Contagion (2011)

I wanted to like "Contagion" more, as it features Steven Soderbergh at the directorial helm, and an Oscar-studded cast of winners and nominees. Overall, I think the script was too briskly paced, without as much background details to ground the story of a viral outbreak that threatens to reach pandemic levels. There are many players in the story, and the film just bounces from subplot to subplot (or character groupings) until it finally concludes. I didn't like the musical score, it tended to make the film feel too euro-pop-ish, public access station-ish at times, which didn't help things. If you're a germophobe, this film won't help you with that condition. It'll make you think twice about touching any object out in contact with the general public. I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

You're much kinder then I'd be. It's a film that could be surmised as a new-Outer Limits episode or the "results" section of "The Stand" or a different take on the Andromeda Strain.. I don't know, by the time we were about 1/2 way into it, I realized the characters were not very compelling and the story kept bouncing around making me care about them less.

There isn't a very cohesive narrative that grabs you and the drama falls flat.


On your scale, I'd say a C. Maybe a rental.

I probably was kinder than usual (I almost gave it a C+). One more thing that bugged me about the movie, it's not shot on film, so to my eye, the production values looked much cheaper in terms of the look of the movie, it had that Movie-of-the-week video look to it in many scenes.

I liked it overall (and I liked the score, too). They were going for realism, which is actually somewhat refreshing for a Hollywood movie. The cast did a great job. The myriad story arcs did serve to limit the drama, though. I think it would have worked much better as a TV miniseries than as a feature film.

It's "Traffic" with germs. Enjoyable movie but not as good as it could/should have been. Agree that it would've worked better in a longer format - it just crams in too many characters/situations for many of them to work. The one with Marion Cotillard felt especially weak...

Excellent movie. I loved it. It deliberately lacks oversized characters or big major events. It simply takes a scenario -- what if an epidemic on par with the 1918 flu pandemic happened today? -- and plays it out as realistically as possible given the constraints of the movie format. It's chilling because it starts like the sort of virus we've seen with SARS and the swine flu, and then escalates so much further. The movie maintains its deliberate pacing even as events start to go terribly out of hand. Unlike most horror movies, the boogey man here is very real, and it's probably only a matter of time.

It's a race against time. The next pandemic vs. scientist's efforts to create a universal flu vaccine. I for one am interested in seeing this movie. I know (and like) Soderbergh's style, so I may be kinder than most towards this film. This is a nice reminder for me to schedule my flu shot though...

Who has seen this movie since the new coronavirus outbreak? I saw this movie when it was released and I remember liking it very much, liked the music and the ending.

I'm planning to watch this again soon because of the current news. I feel like this movie deserved better recognition. It was way in advance especially because of its storytelling and realism. Do you know any other movies better than this about the subject matter? It will be interesting to see how it stands out today.

I rewatched it just about a week ago, it is even better against the current Corona scare, I think. I also like that it is an ensemble movie, and that Soderbergh is not afraid to let the big names die, some of them pretty early in the movie.
Another movie to watch about a similar subject would be Outbreak, with Dustin Hoffman.

I plan to screen this for my friends at my yearly movie/dinner night, coupled with Side Effects, anoher Soderbergh, also with Jude Law, and also about the pharma business.

I haven't seen it.
Is it comparable to OUTBREAK with Dustin Hoffman? Because I like that movie very much.

AshJW said:

I haven't seen it.
Is it comparable to OUTBREAK with Dustin Hoffman? Because I like that movie very much.

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It’s better in my opinion. But more of a drama as opposed to the action film that Outbreak is.

Thank you, Tino.

Tino said:

It’s better in my opinion. But more of a drama as opposed to the action film that Outbreak is.

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Definitely.

And I'd hesitate to call one better than the other because they're pretty different. "Outbreak" is silly popcorn fare, whereas "Contagion" is a more sober account.

I think both are flawed but interesting movies...

How close is coronavirus to films like Contagion and Outbreak? EW asks the experts

Two pandemic experts reveal how close we are to living out the plots of movies like Contagion, Outbreak, 28 Days Later, and more.

We watched this again a couple of weeks ago. It's a good flick.

Side note: I wish people would quit freaking out about the corona virus. We're not all doomed, despite what the media is spewing.

John_Bilbrey said:

: I wish people would quit freaking out about the corona virus. We're not all doomed, despite what the media is spewing.

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Are you a doctor?

Here’s a thread if you want to discuss the Corona Virus.

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...-about-coronavirus.365730/page-7#post-4841220

John_Bilbrey said:

We watched this again a couple of weeks ago. It's a good flick.

Side note: I wish people would quit freaking out about the corona virus. We're not all doomed, despite what the media is spewing.

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Well, while we're not all doomed to die, I think we're pretty much all doomed to get it, sooner or later ...

It's amazing things they are saying in this video.

Not sure which thread this belongs in, but the technical advisor for Contagion has acquired COVID-19.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...tant-movie-contagion-has-coronavirus-n1168721

- Walter.

‘Contagion’ Cast Records PSAs On Stopping The Spread In The Coronavirus Era