[pullquote cite=”” type=”left, right”][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=That Film Guy&asin=B009L39F9Y][/pullquote] Sometimes, a film strikes you with so much utter hatred that you want to hunt down the filmmakers, tie them up, and scream at them until your voice is hoarse. Sometimes, a film fills you with so much joy and pleasure that you feel ready jump in the air and declare your happiness for just being alive. Then, there’s those films that hits you with absolutely no emotion at all. The films that after you’ve seen them, make you say, meh. This is the perfect description of Contagion.
Contagion has no single protagonist, instead opting for six intertwining storylines, and each focusing on one character. The film’s premise is that a new, very lethal, virus has broken out where the slightest touch can spread the disease. One story involves Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) taking care of his daughter after his wife, Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow), falls dead of the disease. Another involves Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Department Of Homeland Security expresses concern over the fact that the virus may be a bioweapon used to caue terror over Thanksgiving weekend. Cheever sends Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet), an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, to Minneapolis to begin an investigation. All the plotlines run along these lines and those are by far the most interesting. The rest are just boring and bland, which are the words that describe most of this movie.
The trouble with Contagion is that it’s not a bad film; it’s just not a good one. It falls in between mediocre and OK. The acting is competent enough, though the actors give off the feeling that they just don’t care. The direction, again, is competent, but doesn’t really do anything notice-worthy. The writing is good enough, though the characters just don’t feel there. The characters that do die are either killed off way too early, or are not explained enough, so you find it difficult to care when it shows a character die. The music is pretty cool at times, though it swells at places of supposed ˜suspense’ and make it really obvious what’s about to happen. It also feels like a rip off of the recently released video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s soundtrack. Just not done as well
It in no way deserves the praise it’s been getting. Also, if you go in expecting a scary film, prepare to be greatly disappointed. The poster reads quotes like, the scariest film of the year, and with taglines like, Nothing spreads like fear. This advertising is greatly misleading, as instead of a gothic, post-apocalyptic world the poster and trailer display, you’ll be getting one of the most mediocre films in the last 5 years.
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