'Contagion' spreads fear ... of boredom

A “thriller” in which the most threatening scenes involve close-ups of people touching doorknobs, munching on snacks at bars or coughing is in trouble.

Director Steven Soderbergh gets points for trying to make “Contagion” a serious film rather than a sensationalistic one. Coming off a summer in which movies blew up much of the world, one can’t help but give him credit for intent. On the other hand, his film neglects its characters in favor of style.

“Contagion” concerns a virus that threatens to wipe out the world’s population. It begins with Gwyneth Paltrow coughing in Hong Kong and proceeds to numerous movie stars performing cautionary speeches. They talk like scientists.

What are we to do? Cover our mouths when we cough? Wear gloves? Lay off those peanuts from the community bowl at the cocktail party?

Where is the dramatic arc that the film needs in order to qualify as a thriller or even as a drama?

While Scott Z. Burns’ script pays lip service to his research with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, his film resembles those disaster films of the 1970s that used our familiarity with big-name stars to make us care about who the next victim might be.

Back then, we had Ava Gardner in an earthquake or Jimmy Stewart in a plane crash or Paul Newman on fire. Now, we have Matt Damon or Gwyneth Paltrow or Jude Law who may go next. Kate Winslet plays a brave, young doctor who goes into harm’s way at a huge shelter of the afflicted. Just as we begin to think she might have a plan, we cut away from her to another movie star.

It’s too bad that all the scientist types sound alike – from Laurence Fishburne to Elliott Gould to French actress Marion Cotillard. It becomes a game of watching the Oscar-nominated actors in peril. Which will go next?

A miscast Law plays a blogger, the requisite character who sets up an alarm and blames the government. We don’t need to go to the movies nowadays to get our fill of the blame game.

Of the supporting cast, Jennifer Ehle stands out for trying to do something with little. We welcome her back to film. After successes on Broadway (two Tony awards) and as the TV heroine of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” she retreated to North Carolina to start a family. Ehle has another film coming, “The Ides of March.”

Soderbergh, whose output is spotty at best, may still be under the influence of his “Ocean’s” films, in which he used star names for box-office success. Here, in addition to using stars as a crutch, he is guilty of sloppy filmmaking. His close-ups of people coughing or fingers touching things are too obvious to be called “style.” We get the idea: There’s something in the air; it is difficult to capture on film.

At most turns, he avoids sensationalism. He hints that the virus may be some kind of terrorist chemical warfare but drops it. That’s regrettable, because for a moment we got interested. “Outbreak,” the 1995 movie starring Dustin Hoffman, was a more entertaining and involving film, even though it sold out to sensationalism and Hollywood gimmicks. While the present scenario tries to be more subtle, it doesn’t offer much in terms of entertainment.

Of the cast, Damon’s character has the only chance to become the center of the film. He’s the Regular Joe whose wife (Paltrow) and daughter expire as victims of the dreaded “thing.” He has a would-be moving scene when he denies it has happened, but it unfurls five minutes into the film. We don’t yet know him or his wife. It’s difficult to care.

Soderbergh wants to be “serious,” but the movie is just dull.

“Contagion” is interesting only for those seeking movie stars as a conclusion to a summer that was markedly lacking in such personages. Apparently, their species is in danger.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com