Close encounters of the diseased kind

The wondrous thing about cinema is that it can conjure up our wildest dreams on the movie theater canvas. The haunting part of it is that it can also bring us perilously close to our greatest fears. As the rule of thumb would be for the scare factor of film: It's what we can't see that's most frightening. In Steven Soderbergh's epidemic drama Contagion, he unleashes what is invisible to us but what comes into contact with us everyday: germs. They are a living example of size doesn't matter, known to decimate entire civilizations. These micro-dangers prepare for attack once again in this too-close-for-comfort thriller.

When Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to her Minneapolis suburb after a business trip to Hong Kong, everything seems normal. A couple of days later, her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) has to rush her to the hospital after she suffers a seizure. After she succumbs to the mysterious illness, Mitch must help his family survive a society where chaos is at the threshold. Meanwhile, Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Epidemic Intelligence Service officer Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) try to make necessary precautions to prevent further infection amongst the world's population. At the same time, epidemiologist Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) is sent to Hong Kong to trace the outbreak back to its source. In the background, blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) is trying to gain some information that he believes the government is withholding.

The roles in this film aren't particularly demanding; but having Oscar winners and nominees occupy them give the performances a little something extra and prevent them from being so-so. Each of them knows how much to put into their part, and they don't feel the need to overact, despite being involved in other projects that might have required more work, acting wise.

Some roles, however, have a little more oomph than others in the movie. Matt Damon asserts his character's fatherly approach with tenacity as he tries to protect what's left of his family in a world thrown into a sudden crisis. Jude Law's performance brings to light how the issue of blogging vs. the "dying" print media are portrayed in a situation where everyone is clamoring to hear the truth of what world leaders are doing to help them through a calamity. One minor character goes as far to say that blogging is just "graffiti with punctuation." Law commands his scenes as he inquires the government, particularly in one scene when he faces-off with Laurence Fishburne's character on a news show. It's appropriate that Damon's and Law's roles are the primary two of Contagion, reflecting how the public outside of doctors and the government should either protect their loved ones or ask questions, not loot and cause disorder. Their characters, however, are also prone to some irrational behavior, just like everyone else in a period of bedlam.

Contagion isn't essentially a horror film, but it does have the horror movie aspect for creating the fear of something real. In this case, disease. The film doesn't have the audience shout things like, "Don't go in there!" or "Look out behind you!" Instead, we're influenced to shout, "Don't touch that doorknob!" The close-ups of contaminated surfaces and infected individuals are enough to make you want to shield yourself from people in crowded areas, or wear rubber gloves when shaking someone's hand.

This is the second time that director Soderbergh has collaborated with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns. The first time being two years ago when Burns wrote the screenplay for The Informant!, which Soderbergh helmed as director. Burns's script shifts between several different storylines, which Soderbergh knows how to competently handle, since he directed the multi-story 2000 film, Traffic. With these interlocking accounts, we can see how the public, the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization react to this increasing danger. The situation is exposed on all sides, from the ordinary citizens to the medical professionals. Soderbergh labels the days for us as they go by. For each passing day, we grow increasingly anxious with wondering if a cure will be found before the unknown pathogen claims another million lives.

Contagion will likely make you point it out for being similar to 1995's Outbreak, and it is. But as long as there's a reliable cast and crew behind the project with something novel to mix into the formula, it should still work like an antibody against complete copycatting. If you want to know the effectiveness of the film, I'll tell you this: You might want to refill your Purell bottle more often, just in case.

Final grade: B+