What's The Time? It's Time To Get Ill.

 

*Warning: Mild spoilers.*

I took in a showing of Steven Soderbergh's latest last night with some friends, and while there seems to be some debate over certain plot elements that remained unresolved, I have to say that this was Soderbergh's best movie since Traffic.  

(Yes, I liked all the Ocean's movies, but if you think about it, those were just pure fun 'n fluff entertainment, and 11 was the only one that was superior.)

I found a lot of the look and feel of Soderbergh's vision like Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, except we have a real threat to humanity and not an alien invasion.  There's a sense of dread lurking over every scene, the sinister feel of Soderbergh's camera (he also served as his director of photography) is evident, much as it was in Traffic.  Soderbergh uses color pallettes to identify certain plots, and while it's not as strong as it was in that previous film, it certainly adds to the suspense.

Here's an excerpt for the IMDb trivia section explaining the color schemes in Traffic:  

To achieve a distinctive look for each different vignette in the story, Steven Soderbergh used three different film stocks (and post-production techniques), each with their own color treatment and grain for the print. The "Wakefield" story features a colder, bluer tone to match the sad, depressive emotion. The "Ayala" story is bright, shiny, and saturated in primary colors, especially red, to match the glitzy surface of Helena's life. The "Mexican" story appears grainy, rough, and hot to go with the rugged Mexican landscape and congested cities.

Contagion begins with Mrs. Chris Martin (yes, we all know who that is...and did you check out her hilarious post about being a hard-working mom?) coughing and eventually rolling into a comatose state of dread.  (Man, why couldn't they have used Soderbergh favorite Julia Roberts in this role? I would have loved to see her coughing and foaming at the mouth while she hallucinates and starts spouting stupid lines from her past movies...."They're called boobs, Ed!" ......."You hurt me, don't do it again!"...... "This is my one chance at happiness. I have to be ruthless!"

Anyway, the point of this opening scene is to set up the threat of the virus, and the destructive path that it takes.

"N-N-Nooooo! My husband's gonna tour AGAIN?"

There is a huge ensemble cast here.  Laurence Fishburne is a doctor at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, gorgeous Oscar-winner Kate Winslet is a doctor brought in to help with the understanding of the virus, gorgeous Oscar-winner (Part 2) Marion Cotillard is a doctor tracking the path of the virus, and Elliot Gould is a doctor unable to cope with being taken off of the virus research team.  (Let me just take a moment to say, I don't think there were enough doctor people in this thing..which is strange for a virus outbreak movie.  I guess Soderbergh's budget was limited after they paid all of the actors' salaries.)

Matt Damon once again plays Jason Bourne here in The Bourne Immunity!  Not really, but it ran through my mind as I watched his character become more and more unstable and just wanting to karate chop any doctor to the ground.  (Or his daughter's impatient boyfriend.)

 "AHHH! NO! I will NOT be in The Legend of Bagger Vance 2!!"

The real amazing turn in the film comes from The King's Speech actress Jennifer Ehle, who puts all her heart and soul (did I just say that?) into her performance, as Doctor (yet again) Ally Hextal, whose major discovery (and how she finds it) creates the sense of hope that the movie eventually comes around to.

Corny attempts at humor in this review aside, (and you know there already has been some), this film is an example of why Soderbergh remains at the top of his game.  He always has time to show his actors thinking and reacting, showing their presence as an integral part of the film.  Soderbergh said in an interview that he wanted to do his research and make the aspect of science in the movie as realistic as possible.  My girlfriend who was a college psychology major, gave it her stamp of approval, and that dear folks, is a major compliment...especially since she is not a movie person.  I was halfway fearing that she was going to hate the movie and we would be engaged in a cinema-war on the way home from the theater, but fortunately our discussion just involved my filling her mind with geeky useless trivia about aspects of Soderbergh's direction. ("Yeah, and the guy who did the music was once a drummer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers!")

There's also a surprise cameo that I will not give away so not to ruin anything for anybody.  (Quirky Comedy Central humor-watching geeks be on the lookout.)  

"What? I'm The Brit In The Plastic Bubble!"

And then there's Jude Law.  Here his character is displayed as a media-hungry cult leader, who tries to get people to listen to him by reading his blog.  (Hmm, that sounds familiar, not sure why.)  And when I first heard his character speak, I admit I rolled my eyes and thought, "Oh brother, ANOTHER cliched pseudo-journalist who runs around and annoys people and trying to be the master of all he surveys." 

But as the movie went on, I was glad to see Law's character onscreen.  And it ended up not bothering me at all, it kind of added a ridiculous interpretation that bloggers can change the world.  (Again, that sounds familiar.) It's always good when he plays a slimy, no-conscience individual, (Check out his role in 2002's Road To Perdition as the creepy Gollum-like photographer Harlen Maguire.)

I had mentioned at the beginning of this review that I was reminded of the great Philip Kaufman's direction in 1978's Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.  That film was a remake of a 1956 black and white sci-fi movie  of the same name directed by Dirty Harry helmer Don Siegel.  It's also a movie I have never seen.  However, if you look at Contagion and its set-up, Soderbergh wastes no time throwing the viewer into the action.  Kaufman did the same thing: a scientific threat, immediately executed, that starts affecting average people everywhere, and scientists are brought in to figure out a cure. But are they too late, and have already become/caught in the threat that is taking over?  Even the freaky looking "knobbed trees" are present in both films.   

Kiefer, I forbid you to play a CTU agent on a TV show!

Both movies end on a similar note.  We see the outcome and what it has done to society, however Contagion takes us in a different direction with an origin while Body Snatchers shows what basically will happen once its "virus" takes over completely.  Plus, I find it of interesting note that both films use a vocal reverberation.  Contagion begins with a black screen and a cough is heard, Body Snatchers ends with a scream and goes into a black screen.  

Contagion is most certainly not an uplifting movie, but with its sly sense of direction, creepy atmospheres, and a cool pulsating Tangerine Dream-like soundtrack, Soderbergh hits another home-run and makes it work.  


Contagion, (2011) 
Grade: A





And just for fun, here's the trailer to another great virus movie from 1995: Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, which deals more with the post-apocalyptic future and the impact the virus had.  Plus I really like the trailer, and it contains Brad Pitt's greatest performance, not counting his feigning of enjoying being married to Jennifer Aniston.





Note: I have not forgotten my review of Red State, people.  Just chill.