It's worth getting infected by this movie.
Released: 2011
Genre(s): Drama, Thriller
If today's trends dictated everything, 2011's "Contagion" would've been a balls-to-the-wall, adrenaline-saturated, explosion-and-gore-ridden zombie apocalypse action-horror. Those types of films are fun and all, but thank whatever god or deity you worship that this wasn't the case here. If it had been, we would've been robbed of one of the most thought-provoking, tense, and deeply-unsettling movies in recent history.
Boasting an all-star cast, "Contagion" brings the talent like a clown brings the uncomfortable. Acting prowess is on full display here, with a visceral sense of realism striking incredibly close to home at all times - families are pushed to their breaking points, doctors/scientists (science-doctors?) are rushed to discover a cure, the government becomes a scapegoat and is hard-pressed to save the world. "Contagion" presents a wild nightmare world that's not farfetched in the least.
This flick is incredibly effective at presenting a believable emergency scenario, eerily echoing the semi-recent SARS and H1N1 scares that caused mass hysteria and panic everywhere in the world. Except in New Jersey, where I assume everyone was too busy fist-pumping and being generally douchier than the average American to care about the outbreak of a potentially fatal virus. Let 'em burn.
The heaviest sense of dread occurs in the opening acts as we watch the illness spread like wildfire, decimating the population with all the efficiency of an invisible assassin. Unfortunately, "Contagion" is unable to hurdle some noticeable pacing issues, and this momentum peters out a bit around the middle to end segments. And despite a positively spine-tingling ending, the sense of discomfort I felt as the final credits rolled was nothing a few squirts of hand sanitizer couldn't fix. While it's littered with moments that will surely send a germaphobe into an obsessive-compulsive latex-glove-and-disinfectant shopping spree, most people aren't going to be terrified of this movie (although more than a few will be pretty grossed-out). Plus, why does it sound like they let the composer of the "Mass Effect" video game soundtrack do the music for this? It's not bad, but it frequently sounds out of place.
Minor gripes aside, "Contagion" is easily the most realistic, emotionally-intense pandemic flick I can remember off the top of my head. It refuses to waste any time on useless, mushy fluff, but instead creates a pseudo-prediction of a very possible future world crisis. Even if you don't buy into the disturbingly brutal and honest plight of its characters, at the very least "Contagion" will force you to finally wash your hands before you eat dinner. Your mom will thank it for that.
Rating (out of 5): 3.5
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