Contagion (2011)

Contagion: Directed by Steven Soderbergh. With Gwyneth Paltrow, Tien You Chui, Josie Ho, Daria Strokous. Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a pandemic as the CDC works to find a cure.

“People wanted a thrill. People wanted action. People wanted character development. Those elements werenu0026#39;t the intent, however. Iu0026#39;d have to admit expecting an action from the marketing materials and the poster, but I donu0026#39;t judge movies over a preconceived notion or genre. Without throwing out spoilers, I was happy to see that itu0026#39;s more of an ensemble cast than a Matt Damon flick, considering his small role. Yeah, heu0026#39;s Gwynethu0026#39;s husband, but so what? It was a good analysis on how our country, and the world at large, would react to a real medical epidemic. We saw a few overblown pandemics the last few years with H1N1 and swine flu, and I believe this movie is a what-if thought experiment on steroids. They even paid homage to the real world examples near the conclusion. Granted, the real world issues turned out to be media overhype more than a real medical scare and I believe the movie covered the media in a brilliant way. I liked this movie because it was a societal study rather than just an updated u0026#39;Outbreak.u0026#39; Regarding character development, there really wasnu0026#39;t a place for it in this movie. The only thing that touches it was the budding relationship between the two youngsters. On the other hand, I could, just as easily, write that off as a symbol of human strength, desire, and endurance since it survived the epidemic from beginning to the end. Favorite actor for the movie: Jude Law. He really sunk his teeth into his role and I really wanted to hate him. Great job.”