A deadly virus spreads like wildfire starting with only a couple of people including Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow). While the CDC scramble to find a cure, her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) is faced with protecting his teenage daughter from exposure. Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) is part of team trying all costs to find a cure and keep virus from spreading while keeping the public from panicking. His job is made more difficult by the influential blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) who claims he has the cure to the disease. As the virus starts to mutate and people starting to succumb to paranoia and rioting, it's a race against the clock to find the cure before it wipes out the entire human species.

The movie was pretty cool. It starts at Day 2 of the outbreak and you see what happens as time passes. There are many gruesome scenes showing what happens to the victims of the disease. It is a tense situation and the soundtrack beautifully matches. You get a very real sense of urgency as the doctors try to find the cure and the desperation of the people all over the world as the disease takes their friends and loved ones away. This is a very real and plausible situation the movie illustrates. It brilliantly shows how a pandemic spreads and it follows several point of views: the scientists, general public and the people who want to profit from fear. The movie also touches upon how social media can spread fear in these kind of situations. Overall this scientific thriller is entertaining but there is so much going on at the same time that some storylines are not fleshed out as much as I would have liked.

Contagion opens in theatres on Friday, September 9th, 2011. Go see it and remember to wash your hands! I need to find someone who has the boardgame Pandemic now.