Contagion
Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Soon after her return from a business trip to Hong Kong, Beth Emhoff dies from what is a flu or some other type of infection. Her young son dies later the same day. Her husband Mitch, however, seems immune. Thus begins the spread of a deadly infection. For doctors and administrators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, several days pass before anyone realizes the extent or gravity of this new infection. They must first identify the type of virus in question and then find a means of combating it, a process that will likely take several months. As the contagion spreads to millions of people worldwide, societal order begins to break down as people panic.

One of the things that I found interesting about this movie is just how many big name stars were in it - and the number of them that died off, even early on, was surprising. I have to admit, a film that is willing to kill off its characters at any time (and take one one of the big name stars within the first five or so minutes) is somewhat impressive.

The plot of the movie is sound, and shows what would probably happen during a major pandemic. It is realistic enough to be frightening and getting the big name stars who can act makes it seem all the more real.

With the possible exception of a few characters, most are a bit two dimensional, but then again it'd difficult to get in depth with a character that dies off so soon into the movie. Also, it seems to me the point was more in the plot and the real star was the virus - so the characters themselves were a bit less important than in other films.

In a film of this type, the virus takes center stage and this bat-pig flu combination was well done and believable.

The only down part to this film is that it does drag out and get a bit boring at times. Granted, this is needed for the story development, but there were times when I was bored.

In the end, for what it was, the film was well done, but did have a bit of a made for TV feel about it. Still, it's worth a watch.

My rating: Three and a half out of five snails.