Date seen: Oct 22, 2011
Where: Century City Village Cinemas
When I saw the poster, I thought "All Star cast, sounds interesting, with a well known director".
Heard good reviews about it, thought I'd give it a go. 15mins into the film, I started to think
"Wait a sec, isn't this the first half of (Stephen King's) 'The Stand'?"
And after that I really couldn't get into the movie, because all I kept thinking was "This is the first half of The Stand!"
Everything from the slow but inexorable descent into armageddon, to the hysteria of accusing the Govt of
witholding an antivirus.
The story is told from three perspectives.
- The people from the CDC who are trying desparately to find out what the virus is so that they can grow it and find the antivirus(Lawence Fishburne, Kate Winslet)
- Matt Damon as the everyday guy whose world is torn apart and just wants to keep his family safe
- Jude Law (with a pretty cool tooth prop, at least I hope it was fake, or else he needs to go see a dentist) as the bloggist who thinks he's a journalist who people trust and is fighting the power.
Whilest King's The Stand focused on the characters being affected by the virus, Contagion had a more
overall view.
In short the movie is a study in how society reacts to a virus that kills and yet the people who are in power are helpless to find the anti virus. It's the classic race against time.
Rating: 2 and a half out of 5.
PS. If you're curious about the second half of The Stand (and I mean the book, not the movie). I have these words for you.
CI-BO-LA BUMPTY-BUMPTY-BUMP!
Short, succinct description of this blog: Instead of having a conversation with myself I've decided to share my thoughts. As the title suggests, the blog will be full of my thoughts, reviews on things and every day dilemmas a guy in his 30s living in Melbourne, Australia faces.
