Movie Review: Contagion

In a world where very scary, incredibly infectious diseases can be created by slight contact and spread like wildfire, where millions upon millions of people die and have to be buried in body bags, where a disease mutates and multiplies faster than anyone can create an anti-body for it, you have: CONTAGION.

Oh wait. That world is our world.

I went and saw Contagion with my friend Jonathan on Thursdsay night [Nuni shout out!] and for the most part really enjoyed it. There wasn't anything specific that I didn't like about it, but it somehow fell slightly short of what I expected it to be. Everyone who's anyone is in this movie [Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Lawrence Fishburn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and the list goes on and on] and while the star studded cast does provide some fairly stellar acting, the movie still falls short.

Essentially, the movie opens with Gwyneth Paltrow being one of the first people in America do contract this deadly disease. Matt Damon plays her husband, who is luckily immune from the scary, scary virus. We then go on a roller coaster ride surrounding Damon's character and his daughter [who may or may not be immune], to Fishburn's character who is a head at the Centers for Disease Control where they are desperately trying to put a stop to this stubborn virus, to Kate Winslet who works for Fishburn's character and is sent "into the field" which happens to be Matt Damons home time. That is just scratching the surface of the jumbled complications of this film.

In my opinion, it's definitely worth watching because the creepiest of movies are the ones that could actually happen, and ladies and gentlemen, this story line was only slightly left of real. A friend of mine was telling me about a book called The Hot Zone which is a terrifying true story of how the Ebola virus almost came to America. So the stuff in the movie is not all science fiction, it's legitimately something that could happen. The Center for Disease Control even issued a letter answering the inevitable questions that would arise upon the release of the movie.

My final two cents? Wash your hands, see the movie, but wait til it's out on DVD. You'll be less skeeved out in the comfort of your own home and may even enjoy your popcorn.