There isn't much of a storyline I can outline, at least with any ease. It should be no surprise that this movie is about a new virus outbreak with extremely deadly results. There is a huge cast and their characters vary widely from a head of the CDC (Laurence Fishburn), to a rumour mongering blogger (Jude Law), to a father (Matt Damon) just trying to keep his family safe.
I want to say right off the top that I did enjoy this film. As far as I can tell it's highly accurate and realistic in its depiction of how events could unfold, and how the CDC and governments would likely react to such a situation. It is not, however, without flaws.
Gwyneth Paltrow... not looking so hot... |
Matt Damon just wants to keep his family safe. Unfortunately, there's not much a regular father can do. |
Also, we eventually become more distant from the medical characters working on the virus, and spend more time with the more social characters, like the father who is out in the world having to live with what's going on as best he can. This is primarily because, unlike in Outbreak, the medical and scientific processes are shown for what they really are, a slow, steady numbers game. I just wanted more drama to the science side of it, but instead they glossed over a lot of that in favor for press conferences and meetings of officials.
There's not much else to say. The acting on all parties involved was very good. The characters were all genuine and seemed natural. Even the look of the world as the virus and fear takes hold of the world is scarily mesmerizing. I think I just wish it had a bit more of a story and showed it more. Instead this is really more of a character piece of all these different people in this very deadly situation.
Even though I know I've been sounding very negative during this review, I would still recommend it. I'm not sure if it's necessarily a movie that needs to be seen in the theater. It could probably be enjoyed just as well at home as a Netflix rental. Another weird side effect of being in the theater, is that this movie seems to get into people's minds, and while I watched it I would hear more and more people cough, or clear their throat. I think it's probably like when one person yawns, it will cause another to also yawn. Whatever the case, it was quite annoying, but obviously not something that will happen in every screening. If you do happen to check it out, leave a comment and let me know what you thought!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment for us!