Contagion has a phenomenal cast but at the same time it is not a movie about big stars or people. Rather it concentrates only around the idea of a contagious virus that is spreading around the world in no time.
Contagion has star-studded cast, which includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard and Bryan Cranston.
The movie starts off by showing Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) is returning from a business trip from Hong Kong. She makes a stop over in Chicago to meet an ex-lover and cheat on her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) before reaching her home. However, she has contracted a deadly virus of some sort during her trip and dies within two days with strange symptoms.
Now Mitch was hardly in a state to accept his wife's death when he gets to know his step son has also died in the same way as Beth. Upon investigation, the doctors find out that Mitch is immune to the disease but his wife brought the disease with her from her trip.
Meanwhile, the scientists are on alert since millions of people around the globe are contracting the disease with a mere touch. Sadly, they are unable to find a cure or create a vaccine that can treat this deadly virus. While authorities are hiding the truth, Alan (Jude Law) a freelance journalist who has a huge fan base on the internet reveals to his followers that people are not being told that homeopathic means can treat the disease.
With the way things are going, people get panicky and start looting stores. While the rest of the people are quarantined in their homes to stay away from the disease till a vaccine is made available to them.
On the other hand, Dr. Erin (Kate Winslet) is an Epidemic Intelligence Officer who is also trying hard to deal with the situation - treating patients and identifying who is getting affected but sadly she herself becomes a victim of the same virus.
By the end, they do come up with a vaccine but the movie also shows how most people can be selfish in such circumstances while some change for good looking at the death and suffering around them. Like I said, this movie is not merely about the big cast but about the idea. In the end, they show how the virus actually started and that was quite an interesting minute.
For a change, I really liked Kate Winslet in Contagion. Probably because she was not naked in this movie and was concentrating solely on her acting. Matt Damon looked a bit healthy but was genuine as always. Jude Law played his part extremely well too. Gwyneth Paltrow, however, seemed more like a guest star with hardly any dialogues and all we could see was her clips of what she was doing at a hotel. Anyone could do this part. In short, I would've loved seeing her in a more elaborate role after such a long time.
Another interesting thing about Contagion is that it brings Jude Law, Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow together once again after 1999. Over all, the movie has received quite positive reviews from critics as well. I'm sure everybody's not going to enjoy Contagion, however, all those who enjoy movies on viruses/diseases/immunity would enjoy it.
