Contagion

"Contagion"
Starring: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston, Elliott Gould, Sanaa Lathan,
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
105 minutes
2011/USA

The latest from Steven Soderbergh is a tightly wound thriller that should easily get under the skin of audience members. We've seen this kind of exercise before, a thrilling global epidemic cautionary tale that pits doctors and government higher-ups in office buildings and meeting rooms constantly exchanging ideas and solutions on how to contain and defeat the threat at hand. This is essentially the gist of Contagion, but perhaps more macro and frantic. It's about a dangerous airborne virus that quickly affects one person, then another, quickly manifesting itself into a global threat. The film dives headfirst into the on-goings of a more than a handful of characters and their hands-on battle with the virus.

There really is a startling addiction and "lean forward in your seat" quality to the first 30 minutes of the film, which are easily its best. After that, the screenplay starts to diverge from its best bits, growing smaller in scale through each scene. True to its nature, there is little to no fat on the film. Aside from the argument that the film boasts way too many characters, Contagion generally moves at a break-neck pace, which is highly welcome given the kind of mood and state of mind that Soderbergh is trying to convey here.

Capturing a portrait of a society overtaken by fear and paranoia is the film's best attribute. Soderbergh is no stranger to this certain kind of sprawling tale, for most, Traffic will come to mind, but Contagion is more subtle in the ways the characters are connected. It's not really a story of interconnected relationships, as it is a cinematic flip-book of normal people trying to wade through the unknown while struggling to keep their cool. The film succeeds mostly from the realism portrayed throughout, as the screenplay sidesteps any herrings in falsity.

Contagion boasts an extremely large cast of familiar faces, which surprisingly didn't dissuade me from buying into the film from the onset. The script gives us a few catalysts to guide us through the film, most notably Matt Damon's character, who in the first act loses his wife played by Gwyneth Paltrow and his son to the unknown disease. Other than Damon, there's the intriguing arcs of both Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet's character's. The film also features Jude Law as a gap-toothed, opportunist blogger who brings some freshness to the film. No where near an earth shattering performance, it's refreshing to see Law having fun on screen again. Those complaining that the film lacks a central emotional attachment are clearly missing the point of the film. It's a depiction of losing someone you love in the blink of an eye to something without a face, cause, or motivation. The uncertainty of life in such a small window of time is predicated upon throughout, as lives are lost at an alarming rate.

Contagion however, is far from perfect. Scott Z. Burns's script loses a ton of its effortless "ickyness" as it gently settles in and begins to slow down during the second hour. For having only a 105 minute run time, Contagion could've benefited more from the same go-go pacing of its first third. Once the scenes of social anxiety and widespread panic rear their head, Contagion starts to feel a whole lot like we've seen this same act before. Soderbergh's photography is once again the standout here, comfortably towering over the film's story and approach. The director's persona as both mainstream money maker and artistic auteur semi blends in here, but one can't help wonder why Soderbergh would choose this project at this certain time in his career. This is exactly the type of mainstream fare that Soderbergh likes to put out, but my guess is that audiences would rather discuss their favorite anti-bacterial soap with one another than discuss the film.

Grade: 3/5