Outbreak

Today, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion makes the wishes of Gwyneth Paltrow haters everywhere – I know...who could ever! – come true.

That’s because the Hollywood golden girl dies fairly early into the medical thriller (that’s not a spoiler since the trailer pretty much gave away that particular plot point), but do not worry: its cast is star-studded, so familiar faces won’t be in short supply in this one.

Not by a long shot, which is part of the fun of it all.

The movie’s awesome ensemble includes G.P.’s Talented Mr. Ripley co-stars Matt Damon and Jude Law, as well as other celebrated A-Listers like Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, and John Hawkes, among others.

Quite the cast, huh, especially for a movie about an insidious virus that threatens everyone on the planet.

Yeah, it’s not the fare these folks usually partake on, but it works rather nicely because Soderbergh has delivered a movie that’s – I should hope – such a fantasy (albeit one grounded by plausibility) that y’all should be happy to go along for the ride with him.

Like I said, Paltrow is among the first to succumb to this unknown and oh-so-lethal airborne virus. Her character picked it up during a business trip to Hong Kong and brought it back stateside and into the Minneapolis home she shares with her husband, played by Matt Damon (well, she left it behind in Chicago, where she stopped for a booty call with an ex – the cheatin’ heart!).

Soon, thousands of cases begin popping up around the globe, and virus’ spread becomes unstoppable.

Damon’s character turns out to be immune, but he quarantines himself at home with his daughter (his stepson also has died) to keep her safe.

Meanwhile, down in Atlanta, the Department of Homeland Security dispatches CDC suits and scientists, including Fishburne and Winslet, to contain the situation (the action takes place around Thanksgiving, so the fear is that this is some sort of bio-attack to derail the country while everyone’s at ease).

Elsewhere, a professor/CDC consultant (Elliott Gould) goes against CDC orders and keeps working on a possible cure after a CDC doctor (Ehle, whom you so should be getting to know on TV’s A Gifted Man) shuts him down. But his work proves useful, and she continues working on IDing the makings of the virus, and Contagion gets all fascinating and s---.

Anyway, elsewhere still, in London, a shady blogger (Law) sees the sickness as an opportunity to make a name for himself, getting his alarmist pants on in order to profit from the pandemic, while back in Asia, an epidemiologist (Cotillard) works diligently to track down the genesis of the virus, until she runs into unexpected trouble.

It’s unsettling how realistic and scary Contagion gets – it goes without saying everyone will make a dash for the nearest washroom as soon as they leave the movie theater.

It’s all very Outbreak-meets-Ocean’s Eleven, a what’s not to like about that, right (even if some of the plot strains seem a bit unresolved in the end)?

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Warner Bros.