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Review of film: “CONTAGION”
The director of this film, STEVEN SODERBERGH, is known for his work on “TRAFFIC” (from 2000), and “OCEANS 11” (2001), “12” (2004) & “13” (2007) with Matt Damon...
... This new film is a sci-fi action / thriller... The movie starts off on what is described as “Day 2” of the story (& you learn at the very end that that’s done because, if you saw “Day 1”, you’d have “too much” of an idea of the MYSTERY that needs to be “sorted-out” in the midst of the film)...
... We see a business visitor named Beth Emhoff (GWYNETH PALTROW) enjoying her time at a casino in Macau, CHINA... She soon starts to grow increasingly ill, as do OTHER people who’d been “around” her...
... On her way back to return to her 2nd husband named Mitch (MATT DAMON) in Minneapolis, she purposely leaves early so she can have a “rendezvous” with an ex-lover in CHICAGO...
... Once she arrives back in Minneapolis, Gwyneth’s health grows so bad, she has to be rushed to a HOSPITAL and DIES... And, her young son also seems to “catch” whatever SHE had, which leaves Matt deeply DISTRAUGHT as he talks to the DOCTOR in charge...
... Strange, unexplained illnesses similar to Gwyneth’s soon start appear in VARIOUS places around the world... Reports about that quickly start to concern the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in Atlanta, headed by Dr. Ellis Cheever (LAURENCE FISHBURNE)...
... He has his CDC associates start investigating the strange reported illnesses, such as Dr. David Eisenberg (DEMETRI MARTIN) & Dr. Ally Hextall (JENNIFER EHLE)...
... Laurence appoints his associate Dr. Erin Mears (KATE WINSLET) to fly to Minneapolis to try to track down more FACTS about Gwyneth’s case, & finds officials there confused & very UPSET over the apparent extent of the problem...
... Matt himself has proven IMMUNE to whatever has afflicted Gwyneth (due to his genes), & we see him trying to cope with the loss of her and take care of his teenage daughter Jory (ANNA JACOBY-HERON) who’d since returned from a trip out of town...
... Whatever illness had befallen Gwyneth is extremely CONTAGIOUS, shown by how numerous people she’d been in contact with -- either directly or thru touching inanimate objects (like glasses) -- have contracted the disease...
... Matt demands to know “What HAPPENED?!” to his wife, but nothing is really “CLEAR” about the situation...
... As Kate points out to him, we normally touch our own face 3-5 times every waking minute, & that tends to SPREAD germs & the like very readily. That’s especially important in THIS disease they’re trying to investigate, as it appears able to transfer via a 1-touch transmission...
... In Geneva, Switzerland, the World Health Organization tries to investigate what has been happening, & sends its Dr. Leonora Orantes (MARION COTILLARD) to CHINA to try to “track down” things more...
... Once in China, she uses a computer to demonstrate something to her Chinese guide...
... The computer shows a videotape from the casino Gwyneth visited, with Marion explaining she’d been using it to try to help determine just which “WAY” the disase was being transmitted – where & how it “STARTED” & where it was likely to “GO”...
... In the midst of all the growing confusion is an arrogant self-appointed internet “GURU” named Eric Krumwiede (JUDE LAW), who wants to draw people to his internet SITE to make himself more “important” (so he can sell his “stories” & the like)...
... Jude thus engages in FEAR-mongering to try to SCARE people, eventually going on TV programs to try to convince people how the government is supposedly “COVERING-UP” things...
... He uses graphics to show how the problem started with 2 people, then spread to 4 people, then quickly spread to 16 people, & claimed that, at that rate, in a month or so, “1 BILLION” people could be affected by the mysterious disease...
... Jude contacts people like well known scientist Dr. Ian Sussman (ELLIOT GOULD), who he knows is an “outside” contractor to the CDC, trying to get some “PRIVATE” information from him on the contagion problem...
... Jude also has a private “AGENDA”, trying to promote an herbal “remedy” called “FORSYTHIA” as a supposed “CURE” for the spreading pandemic...
... The CDC tries to “coordinate” gathering facts around the country... The government begins to start asking a lot of “questions”, such as in a “HEARING” [as shown below]...
... Eventually, the MILITARY also gets involved in the growing threat, in the form of Lyle Haggerty (BRYAN CRANSTON)...
... At one point, he sits beside Laurence at a discussion (wherein various things are discussed, such as, could there be some possible “WEAPONIZING” of the contagion?!)...
... The story keeps “EXPANDING” as time goes on, because, as one of the “taglines” for the movie says, “Noone is immune to FEAR”...
... A school basketball court in Minneapolis is commandeered to be a TREATMENT center for people affected by the disease...
... We visit various places around the world, such as Conference boardrooms of DRUG companies (like U-SOLVE Pharmaceutica in Germany), where people view some slides & talk about the CONTAGION (that has eventually been “traced back” to its apparent “sources”)...
... People become afraid to be around OTHER people who might GIVE them the disease... At one point, Matt (like other people) starts to “PANIC”, and demands that his daughter Anna’s boyfriend Andrew (BRIAN J. O’DONNELL) stay AWAY from her...
... Matt even tries to LEAVE the Minneapolis area with Anna to go to WISCONSIN-- but the Governor there has BLOCKADED the roads so possibly-infected people CAN’T get in to the State & possibly carry the contagion there...
... OTHER people try to protect their loved ones, even in some “SHADY” ways of using “advance information” to try to give “SPECIAL” treatment to those they know; even Laurence is accused of doing that...
... As Laurence is told at one point by his building’s janitor, mustachioed Roger (JOHN HAWKES), “I’VE got people [to protect], too!...”
... The NATIONAL GUARD is called out in various states, to try to keep order & to pass out some FOOD and other items...
... And, the military gets increasingly “INVOLVED” in the difficulties around the country, such as sending a convoy into CHICAGO, to “secure” & handle things...
... That’s necessary because people start to try to HOARD items from grocery stores (which themselves can be a dangerous place to go because of possible infections)...
... When people can’t find or AFFORD what food is available, some even get to the point of BREAKING into STORES to STEAL the food & other supplies they want...
... And, when they can’t find what they need, they start attacking OTHER people (even in their HOMES) to try to get what they’re seeking...
... More & more people keep DYING from the disease, even to the point that some have to be buried in “MASS” graves to try to protect the “UNaffected” public as much as possible (from the possible spread of the problem)...
... The CDC and other organizations around the world keep trying to come up with a VACCINE against the disease... But, many people are skeptical about WHO will GET the vaccine “first”...
... Marion’s Chinese hosts reach a point where they ABDUCT her at one point, to try to make a special “deal” on GETTING an eventual vaccine for a certain AREA in China...
... WHAT will happen when KATE (who’s trying to treat people & find some CURE for the disease) herself gets ILL from it?...
... Will people “catch-on” to the seemingly-self-serving actions of JUDE concerning the supposed “Forsythia” “CURE” he’s touting?-- &, if so, what will result from that?...
... Will an effective VACCINE be found for the contagion?... Will people (like Jennifer) be able to speed-up the availability of it?... And, even if it BECOMES available, WHO will be able to GET it in “TIME”?...
... Will any real facts be discovered about Laurence’s supposedly playing “FAVORITES” with special facts and possible “cures”?...
... What will happen to MATT & his daughter & others we’ve grown to CARE about?...
... I found this to be an unusually finely-CONSTRUCTED thriller. It’s not so much centered on exciting “COMBAT” type “action”, but rather, done as a clever STEP-BY-STEP “PSYCHOLOGICAL” sequencing...
... The ACTING is very good by all the major & minor characters, & I felt there was a realistic “LOGIC” to the way the story “unfolded”, with a number of fascinating “THREADS” (the illness, the reaction of loved ones, the PANIC, the self-serving & “COVER-UP” actions of certain elements, etc.)...
... Because it was unusually “BELIEVABLE” & EFFECTIVE in the story it sought to tell (thanks to the usually-understated acting, story construction, & special effects utilized), I’m rating it at 8.75 out of 10 stars...
(... Some “SIDE” information: a great deal of the film was shot in the CHICAGO area in 2010...
(... I know a number of people who were hired as “EXTRAS” for the film, including BRIAN N as a “stand-in” for janitor John Hawkes; + people in “ARMORY” scenes [which seemingly were “cut” re the final release]; plus ED B in the audience of a Senate-type “HEARING” scene illustrated by a photo above from the trailer...
(... And, I MYSELF can be seen in a couple of 2-second scenes wearing a white lab coat in the short “U-SOLVE Pharmaceutica” segment..
(... As the filmmakers said at the time, I had the “perfect” look for the sort of disheveled “wild” scientist they were seeking... You are “forbidden” to BLINK during the movie, because you might MISS me!... ENJOY!...)
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