Contagion

Soderbergh doesn’t give a shit about the audience. Zero emotions, little tension, full of stars but without any of them shining too much on screen. Contagion is simply an unbiased and detached look at a global pandemic, and it’s actually that austerity and inhumanity what brings to the surface the horror and hopelessness of the situation. It probably only needed to dig a bit deeper into the issue, the last half hour felt too short. 7/10 (16.12.2011)

Contagion is high-quality filmmaking craftsmanship in the typical Steven Soderbergh fashion, with the intelligent idea of a global catastrophe and how to deal with it, topped off with attractive characters. Rather than “ordinary people”, the film focuses on characters who are in a position to deal with this problem directly and who, through their vulnerability, are also shown as ordinary human beings. The “chemical” atmosphere is emphasized by progressive electronic music without a single emotion. There could be more powerful moments and the best parts should not have happened at the beginning. The explanatory ending is sloppy. Overall, Contagion is a decent alternative to disaster movies as we know them from Emmerich and such :-) (13.10.2011)

Contagion hits hard, especially with Cliff Martinez's haunting minimalist score that perfectly amplifies the eerie atmosphere of the film’s terrifyingly relevant premise. The cast is stacked—Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and more—and they all come together to show just how quickly a deadly virus can spread. Some scenes left me feeling genuinely uneasy. The final scene, paired with the music, left a lasting impact on me, more than most films have in a long time. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who last disappointed me with Che, this one kept me on edge the entire time. It’s terrifying because it feels like reality—scenes that are happening, have happened, or could easily happen. This grounded, real-world fear is what makes the film so effective. The performances make that reality hit even harder, and I found myself thinking about it long after it ended. I might even bump it up to five stars next time. (13.02.2012)

A sterile clinical procedure that goes against the greatest genre conventions and its brilliantly organized yet pedantic narrative proves that Soderbergh is equal to Fincher in this regard. Unfortunately, there are a few pointless scenes and schemes, but with some passages of resolution and distrust, Contagion is close to its maximum. It shows better than any other disaster film that fear is the worst contagion. (13.10.2011)

One might have expected the film to go against traditional audience expectations, yet Soderbergh manages to surprise us mainly through the optics he applies to the sloppy plot. He makes do with a documentary-like tone instead of spectacular crowd scenes and quite sovereignly lets the famous Hollywood names have minimal parts, for which they reward him with great performances. This is minimalism that digs deep under the skin. PS: This is the second film this year that was largely "made" by Cliff Martinez. (20.10.2011)