Catching 'Contagion' not so bad

 It's scary to think at how vulnerable we are as a race: something as small as a bacteria can cause a widespread epidemic.

This was explored in Warner Bros.' new thriller "Contagion", directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film follows the cause and effect of a lethal airborne virus, which has horrible effects and kills in days.

In the mix, the film follows several individuals who are effected by this virus: a grieving husband (Matt Damon), a member of the Center of Disease Control (Laurence Fishburne), a field agent tracking the disease (Kate Winslet), another field agent tracking ‘patient zero' (Marion Cotillard), and a high profile blogger trying to make sense of it all (Jude Law).

Much like "Traffic" (another film Soderbergh directed) before it, "Contagion" follows the different stories of several different characters all under the epidemic umbrella.

This format of storytelling has been popular in past years and there have been a few movies released that used it like, "Babel" and "Crash" being the most renowned.

Sometimes, the overlapping stories can be overwhelming. Scott Z. Burns, the writer of this screenplay, covered all of his bases.

He made sure each plot for each character was well thought out, meaning each journey the characters went through was thorough, had a clear purpose and had a good beginning, middle, and end; with the exception of poor Dr. Orantes, whose storyline seemed to get overwhelmed and lost in everyone else's tragic story.

Aside from the clever overlapping stories, the overall of feel of the story was suspense. You could feel the horror of each character as they tried to figure out what was infecting everyone.

There were moments of lightheartedness, smart and witty dialogue that kept drawing the audience in before dropping another bomb on them. It was perfect.

The acting was star quality. It came as no surprise though. With an all star cast of Cotillard, Damon, Fishburne, Law, Winslet, and Gwyneth Paltrow, this movie was of star callibur.

Performances from Law and Damon stood out in particular. There was so much emotion, so much humanity behind their pain and fear that the audience could feel it for themselves.

Each person was fully committed, making everyone believe that this was more than just a movie. It felt more like history. The film's acting was close to perfect.

Is "Contagion" worth the price of a movie ticket? Absolutely. Of the many thrillers that Hollywood has released this year, this has been the best so far.