Gwyneth Paltrow dies in the first 5 minutes. 5 stars.

So-so movie about a woman visiting the far east who brings back a new virus that sweeps across America, killing her and thousands others. Really doesn't that will with how people in such a situation would prey on one another, Kate Winslet it decent as the selfless doctor seeking a cure. Matt Damon kinds of sleep walks through his part.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays a "patient X", a woman who travels abroad and ends up contracting a lethal new virus that doesn't take long to kill the host. Things escalate fairly quickly, and soon the whole U.S. of A. is having to deal with an outbreak of massive proportions. The death toll is high: approximately one out of four people perish from contact with the virus. Dedicated doctors like Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) deal with the crisis as pragmatically as possible, while we see how it affects ordinary people like Matt Damon, in the role of Paltrows' husband."Contagion" is an interesting film, worth seeing, that attempts to show the more serious, "realistic" aspect to stories such as in "Outbreak" (1995). Director Steven Soderbergh, working from Scott Z. Burns' script, handles the material using a documentary-style approach. While some time is made for personal drama for assorted characters, Soderbergh and Burns would rather show you how places like the World Health Organization and the Centre for Disease Control would function in such a case. It does require the use of much language that the layman such as this viewer would not understand, but the points do still come across.Much like it would happen in real life, there is always a certain amount of cynicism and opportunism going on, as some individuals try to see how they can best profit from the situation. But then, this has always been the case. Just as we often see humanity at its worst during these times, we also see humanity at its best, as people like the Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, and Jennifer Ehle characters diligently work to solve the problem. In addition, we see how a cocky, smarmy blogger played by Jude Law undermines the efforts of Fishburne, yet the man does have some pointed comments to make himself.A gallery of familiar faces turn up in roles big and small: John Hawkes, Demetri Martin, Elliott Gould, Enrico Colantoni, Bryan Cranston, Sanaa Lathan, and Sanjay Gupta as himself. Each actor does get his or her little moment to shine, but this is truly more of an ensemble piece than a vehicle for anyone in particular.Key to the films' effectiveness is the fact that it remains fairly fascinating throughout, and its 107 minute run time moves along quicker than one might realize. It just dives headfirst into the story proper, with all credits, including the title, saved for the final several minutes. (And it waits until the concluding moments to show us how the virus got started in the first place.)Seven out of 10.

A definite must watch for the way it terrifies sans supernatural elements.It's about an epidemic, a disease breakthrough yet very powerful in making impact psychologically. It's a rare film I must say that dares to take an ensemble cast, and go the whole hog of creating an epidemic. The film has Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow and many others. This implies that this is a script that convinced so many stars to be a part of it. So the script is great in itself. What makes it greater is the way it is directed. As a good director, Steven Soderbergh takes this script and adds pace making it a thriller than a medical autopsy of an epidemic.Yes, I must say it's a thriller and that's the genre of this film. It thrilled me from the word go and made me sit the very end and even after it's over it made me ponder. It actually gave me a lump in my throat. Kudos, to all those involved in making this and I rate this as one of the very important films for doctors and patients above the normal film viewers.Also, I stay in Hong Kong currently so I can relate to this film. I have seen, the MTR, the ferry and those streets that are shown in this film and actually felt very happy. But from Hong Kong to the USA and meanwhile citizens of other countries should be aware of any epidemic. There was SARS, there was Ebola, and now there is MERS and ZIKA now. We do not know their origins and the investigation is on and in future, there shall be more such epidemics if we are not careful.This film just acts as a mirror in showing to us, what life can be like if we are not just doing the right things. One person's carelessness, can cause a lot of damage. This film, inherently, gives a message to focus on personal hygiene in anything we do.The technical aspects are great and the atmosphere that this film created is chilling and amazing. It's a film that's a must watch and a 5/5.