eventually intersect. More importantly the trailer hasn’t given too much away, as I still can’t tell if there is any hope for humanity in developing a cure to the powerful, SARS or Bird flu like virus that exists in the film.  Featuring performances from Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, and Laurence Fishburne, this film should become a front-runner for at least a few Oscars assuming it has solid box office returns. 

So hopefully you’re like me and excited for the end of summer blockbuster movies with no story and ready for the dramas, indies, and future classic films like potentially this one.  If you’re nervous bring your Purell and facemasks, but don’t let apprehension prevent you from catching what I anticipate will be a great film.

We will review this film for next week, so come back after the weekend to see if you felt the same way about it that we did.

Matt Brickell is a contributing writer and believes he can’t get sick.