In
the 1970s the 'disaster' movie came to the forefront each having many
big star names and revolving around a force of nature. There was "The
Towering Inferno", "Earthquake" and "The Poseidon Adventure".  I walked
into "Contagion" expecting the same type of film. It certainly had the star power with Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle, Elliot Gould plus many recognizable faces if not names.

The film starts with Paltrow returning to Minnesota from a business trip to Hong Kong with flu like symptoms, 
goes into convulsions and dies as does her son soon after. Before you
know the world is in a pandemic and the film revolves around finding
where it all started as it is spread by touch as most people Paltrow touches die and then the search for a vaccine. Damon, her husband, turns out to be immune.

Kate Winslet is a doctor for the Centers for Disease Control working for Laurence Fishburne and goes into the field trying to put everything together while Marion Cotillard works for the World Health Organization and searches for Patient Zero.

The
film is fast moving and yet seems longer than it is while the
soundtrack adds excitement to what is going on the screen. There are two
big missteps with one being made by the director, Steven Soderbergh,
and the other by the screenplay writer, Scott Z. Burns.  The first
being that there is not really any suspense, not anything to get caught
up in or with. The second mistake is allowing the audience to know up
front that Damon is immune to the virus.

One
of the most disconcerting things about the movie is the abrupt ending
to the Cotillard story which is the most interesting. Jude Law plays an
off putting blogger who cashes in on the story and Law plays him well as
you don't like this blogger at all!

All in all the film is disappointing in that there is no excitement in this disaster film. Where are the directors of yesteryear that had you sitting on the edge of your seat from beginning to end?