Watch the First, Panic-Inducing Trailer for Epidemic Thriller Contagion
"Don't talk to anyone, don't touch anyone. Stay away from other people!" If the first trailer for Steven Soderbergh's Contagion is a little paranoid-inducing, maybe that's for the best. Once the birds start weaponizing avian flu for use on us humans, it's only a matter of time before the streets empty themselves of humanity. Jude Law's bubble boy suit isn't looking so silly now!
Fair warning: There are what seem to be spoilers in said trailer, which debuted today on Apple. Of course, it's called Contagion; you know some of the famous faces in the cast -- which include Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, and Gwyneth Paltrow -- aren't going to make it to the final credits without catching the mystery bug.
What appears to be spoilery in the trailer could have been left out and we'd still get the sense for the tension-filled global epidemic with personal and wide-reaching stakes. Especially with Fishburne bringing animal kind into the discussion. Perhaps a better title might be Contagion: Rise of the Planet of the Birds?
Watch the trailer in HD at Apple.
VERDICT: Hypochondria-inducing! Note to self: First get flu shot, then buy tickets.
Contagion will hit theaters September 9.
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Comments
I was worried there wouldn't be the requisite shot of a research monkey, but then at 1:40...BAM! Nice work Sodey!
If it wasn't for the great cast and the fact that Soderbergh directed it I probably wouldn't be interested.
i feel like i have been waiting for this movie forever! just based on the cast list i got so excited... and I look forward to watching this!
Looks Outbreak-esque. And not in a superficial same-topic-and-tone kind of way. I mean, I liked Outbreak and all, but goodness, those two minutes seem to indicate this film unfolds in a similar way, up to and including a shadowing government conspiracy to stop the virus.
From the looks of this trailer I've seen this movie a hundred times before. I'm over it. Very 90's.
It looks like a powerful metaphorical portrait of the USA's "War on Terror", the machinery of fear, American's 10 year old obsessive fear of "the other" as represented to them, by corp interests etc, as "muslims", and how, not coincidentally they are becoming more and more scared of them the more of them that the USA kills. I'm looking forward to it. 🙂
I can't see the trailer (stupid work firewall), but I assume this all starts with Patrick Dempsey stealing a monkey.
This trailer would have been just as effective without the "your wife is dead" giveaway. That's literally the only line they should have cut out, they could even keep that dramatic "WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!?" Otherwise, looks awesome, very intrigued!
Gwyneth Paltrow plays a great Tilda Swinton!
I know that an increasing number of trailers do seem to show most of the story these days ... BUT perhaps, maybe, a trailer for a Soderberg film, however "spoilerish" it looks, is NOT in fact giving aything away ... Is Paltrow ( the wife ) actually really dead? And even if she is dead how do we know that she really died from a bird flu? Etc etc etc. It's possible that we will find out that the "bird flu" story is just a cover, a "gadget" justifying all manner of state controls of people's movements etc ... 🙂
Hitchcock would be proud!
I think it does need the "your wife is dead". Basically, you're watching it, going, is it going to be one of those ones where bit-players die but the A-list cast miraculously avoids infection and so there's no real sense of danger? And the trailer says, hey, we're gonna kill Gwyneth at least. Maybe Kate too. Natalie Portman, if we can get her. Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron.