A Short Synopsis: Contagion is a movie about what could happen if a so called "Mega-Virus" was to come into contact with people and how one person can cause an entire pandemic. When Matt Damon's wife Gwyneth Paltrow becomes sick and dies and soon after her son from a previous marriage also becomes sick and kicks the bucket Matt Damon's character has to take his daughter from a previous marriage and go into hiding. After finding out that he is immune to said disease he tries to help Kate Winslet's character to track down the origin. Meanwhile some other scientists/doctors/researchers are also trying to track it and create a vaccine which is proving difficult because it just keeps mutating. Meanwhile there are some internet bloggers(ahem!) bashing the government and it's protocols and promoting drugs that they say the government is withholding. It follows about 4 or 5 different stories as it progresses throughout the movie, some ending in bliss and some ending in tragedy.
My Thoughts: I really liked it. I thought the acting jobs done by both Matt Damon and Kate Winslet were phenomenal. I also loved Gwyneth Paltrow's performance however I wish she had played more of a role. She was cut out of the movie too early. I'm going to give my MVP award to Jennifer Ehle who played Dr. Ally Hextall and she was the one who finally discovered the vaccine only after testing it on herself. It was a rather small part but the scene when she was talking to her father was one of my favourites. Another reason why I liked this movie was because as an immunocomprimised person this is one of my biggest fears. Catching something like this disease/virus/whatever would mean my death. This movie is also a great teacher of good hygiene practises and statistics. Par example, did you know the average person touches their face 2,000 to 3,000 times per day!?!? That's disgusting! I try not to but even I (the queen of the germ-o-phobes) catch myself sometimes itching an eye or biting a nail. Let me tell you I'm going to be trying a whole hell of a lot harder after watching this movie.
My Final Thought: If you watch a movie twice in one day I'd say it's a keeper. I rented this movie off of Rogers on Demand for $5.99 and it was worth every penny.
4 1/2 Prednisone Pills out of 5 (and you know how I love Prednisone).
