Monday, September 19, 2011

Contagion (Monday, September 19, 2011) (81)

Why Steven Soderbergh made a big budget, ensemble disaster film is totally beyond me. Contagion is not as bad as you've heard, but far from good. It tells the story of a virus that began somewhere in China (that new evil-empire, for it's vastness as much as for its secrecy) and moves along the line to all continents and all people until a viable antivirus can be found (this time with crowd-sourcing and YouTube!) (ugh). I like how it feels like a modern zombie movie with allusions to 28 Days Later and World War Z, but the fact remains it's only a movie because it's about a virus that affects white people in suburban Minnesota (aw, how nice). There's a fun 80s'ish score by Cliff Martinez that feels a lot like Vassal Benford and Harold Faltermeyer's score for The Running Man. Still, the script here, by Scott Z. Burns is terrible and inconsistent and begs for a scene in the New York City subway. This is a dog with only a few tricks.

Stars: 1.5 of 4

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