Review: Film

Contagion dir Steven Soderbergh, Kate Winslet, Marion Cottiliard, Jude Law, Lawrence Fishbourne, Matt Damon

Pacey. Fear spreads. And disease from bats to pigs to humans is a step away from global contagion. The film is built up using several strands and begins with an edgy summation from the major capitals of the world as the air-borne disease affects entire blocks of the human population from Hong Kong, the States to London. The science is plausibly presented via high-tech scanners, computer programmes and lab monkeys. While the main drama involves the race for an antidote and vaccine as Mitch Emhoff, Matt Damon, cares for his teenage daughter after losing his wife and son.  Predictably across the board we see the range of human response from panic and desperation to altruism and simple acts of kindness. If there is a fault it is that director Stephen Soderburgh is spoilt for starry choice as to how to tie up successfully all the strands from his A-List cast. Some of the stories seem to be either heavily edited, the 'Stockholm' angle involving Marion Cottiliard is a case in point, or to just peter out. Yet the film's overall pace is good, as it tracks retrospectively the movements of Beth Emhoff, Gweneth Paltrow, revealing in the final frames, in 'quick time' how she contracts the disease. Contagion is Soderbergh's cinematic investigation into cause and affect, big time; part thriller, part disaster movie......enjoyable in spite of its limitation......