This medical thriller starts with a sneeze and ends with a yawn. After the initial sneeze, it’s all pretty predictable and there really isn’t much of a plot. It’s what I like to call “edge-of-your-seat-sleep-action”! Especially if you’ve seen the trailer which basically shows you the entire film. What is it with Hollywood trailers showing the complete movie? If you haven’t seen Contagion, save yourself 2.5 rials, watch the following trailer and wait till it’s out on rental:
“Contagion” follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.” (Warner Bros.)
I was slightly interested in seeing Contagion from a Christian’s point of view as Jesus mentions in Matthew 24 that one of the signs of His coming and the end of the age is “7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows.” So it seems that there will be an increase in the number of pestilences (man-made or natural?!?!) in these last days.
The PROPHET/PROFIT Blogger: I was more interested in the story behind the story. A “truth-seeking blogger”, played by Jude Law, finds himself in the middle of this epidemic. He is seen by many to be a “prophet” while in reality he is out to “profit” from the tragedy of others. As an avid blogger, I loved this concept of balancing “blogging to inform” with “blogging for one’s own self-interest”. This is even more important to consider in today’s conspiracy-loving-world. A few cool lines on this topic are:
“Blogging is not writing. It’s graffiti with punctuation.”
“If I could throw your computer in jail, I would.”
Overall, it was an alright movie but really quite predictable. If there’s anything I got out of this movie it’s these 3 points:
- Life is fragile.
- No one is getting out of this life alive.
- Make sure you pick up and use more hand-sanitizer! 🙂
Andy in Oman 
For some reason, I really did have a little bit of fear in my system, but sure as hell not as much as Soderbergh wanted me to and for some reason I just never felt involved with these characters and their stories. Nice review.
“I never felt involved with these characters and their stories”. Same here!
Thanks for the comment! 🙂
Is the story of the movie inspired from Robin Cook’s novel by the same name? Any idea?
Coctail Party,
No, it’s not inspired by Robin Cook’s novel. In this movie, it is a natural cause. In Cook’s novel, an HMO purposely spreads diseases. Robin Cook’s novel sounds like something I’d be more interested in reading (or seeing on the big screen).