Contagion

Excellent minimalist music composed by the unknown Cliff Martinez perfectly underscores the atmosphere of this currently incredibly frightening subject. It was nice, though, how many famous actors wanted to show us how quickly a malignant flu virus can spread. After some scenes, I even had a pretty disgusting feeling. The final scene, for example, along with the music, made such an impression on me as I haven't felt in a movie for a long time. Nevertheless, I was expecting anything from the movie. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, who recently made me crazy angry with Che Guevara. However, this film cannot be boring. I was in suspense practically the whole time, mainly because I was looking at reality. Every scene was today's reality, which is happening, happened, or could happen. That makes it even more frightening. Matt Damon, Marion Cotillar, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishbourne showed me that reality incredibly frighteningly, and I had to think about it for a long time after it ended. Maybe next time I'll even give it five stars. (13/02/2012)

Watching this with flu is only for the hard-nosed. The main protagonist is the contagion itself, that’s what it’s all about. An entirely new kind of movie, an emotionally sterile (and all the more impressive because of it) documentary about future things, which creates, through it’s infectious atmosphere, the insistent feeling of “so this is how it’s going to be, this is what’s gonna happen..." Of course, when it breaks out, it will be without Martinez’s perfect soundtrack. Which will be a crying shame. (02/01/2013)

Oh, shit! No more shaking hands with strangers... To the point, perfect craftsmanship. It documents the course of the infection in rather a minimalist manner and the life stories of people just happen by the by, and a chain reaction occurs that leads to others being infected. Surefire sterility is augmented by the music too. The literally disgusting Jude Law enjoys his role and Matt Damon is pleasantly civilian (there are no small roles). I was a little disappointed by the sloppy ending (even though it’s probably nearer reality), Contagion had greater potential. (17/12/2011)

It has too little escalation to pass for a thriller, too little space for character development to pass for a drama, and too much casual presentation of empty "facts" to pass for a quasi-documentary. The half-heartedness exuded by every other scene is at times unbearable, regularly making a hard-luck child out of Stephen Soderbergh. As nothing more than a popcorn movie filled with tension, Contagion could have landed with much greater impact, but as it is, the creative intentions here completely missed the mark. (01/01/2012)

A sterile clinical procedure that goes against the greatest genre conventions and its brilliantly organized yet pedantic narrative proves that Soderbergh is equal to Fincher in this regard. Unfortunately, there are a few pointless scenes and schemes, but with some passages of resolution and distrust, Contagion is close to its maximum. It shows better than any other disaster film that fear is the worst contagion. (13/10/2011)