Contagion leads box office opening weekend - Megan Rettig

 

Matt Damon plays the main civilian character, Mitch Emhoff, whose wife and step-son are among the first to be killed by the disease.  His character is the classic tragic hero, who will do anything to save his surviving daughter.  He acts the part well, as one expects of Damon, but the movie’s writing keeps Emhoff detached from the audience. We do not see how the tragedy has affected him until the end of the movie, and even then only briefly.

Lawrence Fishburne plays Dr. Ellis Cheever, a  preeminent, stoic and prophetic doctor without much personal connection to the audience--a recurring theme when it comes to the film’s characters.  The action grows stagnant several times throughout the movie, but picks up often enough to remain entertaining.  Contagion explores the possible societal implications of a pandemic.  Looting and lawlessness abound, and mass graves are filled by victims of the MEV-I virus.

If the movie spent more time on these aspects, it could have lived up to its billing as a terrifying look into the possible future. Instead, too much time is spent focusing on scientists in a lab working with the disease.   However, film weaves these two aspects together well, making up for the heavy emphasis on science. 

The characters in the film are distant throughout, and there are too many subplots.  I lost track of which doctor was where and whose mission was which.  I completely forgot about one character when she was kidnapped and absent for about thirty minutes.  Obviously, the emotional connection was lacking. 

By the end of the movie though, the fate of the world seems more optimistic.  A vaccine is spreading and will eventually be available to everyone.  Most of the main characters have survived. Like much of the film, the final scene of Contagion detracted from the human aspect of the movie.  It took the time finally to show where the virus had originated–in the slaughterhouses of Hong Kong.  This ending was labeled “Day 1” and I got the feeling this was supposed to be frightening or ominous, but it was neither.

By the end, the origin of the disease seemed to matter little compared to what the future held.  This scene repeated the mistake of focusing too much on the science of the epidemic instead of the terror that it could cause. 

The idea behind Contagion is ambitious, but the filmmakers approached it too cautiously.  The film is realistic, to be sure. If the goal was to make Contagion into a thriller, this goal was missed.  However, if approached with the right expectations, Contagion is worth seeing.