Gwyneth Paltrow...not feeling so good
“CONTAGION’’ My rating: B (Opening wide on Sept. 9)
105 minutes |MPAA rating: PG-13
There’s no shortage of big names in the cast, but the real star of “Contagion” is filmmaker Stephen Soderbergh.
His latest is a hypnotic juggling act, a carefully calibrated mashup of characters and situations that proves him a master storyteller.
This time the maker of “Traffic,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Che” and “Out of Sight” (and, yes, the “Ocean’s” flicks) delivers a “what if?” thriller about a killer flu pandemic that puts mankind on the ropes.
“Contagion” paints a grim but fully-detailed picture of how we’d react in such circumstances, and it’s not pretty.
The film introduces a dozen important characters, many of whom won’t make it to the last reel. You can take nothing for granted in this apocalyptic tale — you can’t even be sure that humanity will survive.
It begins with an American businesswoman (Gwyneth Paltrow) returning home after a trip to Hong Kong. She’s not feeling well, but writes it off to jet lag.
Matt Damon
When she goes into convulsions her husband (Matt Damon), rushes her to the hospital, where she dies horribly. When reports pour in of the same thing happening to people in Asia (and travelers who have recently visited the East), researchers at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta realize they’re dealing with something very scary — an entirely new strain of flu against which they have no defenses.
The depth of Soderbergh’s cast is little short of astounding.
Laurence Fishburne is the head of the CDC; Jennifer Ehle his head researcher. Bryan Cranston is a military type charged with finding out if this is some sort of manmade attack.
Kate Winslet is a first responder; Martion Cotillard is a World Health Organization expert sent to China to seek the source of the infection.
Jude Law is a conspiracy-minded blogger who defies the medical establishment by pushing a homeopathic cure.
Look also for John Hawkes, Sanaa Lathan, Demetri Martin and Elliott Gould, among other familiar faces.
They’re all good, but all are subservient to the overall yarn, which is presented in such a factual (and cooly non-hysterical) manner that it only heightens the audience’s distress.
Jude Law
Scott Z. Burns’ screenplay appears utterly grounded in realism, from the scientists’ search for a cure to the depiction of a modern society rapidly unraveling (riots, looting, widespread starvation).
But the personal conflicts that emerge ring true as well: A CDC official breaking protocols to tell his fiance to flee the big city; Damon’s widower using everything at his disposal to protect his teenage daughter from the plague; a researcher using herself as a human guinea pig to speed up development of a serum.
In fact, the depth of story crammed into 105 minutes is remarkable, yet “Contagion” never feels rushed or perfunctory.
Germaphobes beware — “Contagion” will have you buying hand sanitizer by the case.
But you needn’t be OCD to have this experience get under your skin. This is one horror movie that cannot be easily dismissed.
| Robert W. Butler
