AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

perica-43151 This is a cerebral movie. Many complain about having too many characters, but these characters serve as illustration, the main character is the pandemic, that is explored in non sensationalistic but still interesting and compelling way. The most scary thing about the movie is its realism. Yes, this is what really would happen if there were a pandemic. Not everyone would die, there would be no flashy helicopter drama, but it would not be a pleasant experience either. This is a good movie but perhaps not for the seekers of cheap thrills.

Scott LeBrun Gwyneth Paltrow plays a "patient X", a woman who travels abroad and ends up contracting a lethal new virus that doesn't take long to kill the host. Things escalate fairly quickly, and soon the whole U.S. of A. is having to deal with an outbreak of massive proportions. The death toll is high: approximately one out of four people perish from contact with the virus. Dedicated doctors like Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) deal with the crisis as pragmatically as possible, while we see how it affects ordinary people like Matt Damon, in the role of Paltrows' husband."Contagion" is an interesting film, worth seeing, that attempts to show the more serious, "realistic" aspect to stories such as in "Outbreak" (1995). Director Steven Soderbergh, working from Scott Z. Burns' script, handles the material using a documentary-style approach. While some time is made for personal drama for assorted characters, Soderbergh and Burns would rather show you how places like the World Health Organization and the Centre for Disease Control would function in such a case. It does require the use of much language that the layman such as this viewer would not understand, but the points do still come across.Much like it would happen in real life, there is always a certain amount of cynicism and opportunism going on, as some individuals try to see how they can best profit from the situation. But then, this has always been the case. Just as we often see humanity at its worst during these times, we also see humanity at its best, as people like the Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, and Jennifer Ehle characters diligently work to solve the problem. In addition, we see how a cocky, smarmy blogger played by Jude Law undermines the efforts of Fishburne, yet the man does have some pointed comments to make himself.A gallery of familiar faces turn up in roles big and small: John Hawkes, Demetri Martin, Elliott Gould, Enrico Colantoni, Bryan Cranston, Sanaa Lathan, and Sanjay Gupta as himself. Each actor does get his or her little moment to shine, but this is truly more of an ensemble piece than a vehicle for anyone in particular.Key to the films' effectiveness is the fact that it remains fairly fascinating throughout, and its 107 minute run time moves along quicker than one might realize. It just dives headfirst into the story proper, with all credits, including the title, saved for the final several minutes. (And it waits until the concluding moments to show us how the virus got started in the first place.)Seven out of 10.

johnny-burgundy Contagion (2011) This is an outbreak film about the spread of a new virus and attempts of medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease. The loss of order provides the tension. In a pandemic, can they finally develop a vaccine to stem its spread. This movie features an all star cast that includes Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kate Winslet. This film moves very slow for the first hour and not much faster in the second half. It's not a bad flick, just leaves you wanting something more.

grandmastersik Seriously, the most boring film I've sat through in a long, long time.Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwenyth Paltrow (I've probably spelt two of these names wrong already) and Lawrence Fishburne say, "Come on, a solid drama with good performances, give me a viewing", so I did... and where the acting was good indeed, the film itself is one of the dullest, offensively tedious bags of crap I've endured in so long that I'm repeating myself.And I still am: absolute bore. Avoid.