Contagion

Ratings: 7.8/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Drama Suspense

Heard about this movie some time back from imdb, and it seems that in the recent weeks, there has been a lot of publicity done on it in Singapore. It could be due to many reasons, two of which I believe to be more likely could be because Singapore's prone to such diseases (almost the same category as H1N1 and SARS, awareness campaign maybe?) and because it features a star-studded cast and includes one of our very own local talent Chin Han (also featured in The Dark Knight, but this time got a more decent screentime). From previous marketing campaigns, movie trailers were released way before the movie.. to create the anticipation. But it would seemed Contagion sprouted out rather "abruptly" in the Singapore theatres.

Contagion is about the global outbreak of a deadly new virus, causing panic to the public and it's a race against time for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and the intervention of WHO (World Health Organisation) to find a vaccine for it. I can't help but compare this movie to one of my top favourite all time movies, Outbreak. To be honest, Outbreak was a more superior film in terms of suspense and audience engagement. Contagion lacked the much awaited climax (there was supposed to a climatic-like scene but still lacked the punch), and there were just too many subplots which made the film more like a documentary than a blockbuster.

Still, what I liked about Contagion was that it featured a star-studded cast (*slight spoilers* though their screentime were short-lived) and being an individual with a Science background, I felt "one" with the film. I was able to grasps the technical terms in the movie and was able to catch the hasty explanations (which I believe will be a turn-off for those audiences with different specializations). I believe the director did try to keep the technicalities as minimal as he could, and scripted the explanations to cater to laymen.

It was an interesting watch for me and being fond of the main casts, this movie wouldn't have gone wrong for me. *spoilers ahead* Even though the subplot of the WHO doctor (Marion Cotillard) and our very own Chin Han was a little "calefare-like" and that there wasn't a definite closure for that, I liked the subplots of the CDC specialist (Laurence Fishburne) and the difficult but realistic situation he was put in. Judd Law (a rogue journalist) brought out a very interesting point about humanity during the showdown interview with Laurence Fishburne, yet, it's a redundant statement made to only to demonstrate how humans are all selfish (don't get me wrong, I'm siding Laurence Fishburne). If Judd Law was put in that situation, or anyone else, I'm sure everyone would have done the same as Laurence Fishburne... to notify their loved ones to exit the country knowing that the country would soon be "quarantined". Hated Judd Law's role... still it only meant one thing... he did an excellent job in portraying his character.

I too liked the "rawness" of the scripting on Matt Damon's part. There were pause fillers in one scene, which brought out the realism of the characters and the predicament they were facing. Subtle point, but it did add extra points for me. Kate Winslet's role was one of the more heart-wrenching ones to watch. And though the scenes on how panic brought out the "ugly" side of humans were a little too extreme, yet, one can only imagine what others would do in situations like that (I wish never to know).

Predictable plot, scary thought, stellar cast, Contagion is guaranteed to flabbergast!