The premise to “Contagion” is a contagious virus appears out of nowhere and leads to a global epidemic that develops into a pandemic. With these notions, the film has the potential to either be shockingly sporadic and entertaining or potentially dull and contrite. Sadly for the filmmakers, as well as likely the majority of audiences, an overall evaluation leads to more of the latter.

Given that the audience knows the premise from either the preview or being able to infer or hopefully deduce this from the title, should find the plot progression logical and appealing enough. An aspect that the film was probably trying instill in the audience was paranoia in realism and possibility of the premise coming true.

Pieces of drama within the plot are at times very entertaining. In other times, they are nonexistent in others and on the whole largely leave one disappointed, even if the performances are at times stellar. This leads one to a strong conclusion that could possibly be the largest crux of the entire film. With so many great actors, it is as though their potential is not used and their abilities not put to the test.

The most surprising and decisively out of the ordinary performance is that of Matt Damon, yet it is only in one particular scene that he truly, unequivocally shines. Gwyneth Paltrow represents a character that is chipper, intelligent, assertive and extremely steadfast; Kate Winslet is practically nonexistent within the entire film.

Like Winslet and Damon, Jude Law, albeit being unable to truly show his gifts of acting due to his overall lack of presence on screen, excels in his role. The character played by Laurence Fishburne, despite relevance in the situation, is underdeveloped and played with such little emotion that his performance can be construed as an archetype for the entire film.

The film overall is underdeveloped, the actors were mediocre due in strong part to their lack of ability to have say as to what their characters should say.

The film is realistic, sometimes so realistic that the dialogue is esoteric and only someone with a strong interest in biology would grasp the jargon. There is a point where the movie really starts going and succeeds in enmeshing the audience, though it is short lived and struck down by the fact that the film can be felt as very drawn out. The commentary involved in the movie is decent, perhaps educational to those who are unaware of any ties between pharmaceutical companies and politicians.

Every great movie has to have a strong twist. It does not necessarily have to involve any double crossing, just something that fills in a blank that the audience either knew was present or adds something they knew not to expect. Notwithstanding it must be something that adds such information to the plot that really wows the audience and puts the icing on the cake. The twist at the end of “Contagion” is fortunately not some sort of bizarre anomaly. It is a melancholy explanation that is practically a mere account, fulfilling the wait yet leaving not any sort of lingering touch of entertaining memorability.