Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns home to Minneapolis from a business trip to Hong Kong, after briefly stopping in Chicago to cheat on her husband with an old flame. She had returned with what appeared to be a common cold, but soon turns deadly. With her husband (Matt Damon) powerless to do anything, he returns home from the hospital to find that his step-son Clark (Griffin Kane) has also died from a mysterious infection. Assigned to investigate this new virus, Dr. Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) and Dr. Mears (Kate Winslet) seek to find the source of the outbreak, while scientist Ally (Jennifer Ehle) works against the clock to develop a cure.
As the virus continues to spread at an unprecedented rate, people across the world try to make their way in a world beset by with death, rumor and fear. With the government struggling to provide even the basic necessities—a stampede occurs when one checkpoint runs out of Meals-Ready-to-Eat—things are exacerbated by Alan Krumweide (Jude Law), a rogue blogger who’s been following the progress of the bug since the beginning. He later claims he was sick with the virus, and recovered using a homeopathic cure called forsythia. But was he ever really sick?
As the days pass and the body count rises, the race to find a cure is gradually replaced by the need to keep the population from destroying themselves. If a virus like this were actually unleashed, it’s not hard to imagine people reacting just as they do in the film. Some would find things out about loved ones they’d rather not know. In the race to help, the careers of some fine people would be ruined. Those trying hardest to help would likely be among the first casualties (Soderbergh isn’t afraid to show members of his all-star cast in decidedly unflattering ways).
While a couple of storylines don’t work—Marion Cotillard is wasted as a World Health Organization official taken hostage—much of the narrative creates a credible portrait of a world turned upside down by something completely out of their control. If nothing else, Contagion is a thought provoking experience.
Framed at 1.85:1, Warner Bros. 1080p transfer is stunning. The movie’s digital photography looks just about as good as it ever could, with consistent black levels, and vivid colors when they do appear. Compression artifacts are non-existent, and detail quality is solid.
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is also quite impressive. Dialogue is audible throughout, and the musical score maintains an eerie feel throughout. Surrounds are utilized very well, making the track enveloping when it needs to be.
Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes are included, as are English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Aside from the Standard DVD and UV Digital Copy, the following special features are available:
- The Reality of Contagion (11:29) takes a look at facts vs. the story presented in the film. The featurette includes brief comments from producers Stacey Sher, Michael Shamberg and Gregory Jacobs, senior technical advisors Mark Brilliant, W. Ian Lipkin and Laurie Garrett, writer Scott Z. Burns, Global Viral Forecasting director Nathan Wolfe, technical advisor Mark Smolinski, production designer Howard Cummings, medical reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and actors Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Chin Han, Jennifer Ehle, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne.
- The Contagion Detectives (4:57) Most of the folks from the first featurette return to comment on the scientists who work hard to prevent outbreaks.
- How a Virus Changes the World (2:01) Takes a brief look at how a virus develops.
