Released on Sept. 9, “Contagion,” an American thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh, lets your mind wander into the imaginative world of what would happen if mev-1, the disease in this frightening movie, was real.
And this movie left me feeling truly scared.
Steven Soderbergh creates a frightening movie with an A-list cast inlcuding Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Marion Cortillard, Laurence Fishburne, Elliot Gould, and Jennifer Ehle.
The movie starts off with Paltrow, who plays Beth Emhoff, flying home from a business trip inHong Kong. Beth comes home to her husband, Matt Emoff (Damon), sick and disoriented. Dr. Erin Meers (Kate Winslet) and Dr. Ellis Cheever (Fishburne), are two doctors for the Center of Disease Control studying the disease and trying to get to the bottom of it before it kills more people.
Throughout the movie, Professor Ian Sussman (Gould) and Dr. Ally Hextall (Ehle), who are two scientists trying to find a vaccine for the disease. Dr. Leonora Orantes (Corillard), a scientist for the World Health Organization, travels toHong Kongto figure out where the disease originated. And lastly, there is Alan Krumweide (Law), a man who has a website called “Truth Serum” where he posts videos and blogs about the mev-1 disease and possible cures for it.
While the plot lines sometimes get confusing, they all worked together to display a realistic definition of what would happen if society was struck with a killer epidemic.
The only major problem I had with this film was that since there were so many plot lines and so little time to explain them all, the ending left me hanging. I was left wondering what happened to certain characters, and if they lived, died, or got the vaccine.
While some of the actors had great chemistry with each other, some, however, did not. Winslet and Fishburne worked great together, while Damon and Paltrow, although great actors, had little to no connection.
Law was very good at playing his role, however Cortillard just seemed to fall flat. She had little interaction with any of the other characters, and I forgot halfway through the movie what her role was.
Even though some of the actors and the plots they follow were disappointing, the director accurately played on many of the viewers’ biggest fears. The director made for a truly terrifying film that sent chills through my bones and sent me straight to the bathroom afterwards to scrub my hands with soap.
