Those are the thoughts that will be pulsing through your head when you come out of Contagion, a star studded, blood pumping and uncomfortably realistic thriller from director Steven Soderberg.
A deadly disease is spreading around the planet and there are six people in the game that we follow. A wife, a husband with a daughter, a journalist, a doctor, a specialist in epidemics and an epidemiologist belonging to the World Health Organisation. It all sounds a bit complicated but everything fits simutanously with the urgent feeling Contagion effectively evokes as this indirect contact transmission virus kills an increasing amount of the population over the matter of several weeks. Consequently, what follows is panic and a break down in society as people become desperate for a cure.
It's fast moving and affecting with a brilliant ensemble cast - excluding Jude Law here - who give all they can in their limited and rationed screen time. It's under-your-skin frightening too as the film progresses and certain characters you become attached to start dropping like flies. Complimenting the quick cuts from scene to scene is the well crafted sustained tension throughout the entire length of the film aided by a fantastically compelling yet subtle non-orchestration soundtrack; a refreshing change and technique that has been put to great use in other recent film outings like "Hanna" (music by The Chemical Brothers).
The idea of the different storylines involving different characters awards the viewer with a wide ranged perspective of the world situation as a result of the spread of this virus. The individuals are well rounded and all have their own roles to play. Whether they interact or not would not matter becuase each character's story is as compelling as the other.
Despite a truly unconvincing, probably terrible, perfomance by Jude Law as a controversy seeking journalist, the rest of the film is very enjoyable. Far from being the one of the best films of the year, and if you're not into medical thrillers it will never appeal however, Contagion is gripping, hauntingly realistic and effectively fast paced.
