Contagion
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.5
A mysterious disease keeps starts spreading around the globe at an alarming rate, and it's up to a diverse array of doctors (including Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne and the infinitely lovely Marion Cotillard) to find a cure. What's intended to be fear-mongering and scary causes barely a blip in the heart-rate (and I have OCD and am terrified of germs), mostly because tactician Soderbergh, with great skill, drains all the air and suspense out of this, and populates it with flat characters who barely matter (cuckolded widower Matt Damon is immune, so his character barely factors in). Only Jude Law's blogger/gadfly has any effect, and supports screenwriter Scott Z. Burns' idea of the Internet, warts and all, being a voice of defiance and truth amid talking head conservatism and political corruption.
