Review of Contagion

If you are a germaphobe or a squeamish person, I will say right off the bat that you need to stay away from this movie. This film is an extremely realistic and nearly perfectly paced film about a deadly virus and the results of it. This film boasts an all star cast, all of which do a fantastic job making their characters seem likable and realistic. Not one performance stands out over the other, which is not something that every movie can say.

What director Soderbergh does is give us a feel of just how dangerous this virus is, by focusing on items people are touching, and what happens to the item shortly afterward. He forces the audiences to feel what the characters are feeling and just get a sense of fear and dread as the disease spreads rapidly. As far as the audience is concerned, this isn't a fictionalized story, it is unfolding right before our eyes.

What I really appreciate most about this film is that the film gets us a glimpse at something special. The film outlines how an epidemic like this brings out both the best and the worst in humanity. It really shows humanity in a realistic, and dark light.

This film is very scary, but it's not like the cheap "Friday the 13th" or "Exorcist" horror type scary, but it's scary in the sense that it really makes you think more about what you touch. I remember I was in the theater and I coughed, by accident, and every head turned. This film is on the same level as Jaws in terms of scariness, but whilst in Jaws all you had to do was avoid the beach, you would have to avoid touching things all together.

Is this film for everyone? Like I already said, germaphobes and squeamish people will not enjoy this film. It's a very graphic, realistic and brutal look at a disease epidemic and while to some people that would be interesting, it would make some uncomfortable, and a few people might even be bored at times by it. But I didn't get bored once watching this film. Will the film win any Oscars? Probably not, but if you like films about disease, this is the cream of the crop.

10/10