Contagion

I love it when studios pack movies with big name talent. Be it a comedy, action or drama, I find it especially exciting when genuine movie stars get to be on screen together. Soderbergh has done it before with his Ocean trilogy. The Coen brothers are no strangers either, with movies like Burn After Reading and O Brother Where Art Thou? Not to give George Clooney anymore credit than he already has, but every movie he has directed has had big time, honest to god movie stars. Contagion continues the trend with parts both big and small played by actors like Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hawkes, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishburn just to name a few.

In case you didn't know, Contagion chronicles the rise of a new virus sweeping the world in a matter of days, and along the way we follow doctors, scientists, politicians, journalists and the average joe struggle with the impending epidemic.

This movie has been out a while now, and I've read a lot of people that are mostly freaked out by the everyday ways in which the deadly virus travels, and granted, the movie deals with the spread in a very realistic and frightening fashion, but it was the way Soderbergh presented how fearful and violent society could become in a situation like this. In the film, people trample one another if a pharmacy runs out of a medicine that's thought, but not proven to help with symptoms of the virus, or in another scene when army trucks are passing out Meals Ready to Eat and run out, the crowd starts to fight each other, struggling to get food for their loved ones. It's a depiction that I feel is very realistic, which in turn makes it all the more scary.

Back to the ensemble though. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of people in this movie, all of them good here especially considering the limited screen time they each have. I have to admit, though, Damon steals the show. He plays a widower who is one of the few people immune to the virus and whose wife was the first victim of the epidemic. He is then forced to shut himself and his teenage daughter inside their house until either a cure is found or some form of order can be re-established.

Damon excels here, beautifully underplaying in a role that could have easily gone into over-acting hyper drive. I don't consider this next bit a spoiler since it was included in the trailer, but the scene where a doctor informs Damon's character that his wife has just died is incredible. Damon goes from confused to angry to bewildered in the blink of an eye, making the moment all the more effective.

Something else that really surprised me about the film was the score. It's eerily similar to Drive's soundtrack, in that pop synthetic way (as in good way) and really made this mainstream studio film feel unique in a manner only Soderbergh can do.

Well that's all I got for now, but I am seeing The Hunger Games on Sunday to celebrate Easter, because going to the movies is better than going to church. Anyway, I know I've been bad about writing on here with the random movies I've watched lately, but I vow to talk about every movie I see in theaters this year so I should have something up next week.

Until then dudes, suck it.