Contagion

Ehhh...

Wait for a Rental.


If you've seen the movie Virus, or read the book 'The Hot Zone', then you'll be very familiar with this movie.

Done in the Docu-Drama style, it's not remotely an Action-Thriller movie as it's being marketed; no real action, and not a big thrill either. It was very predicitable if you've read the Hot Zone book or know anything about how the CDC and the Gov respond to viral epidemics, and the whole story revolved around one family and then a bunch of doctors and researchers trying to figure it out. The problem is that the focus kept shifting so often you weren't sure just who things were supposed to be centered on, who to root for, and in some cases exactly why some of the stuff that was happening was really happening. There were a couple characters and subplots in the movie that made no sense and didn't seem to fit in the slightest. At points it almost felt like there were two seperate and distinct movies that somebody decided to merge together to create one product.

In our opinion it just didn't work well. Even the 'twist' at the end was no surprise to either of us. When we left the theater, we wondered how this could've been a better movie. We kinda concluded that removing one subplot and the 6 or 8 recognizable actors from the movie that were part of that subplot, and focusing much more on how people were coping with the disease and finding the cure and such, basically adding an element of urgency that (strangely) was missing throughout the whole thing would've made this a more enjoyable flick.

If you're at all interested, wait for a rental and watch it at home with a few friends. Between the movie and teh conversation of the friends trying to understand what's going on during the movie, you'll have a more enjoyable experience.