Originally written October 9, 2011

HEY, you see who’s in that movie poster right there? It’s Matt Damon! I love Matt Damon, don’t you? Of course you do, everybody loves Matt Damon. So naturally, when I heard of Contagion, I said “Oh, that new Matt Damon movie, right?”

WRONG.

Matt Damon might have been in like half the movie, if that. And even then, he never felt that important. And shockingly, this is something he shares with every other character in the movie. Contagion shifts around to so many storylines of different people that it’s sometimes hard to follow, but the main problem with all these different characters is that because none of them are focused on enough, you tend to not care about any of them. I had no attachment to any character in this movie whatsoever.

And that’s because the movie isn’t about the characters. It’s about the virus that’s spreading around killing everyone. As in, the movie is a bunch of medical mumbo jumbo. I saw this had great reviews going in, but this is one time I could not disagree more. Contagion was a complete and utter borefest, and I found myself constantly checking the time waiting for it to be over. Do not see. It barely has any redeeming qualities.

2/5 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I decided to dig up this review from 2011 because I know the movie’s popularity has resurfaced due to the current COVID-19 virus that’s been uprooting everyone’s lives. I didn’t mention COVID-19 in the review because I wrote it when the movie first came out. I haven’t seen Contagion since it came out, since I clearly didn’t like it the first time. I’ve been wondering recently if I’d like it any more now if I were to rewatch it, since it feels much more relevant to our lives. So, I just wanted to give that little disclaimer that this review wasn’t based on any recent viewing of the movie, because if it were I might have a different perspective. However, when I saw the movie in 2011, I didn’t like it. Hope everyone is staying safe during this whole pandemic!