Movie initially intrigued me as a film with a potential terrorist plot set in present day using a handful of "A" quality actors. While the film had decent acting it was never very good or very bad. Movie moved at a constant pace while never pausing for too long or finishing up some plot prematurely.
Movie opens with Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) wife of Mitch (Matt Damon) and mother of a young son (forgot the name). She is seen on a trip that has taken her from Hong Kong back to the states with a hold over in Chicago. As she makes it back home she starts to get ill and while she is having a conversation with Mitch she falls down with seizures. Makes it to the hospital alive but does not leave that way. Mitch can't believe it but before he has time to accept that fact he finds out his son is also sick and races home but finds him dead as well. We are left with haunting image of the child. We find out that Mitch after tests is immune to the disease.
As the disease spreads Erin (Kate Winslet) is dispatched from the CDC by Ellis (Laurence Fishburne) to research what is going on and try to contain it if at all possible. Erin is constantly confronted by locals trying to tell her she is overreacting and needs to slow down and not cause a panic. She ends up setting up temporary hospitals in gyms and trys to educate people on what to do and not to do. Its stated we as humans touch our face at least 3-4 a minute while touching everything else in the world without cleaning our hands first. Seeing and thinking of that image makes you rethink what you are doing unknowingly each day. One of the last images of Erin that we see is her alone in a hotel room while watching the Army entering the city to quarantine it.
Web blogger Alan (Jude Law) is the person who stirs the pot and is convinced that there is a conspiracy within the government that is being covered up. He has his own remedy for the outbreak and advertises it as a cure. Though he might really believe that what he has is a legitimate cure for the disease he sees the monetary value in this as well. His vaccine is in short supply and when people realize that they go a little crazy and all compassion and sanity is thrown out the window. This also starts when the government sets up truckloads of food to pass out amongst the population and then runs out of it.
Dr. Leonora (Marion Cotillard) is sent by the World Health Organization to Hong Kong to find Ground Zero as it is believe to have originated from there. As she works on the source of the outbreak she is removed from the area as she is valued more within a village than within the city.
As the movie closes a vaccine is finally being mass produced by the CDC and even with that it will take years to get everyone in the world the medicine. In the end we see how a father will do anything for his child, a person that is only looking out for number one, doctors trying to do the right thing even though legally it is considered wrong and how politics and government can in the way of itself.
Rating : 2.75/5 - Decent movie that doesn't really move any faster than a brisk walk but at the same time is not boring. If you like the actors you will like this movie but at the same time this story has been done before in varies other ways.
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