Summary: A thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.
What Soderbergh does well is manage large casts of big name actors, he seems to be able to let them show case their best abilities and structure scenes where no one comes across as a bad actor. In Contagion Matt Damon is emotional strong, Laurence Fishburne is all CSI, Kate Winslett is all stressed but in control, Gwyneth Paltrow is weak and dislikeable, Jude Law is the nasty baddie and Marion Cotillard is beautiful and intriguing. The problem with Contagion is not the actors it is the multi-character story telling, the narrative in the film is provided by cutting from one character to another in a way similar to films such as Crash, Traffic and Babel, due to this the film loses much of its suspense and becomes a story of survival instead of the thriller we are advertised.
Soderbergh focus on the individual characters does create a feel similar to the beginning of a horror film; Who is infected? When is the food going to run out? Is society as we know it going to collapse? But as the story unfolds you realise the film is meant to be about finding the root of the virus, finding a cure for the virus and managing the outbreak, non of these issues are really addressed but more stumbled upon and then not really followed through. All suspense is spoilt by the chopping and changing of the narrative and the investigation into the outbreak barely gets started before a cure is found. The whole film leaves you frustrated that the stories you want expanded are not and that any narrative that starts to get interesting is stopped in its tracks. I felt the most interesting characters where the scientist who first manages to grow the virus played by the charming Elliott Gould and John Hawkes (who should have won best supporting actor last year for his turn in Winters Bone) as the CDC janitor, both of which are underused, generally ignored and roles not really fully developed.
Overall: I can't fault the acting but too many characters not enough investigating. 2.5/5.
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