Outbreak definitely had more drama and emotion, but the story was a little preposterous at times, especially the end. It's a popcorn movie nothing more. Wish they would adapt The Hot Zone ...that would have me quaking in my boots, because that stuff is real.
Agreed, though very subtle for the most part. It seems most people who have a problem with the movie were simply expecting something else.
This movie reminded me of Traffic which was another Soderbergh movie. I'm not really a big fan of documentary styled movies with too many character stories to follow.
The point refers to what's about to happen in that scene, and Soderbergh, in this analogy, is the Terence Stamp character. You're the guy giving him grief. See The Limey and get back to us. (Or not.)
and mine refers to you as a hanger-on in the background gawking at stamp's character (soderbergh in your analogy) with blind reverence.
Yeah, we can agree to disagree. :grin: My reverence isn't blind -- I just love the guy's films (some of them, not all.) And so... took the Mrs. last night to see Contagion, and we were both blown away. Character development? Not really. Fisticuffs? None. Phonecalls? Lots. so how can this be good? It's a very cerebral reset on the 1970's disaster standards. It's like an ocean liner turned over, but with Larry Fishburne instead of Ernest Borgnine, and with medical science instead of daring-do. Nearly every detail, from the CDC to the political ramifications to the state borders, and on and on, is entirely believable. I can't remember the last time I watched a non-documentary where this was so true. My wife is a molecular biologist so we could see precise pieces of equipment, shots of genetic data, exact addresses in San Francisco where research would take place, etc. So it is a paradise movie for science nerds, to say the least. Mrs. B-Bob says every detail of the possible disease is completely plausible, scary to say. I also can't remember a film that kept such an even progression and tension to it. I never looked at the screen and questioned the director (as in: why are we looking at *this* now?) I know some folks fell asleep since there weren't any explosions or judo moves, but if you like the topic (a realistic portrayal of modern humankind facing a 1918 style pandemic), this is about as good as it gets. It seemed a lot shorter than two hours to me. Great pacing and editing. Finally, while there is very little time for deep character development, every single character is continually faced with moral dilemmas. That's really the main theme of the movie. Should you follow the rules or break them to try to save someone? Can your daughter see her friends? If you have extra knowledge about the outbreak, should you call people you know, or leave them at risk like billions of other people? Janitors, generals, scientists, parents, all have to make moral decisions constantly. Favorite parts: Jude Law and Larry Fishburne's characters. Honorable mention to Kate Winslet who's also incredibly good. Spoiler Jude Law, as whack-o lefty blogger from San Francisco, is dead spot-on perfect. He's got the character exactly right, and the negative, criminal effect of this guy's internet misinformation is entirely believable. I just love that the bad guy was a cynic exploiting people's fear to promote an herbal remedy that had no scientific data behind it. This whole subplot was like a sucker-punch to so much of that anti-science bull****. Kate Winslet is so good that she steals one entire important scene... while wearing a surgical mask. I mean, sign her up for a super hero movie, because she can emote with even 5% of her face showing. and the use of G. Paltro Spoiler It's a great movie in which she dies near the beginning and then has her head sawed open in a lab. Sorry -- she's not my favorite. My least favorite parts: Matt Damon and the treatment of political upheaval. Spoiler Damon is just okay as a suburban Dad in Minneapolis. His reaction to his wife dying suddenly needs to be really convincing, but it looks like they filmed an early rehearsal. Not convincing. And after watching society decay a substantial bit, a la the book Blindness by Saramago, there is just this break after they develop a vaccine. I don't get it. It takes 90 days to get this thing manufactured and distributed, but hasn't the world gone completely insane by then? Who's running the power plants? Who's writing checks to pay the police officers? And who, other than FEMA, is trying to distribute food to the cities? There's no WAY FEMA could feed every urban area in the United States for 3 months. So I kind of felt this pandemic would be even more chaotic and horrifying than the movie even led us to believe. A must see for science nerds, in the end. A strong recommendation for people who like thinking about health and disease issues. And a strong recommendation for people who enjoyed 1970's disaster movies. But if you love summer action movies, this will put you to sleep.
See I loved that it was a smart disaster movie. You don't need manufactured tension, cause the virus and the panic do it naturally for you. But the film absolutely fails miserably in generating any kind of emotion. Tens of millions of people are dying or sick, and yet none of the characters, save for a few moments, show any kind of sympathy. It's like everybody decided to give their best poker face the entire movie. Spoiler Only three parts where I felt any kind of emotion from the characters were when Kate Winslet tried to give her jacket to the patient next to her, when Damon started to finally cry at the end and when the CDC doctor inoculated herself and went to see her dad. Those were probably the best parts and it's unfortunate that the rest of the movie didn't follow suit It's funny you mention 1970's disaster flicks because I almost felt the score had elements from that era. It was honestly a little oft putting at times.
Well, Since everyone is staying home...might as well rent "Contagion". It is not streaming anywhere (Unless you have Cinemax), but you can rent on iTunes and Amazon for like $3.99.
I’m just playing the soundtrack non-stop everywhere I am and go while wearing my N95 mask and chemical goggles.
