Steven Soderbergh’s thriller about a killer virus that spreads death, terror and chaos around the world is chilling in more ways than one. It elicits a spinal shiver, to be sure, to contemplate the fragility of both human bodies and societal structures, and Soderbergh’s economical, frill-free approach to the story makes the escalating panic feel all too real. Yet for all its many virtues, Contagion doesn’t allow for a lot of emotional connection. A sprawling ensemble, including Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Jude Law, divvies up screen time so equitably that none of their characters earn a deep investment from the audience. This is Soderbergh in cool analysis mode, delivering a movie that somehow crawls under your skin even as it maintains its distance.
This article appears in Sep 8-14, 2011.