Contagion (2002) User Reviews (75)

This is a movie that is so bad that you can't help but enjoy it.

[kdavis-18 · 5/10 · 29 August 2005]

I am actually kind of in between thoughts on this movie. I thought that the acting (though cheesy) was pretty good.

I thought that the story line was pretty believable. The only fault I had with it being that no one noticed the nurse that was causing all of the problems in all of the time that they were looking for her even though she was walking around the hospital.

The flow of the movie was very easy to follow and to understand. Usually I have trouble following story lines but I found this one amazingly easy.

The ending of the movie was a little too expected. In all movies, people seem to come up with a solution to their problem at the last minute. In this case, it was 2 seconds before the bomb went off. I expected that as soon as the bomb was brought into the picture.

Overall, the movie was okay. I don't really know how else to describe it. It was one of those movies that is just so bad that it's hilarious and that's what makes it good.

Didn't reach potential

[mikellfe · 3/10 · 30 August 2006]

The movie Contagion was a well thought out story that had below average acting and corny elements. The actual plot of the movie was great. The President of the United States is shot with the ebola virus by terrorists and the disease will spread like wildfire if time runs out. By listening to that plot, one would think that suspense keep the viewer anxious throughout the whole movie. However, the acting is so bad that it is hard to take the movie seriously. In addition, there are several effects that unsuccessfully add drama. For example, the President refuses to take the antidote provided by the terrorist cause he does not believe in it, the nurse tells Dr. Landis to tell her daughter she was "the light of her life" before she dies, and randomly the screen shows what hour it is since the virus was shot into the President. None of these attempts to add drama or suspense made me hold on to the edge of my seat. The bottom line was that this movie did not reach its potential. With the story line, it could have been a great science fiction; however, the bad acting and the lack of development make this a below average film even for a science fiction.

Not the greatest virus movie.

[Softba20 · 3/10 · 28 August 2005]

This movie was not the greatest movie I have ever seen. This movie was below average, it had its lame acting moments and random scenes that didn't make the movie flow. The acting I think could have been a lot better, I mean one of the main characters, Dr. Landis, couldn't even cry she looked as though she was in pain with a two tears. The flow of the movie was pretty good, however; it had some random parts. The storyline I thought was believable. I only hope that someone doesn't take the movie's idea. The ending of the movie was OK, but it was predicable in my opinion of Dr. Landis and President Howard. Overall the movie was decent however it isn't a number one blockbuster. The actors and all who were involved did a very good job making this movie.

Solid and tense virus movie!

[Katatonia · 9 October 2003]

I thought Contagion was much better than the average type of film about a lethal virus gone loose. I've seen most of the bad knockoffs of the sub-genre over the years, and I personally think this is one of the better. The script is well paced and the movie is well shot. The acting is very professional with high marks going to Lin Shaye, Bruce Boxleitner, Megan Gallagher, and Jeffrey Combs (of course).

Maybe the medical science that occurs during the movie isn't exactly 100% accurate...but hey this is a movie! Not every movie has to be an exact comparison to reality. We already have enough crappy reality TV shows for that.

I wouldn't mind seeing this movie again in the future. Rent it at least once, you might just enjoy it also.

Terrible movie

[krish-4 · 2/10 · 12 June 2005]

Wasted an afternoon seeing this on TV. The plot is not believable - hitting the President (who looks somewhat like Al Gore ) with a contaminated dart in order to blackmail. Then suddenly this general guy comes from nowhere. And this doctor who looks pretty hot gets accosted by secret service agents. Things get from bad to worse actually. An evil looking doctor turns out to be the real villain. And then comes a rather irritating talkative boy (where do they get these brats). Overall this whole mess is compounded by some bad acting and bad dialog. Towards the end the bomb thing (and the countdown to the explosion) finally pushes the movie from just a bad movie - to a "so bad it is actually funny" movie.

The worst ever. On every possible level.

[maxntropy · 1/10 · 2 March 2004]

Ed Wood wouldn't have touched this turd of a script with an 8' Octopus tentacle.

This movie is so bad on every possible level (story, script, direction, acting, etc...) that they must've been trying to make it this bad (like airplane food). Watching it, I wish that I was the one that caught ebola and died during the watching of the film.

I happen to like Bruce Boxleitner, but can't for the life of me imagine whatever possessed him to pursue the role given the absolutely, truly, and completely horrific script.

And it just keeps getting worse as the movie goes on and you get sucked into it staring in disbelief with your jaw gaping ever-wider in disbelief. Until finally you reach the end and again marvel at how little about the Universe you truly understand if it is possible for such a horrific film to have been funded, filmed, and distributed... and even made into a DVD! Oh, the humanity.

Avoid like the plague. ;)

Bad bad bad!

[littlevoices2001 · 2/10 · 29 August 2005]

Alright I'm almost not sure where is should start with this movie it was that bad. First of all the acting in the movie was absolutely terribly except for one minute part in the movie where Washington dies, she was the only person who showed emotion when she actually died. And other than her no one else looked like they were taking it seriously. As for the flow of the movie it was at least partly smooth, there were parts where it was choppy but it wasn't that bad. As for how believable the story line was, I'm not ashamed to say that is horrendously bad. There is no way that those secret service men wouldn't have noticed a gun barrel pointing out of the window at the beginning of the movie. Also the chance that the little boy would just happen to be a survivor is so slim that it makes it absurd and it is just obvious that it was a bad plot hole. The ending…………where do I start it was just bad. The whole love story between the doctor and the president was obviously thrown in there just to how a little side plot, and it didn't work very well at all. And just the way the president asked her to come to the white house was so corny and clichéd.

..wow.....

[sammy678 · 2/10 · 27 August 2006]

Contagion. I suppose that if I tried hard enough I could come up with an adequate review of this movie, but it just does not even seem worth it. Contagion is one of those movies that is so terrible that one finds themselves loving it for the sheer comedic value it holds. The special effects were shabby to say the least, and at some parts the camera work was enough to make one sick. The storyline sounds like it was written by someone with the IQ of a soap dish. The dialogue between characters was so incredibly staged and unrealistic it was as if it was being read off a prompter as the movie was being filmed. In addition, THE MILITARY CANNOT JUST BLOW UP A CIVILIAN HELICOPTER! That's the least of the unrealistic plot elements. So many parts of this movie just do not make sense. The twists and turns of the movie were terribly overdone. There were too many of them and none were even realistic. If one event occurs that defies all odds, that is fine for a movie; it adds a little "miracles are possible" feeling. However, when every other change of pace involves something that defies all odds, it gets old. Quickly. All in all, the movie was just plain bad. To try to explain it more in depth is truly not worth it. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.

Contagion is not Contagious ( Jennifer S.)

[JenMarie8776 · 2/10 · 27 August 2006]

The film, "Contagion" by John Murkowski is a hilarious, stereotypical low budget product. The quality of acting was laughable to say the least. The actresses and actors' invariable use of cliché lines from past films made the plot turn sour real fast. The flow of the movie was quite choppy and irregular. It wasn't difficult to follow the movie per se, but there were numerous times in which the average viewer questioned the legitimacy and purpose of certain scenes. The movie itself had the potential to become an endearing film such as "Out Break"; however the film fell real short of making the impression the subject matter should have had on its viewers. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that you should be taking off your bio gear before leaving the quarantine room with contagious pathogens running a-muck. Similarly, it was also hard to believe that the supposed antagonist of the movie could be disposed of by a flying bungee tunnel off the roof. As creative as the ending was, it made the movie even more unbelievable and made a serious subject a very comedic one.

Could have been better......

[cooney42 · 4/10 · 27 August 2006]

The story of the movie was not really to bad, something like that could possibly happen now or in the future. Some parts of the story were really kinda silly and didn't make much since. The story didn't flow as good as it could have. The acting was another really big part that kept the movie from being better than it was. Some of the actors actions were just not really believable and did some very odd things. This was another big factor that kept the flow of the movie from being as smooth as it could. Like I said the storyline was for the most part believable, but their were some holes in the story. Their were a lot of parts where they didn't go into enough detail so you really don't know whats going on. But overall I gave Contagion a rating of 4.

It was terrible Spoiler

[rozythorn · 2/10 · 30 August 2004]

**Spoiler*** Holy cow that movie was so sad. The acting was horrible, the editing was sloppy, the story did not flow, and well no one would really believe that could happen. The only good acting that happened was when Nurse Washington knew she was going to die and just had to make her loss felt. The editing in this movie was horrid. In the very beginning we see the president being shot with a dart then the next we see woman talking on her cell phone. I thought someone had taped another movie over the movie I had started to watch. The movie was a mess mostly because of the subplot they tried to have going on, which involved a romantic interest between the virologist and the president. The virologist gets infected with virus and does not have to wear the containment suit, and to that she says "Well now I can do this" to the president. Not that, that was bad enough the story line was not even believable. The whole thing with the virus being airborne and then the general cuts a hole in the containment shield which contaminates the whole area outside of the hospital. Then the brilliant general decides to blow up the hospital because then the virus would be gone. But really what would happen is the airborne virus would then be able to travel farther because the bomb disperses particles over the area. also the ending was abominable with only two minutes before the bomb goes the doctor must find the little boy with the cure, kill the villain, and inform the general that she has the cure. Which she does just two seconds before the bomb explodes.

Very tense if not original

[liammurphy1 · 9/10 · 9 June 2003]

This Movie might not be the most original idea, it's been done to death following Dustin Hoffmann's Film OUTBREAK Eight years ago, most have been cheaply made with appalling actors. This i'm happy to say is one of the better ones with reliable if sometimes stilted acting of TV Movie regulars, but they do manage to keep the tension building up very nicely.

*SPOILERS*

The Plot:- The American President (Bruce Boxleitner from Babylon 5) is shot from a high rise building not with a gun (otherwise it would have been a very short movie) but with a dart (Very original) and is transfered to a hospital where a doctor/scientist (Pretty Megan Gallagher) who finds out the president is suffering from the EBOLA virus which is very contagious and has a survival rate of just 10%.The terrorists call and want $100 million dollars or everybody dies etc.etc.

The Acting:- Not bad considering they're all television actors, but Megan Gallagher rises above most with a pretty convincing part.

The Script:- Russell V. Manzatt's script rarely rises above the usual TV Movie standard.

The Direction:- Very Good, John Murlowski clearly working with a tight budget manages to build the tension,and a lot of whizzing camera angles,although the ending might just be to good to be true.

My verdict:- A good movie with good reliable acting

9/10

A pretty good virus thriller

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 6 December 2003]

This movie is thoroughly exciting, if not much else, and it has a good sense of humor. It was tense throughout it's entire run time. Pretty much none of the actors are big names, but they give believable performances, pretty much every one of them. I honestly didn't expect much from this movie, but it surprised me, as it was actually pretty good. I haven't seen a lot of the other virus thrillers, so the genre is new to me; however, I think this was a pretty good movie of that genre. The whole plot was pretty good, apart from the somewhat anticlimactic ending, that just seemed pretty far fetched, but hey, not all movies end the way you want them to. I liked most of the main characters, the wisecracking president, the intelligent doctor, both of the terrorists, all were interesting characters, and they were all pretty well developed. I think most people who enjoy thrillers, and especially fans of virus thrillers, will enjoy this. While not featuring big famous actors, it's pretty good nonetheless. 7/10

That was a thriller, huh?

[melaith2 · 2/10 · 27 August 2006]

This movie was not only badly written but the acting could not have been worse. The only actor who was any good was the 10 year old boy, who actually had feeling when he cried. The script was not the best either. Most of the lines were very cheesy. I had to laugh to keep from hurling. The story line was not all that great or accurate. The president did not have very good security either. How could they not see the barrel sticking out of a window across the street right in front of them? I would like to think that the people protecting the president are a little smarter then that. For dealing with a level 4 hot agent the doctor was not very intelligent seeing as she touched her mouth with a gloved hand after handling the dart that contained the virus. No real doctor would ever work with any level 4 agent with out the right protective gear. There was also not a very accurate representation of what the Ebola virus can do to a person. Now I don't know that much about Ebola but I do know that it does more to your body then just give you a bloody nose and a cough. A better representation would have made this movie better. Everyone looked too good through out the movie. Plus it jumped around a lot. There were too many holes in the plot. In one scene they were standing up talking and in the next scene they were dead. Now how about that ending. No movie would be complete without the terrorist falling off of the roof after being hit with a portable tunnel, the bomb being turned off with two seconds to spare, and a bit of romance. Everyone has time to flirt when there is a hot agent that is air borne around a hospital.

absolutely terrible movie

[jcrabb-1 · 29 August 2004]

This has got to be one of the most unreal science-fiction movies i have ever seen. The science of the film had it's ups and downs, but mostly downs. the decontamination processes by which Dr. Ladis exited the infected area was totally unprobable and unrealistic. people would not be allowed to travel freely throughout the hospital if it was quarantined. the fact that the only way to cure the ebola was to retrieve samples from someone who had been in contact with one specific strain of ebola was also scientifically unsound. if the ebola virus somehow managed to become airborne, then it would have undoubtedly escaped through the ventilation system of the hospital, and the outside areas would have been contaminated very quickly through the wind blowing the virus around. also, if the virus was airborne, at the end, when everyone had been vaccinated and came out of the hospital, what about the airborne virus? wouldn't it just come out with all of the people? the insubordination displayed by general ryker would never have happened, so this was another slip by the writer in an attempt to develop a weak story line. there was no character development, a weak story line, and enough scientific fallacies for ANYONE, science smart or not, to pick up on. i give this a 2/10.

"Contagion; not so contagious"

[pmiller-13 · 2/10 · 28 August 2005]

Contagion, a movie about the president, a scientist and an evil virus was not the best movie. The acting in this movie was just awful, from beginning to end. The script was predictable and unoriginal with over-used clichés and bad lines. The acting was not the only problem that this movie had. The movie did not flow very smoothly, there were constant scene changes and loud interruptions telling the viewer the timeline in which the movie is taking place. It was hard paying attention to storyline because the pace of the movie was so staggered and hard to follow. Not only was the story hard to follow, it also made no sense. It was never clear why the villains wanted to kill the president or who they really were. The Movie, overall, was just awful. It was the kind of movie you could rent if you wanted to see a bad movie with bad acting and terrible effects. I would say one phrase sums up the entire film: "I want my hour and a half back."

blew

[winterwadsworthea · 2/10 · 27 August 2006]

Before I watched this movie, I must say I wasn't really expecting much, regarding all of the negative reviews I had read on IMDb about Contagion. And, unfortunately, I was correct in my presumptions. There is no word that can better describe this movie than RIDICULOUS. This movie is not considered a comedy; however, I don't think I stopped snickering the entire length of it. The majority of the plot was just absurd…though the theme would have made a good movie perhaps under better direction and with better actors, this creation of Contagion was not only disappointing but silly as well. The acting was horrible on behalf of every main character. None of the roles were portrayed in a believable fashion, and the dialogue was rather amusing in its unoriginality. Everything that happened in this movie was just ludicrously predictable. As a last thought, I was really disappointed that the director did not include any more blood and gore than he did; the effects of Ebola on the human body are horrifying – but all I got to see were some red warts and a nosebleed.

Unbelievable

[martinlambregts · 2/10 · 5 May 2005]

Contagion is the worst movie I've ever seen. I keep watching it because I just couldn't believe if was that bad. To the end of the movie it keeps getting worse. What bothers me the most is that everything in this movie is so unrealistic. Climax was the moment on which Dr. Landis saves the little boy on top of the roof by pulling some tunnel thingy which blows Miss. Ugly of the roof. It looked so amateurish and unrealistic. I could name you all the stupid things about this movie but then I would be telling you the whole movie. God, I just couldn't believe people could make such bad movies. I've seen movies with a lower budget, but non of them where such as bad as this one.

Bad Movie

[kboylan-2 · 2/10 · 28 August 2005]

The movie Contagion was a very low budget and horribly made movie. If they where not so cheap and chose to actually spend some money on some decent actors the film would not have been so bad. During the whole movie it reminded me of the movie outbreak which was actually OK and I think this movie tried to be like that. The only good actor in the whole movie was the sketchy little kid that crawled through the air vent to get every where, why couldn't he just walk? I would never recommend this movie to anyone unless you have to watch and even then I am still sorry for you. The up side to the movie Contagion is that it was actually kind of amusing at some points in the movie, and I believe that it wasn't suppose to be funny. I loved how when one of the doctors was studying the virus she started to rub her eyes and mouth with the same gloves that she was studying the virus with. This movie is not even good enough to have a chance to be played on the sci fi channel, which is bad because they play some really bad movies on there.

This movie was not that great.

[byrdman_16 · 3/10 · 30 August 2004]

This movie was unrealistic and a little boring. For the quality of acting it was alright but you could really tell that it was a movie. I didn't feel like i was a part of the movie. The movie was real muddled some parts made since but others didn't. I really believed that this is a deadly virus. The science behind it was really true i thought. The ending you could tell the way it would end but it still had some holes. Overall this movie was a really dull and not that hard to figure out. It was a bad movie. The actors could have done a better job on the reality of the movie. They didn't act as if the really liked the movies background. They also seemed as if they wanted more of the money instead of really liking the movie.

Amusing, but not because it was good.

[sixshooterq · 3/10 · 29 August 2005]

I recently viewed the movie Contagion and was amused by the concept of the movie. I also was amused by the extremely bad acting. I believe they made the movie in a rush. I hope that's the excuse. For example the female doctor taking care of the president vividly explained to her assistant that it was a level four virus. Which is extremely deadly. Well after telling him that she rubs her lip just after touching the level four virus. That made me laugh out loud! Also the smart mouth elusive kid. " Who'd ever thought he has the carrier of the virus." The movie was extremely predictable and poor. I don't have cable and I haven't seen a movie in a long time, but I can still recognize a poor movie and that was a prime example of a poor movie.

Quinton H.

Contagion was not up to par

[Mckinley303 · 2/10 · 28 August 2005]

In my opinion the movie overall was just kind of embarrassingly bad. While it had some educational value that was about the only value it had. Other sci-fi movies can't even compare for example Gattaca. It's not that the movie wasn't entertaining when it was supposed to be serious, it was just trying to be too serious of a movie with a very low budget, it seemed.

The quality of acting was awful for several reasons. One it was just the actors were way to into it being really serious and stuff so it made just really easy to laugh at it. Secondly these actors obviously haven't had much experience, it just shows. The flow of the movie was alright. It made sense but it could have gone a little faster. There were some moments when it just got too long because it was supposed to be "intense" but instead it was just aggravating. The science of the movie seemed alright to me but the plausibility of something like that happening on a massive scale just doesn't seem real. It definitely could happen, like the anthrax through the mail event but it seems very unlikely to me. The ending was way too cliché. You knew that president of course was going to live and that everyone else lived happily ever after. It was just too perfect.

not so bad...

[MeredithG · 9/10 · 30 August 2004]

I thought the movie was fairly good. The quality of the acting was not the best, but it was convincing. The movie did not properly portray how people under these circumstances would truly act. There would have been much more panic and confusion. The people in the movie seemed a little over cooperative when being locked in the hospital and others forced to leave the city. The movie flowed pretty smoothly. There was not a time in which I thought it took to long to explain any one thing.

***SPOILERS*** The story line was believable to a point. I thought the way that the President and the people around him became contaminated made since. I also could see how the negligence of Dr. Laura Crowley led to the aerosolizing of the virus. It was a believable story line to a regular person. The only problem with the story was that the bomb would only spread the virus, although the bomb was a horrible idea, it did aid the plot and add to the drama of the movie. Also, they seemed to mass produce the cure and save everyone. As much as we would like to believe it was that easy, we all know that would be about impossible to do in such a short time. Too many people survived and there was no way they could have been sure that they had rid the whole town of the virus.

It was a little overly heroic at the end. But all in all it was a fairly descent movie, and it did portray in some aspects how in a biowarfare attack the contagion could spread so easily and kill so many.

Amazing.

[mellamokeyrawn · 6/10 · 28 August 2006]

The acting in Contagion was not top notch but it was above any other made for TV movies I have seen recently. It was a shame to see such good actors given such a bad script, full of clichés. Every turn the movie took was expected with the exception of the final showdown between the villain and the heroine (but only because it was so ridiculous that no one would have ever expected it). As for the science in the movie, it was surprising that Dr. Landis had such a tolerance to the chemical bath she took her suit off in. The fact that she took off her suit in the first 10 seconds of it really didn't make it hard to see she was going to catch Ebola as well. The script writer obviously just googled a lot of the science and picked what he thought would look cool or sound good. I remember at one point the head bodyguard was touching the tip of the dart and he did not catch Ebola; come on! The other really big problem the movie had was coincidence. The movie was full of it. Wow, we are lucky the best virologist was so close. Wow you went to Rwanda and you got sick. Good thing there was an extra springing tube lying around on the roof. Man am I lucky I remembered my scalpel. Need I say more?

Finally, the ending was plain horrible. This is definitely what kept this movie out of theatres. The producer that thought a giant spring knocking the villain off the roof should have all his or her money taken away. The idea is simply dumbfounding. Slinkys don't kill people!!!

Beautifully Horrible!

[ainangel · 2/10 · 28 August 2005]

What more can I say about Contagion that hasn't been already said in other remarks? This movie makes Ghostbusters & Space Balls a work of art! Megan Gallagher is the only actor/actress in this movie that's actually believable even though Debbie Ann Thomas (Nurse Washington) was extremely good for the little she acted. Give me more Debbie Ann Thomas and less Bruce Boxleightner and this movie may actually be 5 stars. Bruce, just promise me that you'll never be acting president ever again because you reminded me a lot of Bill Clinton. The flow of the movie was actually decent though. Everything went according to plans and you could actually keep track of going on besides having mind bending confusions everywhere throughout the movie. This movie is unbelievable though. Nothing in this movie can truly happen unless pigs started flying from the sky and money grew on trees. The end of this movie was probably the worst I have ever seen in my 18 years of watching movies. It was so predictable within the first 5 minutes of the movie what was going to happen. Sometimes, the camera shots didn't flow with the other ones with different lenses. Overall, this is pretty much garbage. If the actors careers weren't over before this movie, they should be pretty much done now. If you want to watch a good movie, get Scarface, Godfather, or Anchorman, but if you want to get a good laugh from what's supposed to be a serious movie, then i suggest you give this a look.

Anthony Inangelo