Contagion (2011)

Warner Home Video
Blu-ray Disc Released: 1/3/2012

All Ratings out of
Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: 1/2

Review by Mike Long, Posted on 1/4/2012

But it 1/3/11 on Blu-ray Combo Pack with UltraViolet Digital Copy and Download to Own

Over the years, I've reviewed thousands of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, which means that I've watched a lot of extras. However, I've grown very bored of these special features, as they rarely answer the questions or give the information which I want. I usually want to know what drew a filmmaker to a certain project, especially if that person is particularly busy and is in the position to be choosy about on which movies they work. If you weren't desperate for work, wouldn't select scripts which really spoke to you? Thusly, I would love to know what attracted Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh to Contagion, because whatever it was doesn't come through in the movie.

Contagion shows the effect which a global epidemic has on various characters. Beth (Gwyeth Paltrow) returns home to Minneapolis from a business trip to Hong Kong and falls ill, leaving her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon) to deal with the fallout. The CDC sends Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) to Minnesota to investigate this and she must deal with the local bureaucrats. Meanwhile, back at the CDC, Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) and Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) begin the research to learn what this virus is and how it can be stopped. In Hong Kong, Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) searches for the origin of the virus and becomes a pawn in a political game. Internet blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) claims to have found a way to slow the virus and becomes a target for controversy. As the disease spreads, businesses shut down, supplies become scarce, and the population begins to panic.

Contagion should have been called "chameleon" because it looks like it could be several different kinds of movies, but it never keeps that "color" for very long. The movie is sort of a thriller, but it isn't. This could have easily been a sci-fi B-movie where a disease wipes out a portion of the population and the world falls into a dystopia. We've seen these kinds of movies before and there's definitely a blueprint for them, but Contagion never reaches that point. We see some looting and a skirmish to get food, but otherwise there are few "world out of control" scenes. There also isn't a race against time factor, or if there is, it's poorly handled. We hear the CDC doctors talk about looking for a cure and hear the reports that a vaccine could take months, but there's never that feeling of "hurry up and save these people". The whole research aspect of the film comes at a very leisurely pace and there's little tension. So, anyone who labels this a thriller has missed the mark.

It's also not a mystery movie. Dr. Orantes does research in Hong Kong to try and learn how Beth got the virus, but this is never the emphasis of the film. A private physician, Dr. Ian Sussman (Elliot Gould, who will always be Jack Gellar to me), actually isolates the virus, but little is made of this. Once the epidemic has spread and the damage is being done, the origin of the virus seems of little importance. Thus, when it comes back at the very end, the reaction is something like, "Oh, were we still concerned about that?"

This also isn't a political movie. We see the CDC and the military at work on the problem, but there is little commentary on their procedures. The movie could have easily fallen on either side of the "were they ready?" question, but this is never explored. Even when a main character gets in trouble for spreading word about the disease, this is all played in a level-headed manner which makes sense, and there's no notion of political corruption.

So, what kind of movie is Contagion? A cold and boring one, that's what. Is it ironic or intentional that Soderbergh took such a cold, clinical approach to a movie about a disease? The movie is rarely engaging, as it jumps around from story to story, never fulfilling the promises of any of them. Again, the movie is never exciting, suspenseful, or even that engaging. It plays more like a documentary than a narrative film. Therefore, we return to the original question, what drew Soderbergh to this, besides the fact that he and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns have worked together in the past. If his goal was to make the most realistic depiction of an outbreak possible without moving into sci-fi territory, then I guess he succeeded. But, in doing so, he left out any sort of dramatic tension and all of the characters feel half-formed. I keep thinking about the fact that this has all been done before and done better, even in cheesy movies like Warning Sign. Soderbergh's movies typically fall into two categories, serious Oscar-caliber stuff or popcorn movies (such the Ocean's series). However, Contagion doesn't seem to fit either. It could have been more serious if it had dug deeper and it could have been a full-blown thriller. As it stands, it's neither, and that should make Soderbergh's fans sick.

Contagion shows that Gwyneth Paltrow can play dead on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 18 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing only slight grain at times and no defects from the source material. The colors look good (although they aren't very vibrant) and the image is never overly dark or bright. The picture is nicely detailed as we can see each red spot on the infected, and the depth is adequate, although not great. The Disc contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.8 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. There are a few action sequences which provide some interesting surround and stereo effects. Otherwise the effects are limited to front channel effects which alert us to ambient room noise and sounds occurring off-screen. The subwoofer effects are limited, but the music benefits from deep bass.

The Contagion Blu-ray Disc contains only three extra features. "The Reality of Contagion" (11 minutes) examines, through comments from the filmmakers and from experts, how realistic the movie is and what life would be like is an epidemic such as that one portrayed in the film really occurred. In "The Contagion Detectives" (5 minutes), we learn more about the real-life experts who consulted on the film, and what their jobs as doctors and researchers are like. "Contagion: How Virus Changes the World" (2 minutes) is a brief, animated explanation of how virus work and how an epidemic can begin. It's full of interesting lingo.

Review Copyright 2012 by Mike Long