Contagion was not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be more 28 Days Later and less PBS Special on Diseases and how they are spread. So instead of a tense story about the end of the world, we had a rather dry and boring story about the spread a virus and how it brings out the worst in people.
Contagion was not a good movie. None of the characters were likeable, starting with the first person we see who is screwing around on her too good to be true husband. This moves the story from one about the mutation of viruses to one about God smiting the wicked and rewarding the virtuous. A little of this goes a long way for me.
There was the mondo annoying soundtrack, which always made you think something was going to happen, even when nothing was happening. Thousands of people die, but none of their deaths mean anything-these are all strangers who remain strangers throughout. There were four or five or two dozen story lines going on and we never spent more than a few minutes with any of them. I might have liked some of these random folks if I had ever gotten a chance to know any of them.
As it was, we watch the world change from normal to rioting mobs in what appears to be an instant. The next instant, the streets are deserted, except for people who have been given the magic vaccine and a bracelet to go with it. The many story lines never come together and the finial payoff is a tired cliche from the 1960s.
Films with All Star Casts are seldom very good, especially when many of the Stars are well past their prime. I liked most of the actors in Contagion, but I didn’t like any of the characters or the mad jumble of stories.
Contagion might have made a good Miniseries, but it tried to cover way too much material in the time allotted.
