Ed's Review Dot Com

Warner Bros. Pictures, Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, Sanaa Lathan

Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) is an executive on a business trip to Hong Kong. Coming home, she feels a bit under the weather, but within a day she is dead along with her young son who also caught the bug and died. Meanwhile, people from all around the world are getting sick, and it appears to be an epidemic. The World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control have their top people on it, trying to figure out what it is and where it started, but it looks like a pandemic is inevitable which could wipe out a quarter of the planet.

This exciting thrill ride of a movie has some great stars in it. From Paltrow, to Laurence Fishburn, to Matt Damon, to Kate Winslett. Even the rest of the cast it pretty good. It’s fast paced and they give us the medical jargon in a way not to lose the layman. We get to learn a lot about how it works, and how quickly the Homeland Security guys can figure it must be a terrorist attack. Very suspenseful, this deals with the aftermath of such a panic, from fires and quarantines, to looting and rioting. Part science and medicine, and part action and adventure, it’s a wild ride from start to finish.

I saw this film on IMAX and it was nice to see it bright and clear with a wonderful sound system on a huge screen. IMAX was not wasted on this film, although it’s certainly not critical to enjoying it. This will be just as good on DVD later, as it’s a good strong story. Yes, it’s been done before, but it’s a fresh approach to telling the story, with a little surprise at the end, just before the credits to make it worth waiting for. It was lots of bang for the buck, and not a bad, “end of the summer” film. It’s good it didn’t have to compete with the huge blockbusters this summer, because it would have been lost. But now, with not so very much to choose from, it’s a good escape from the real world. Or could this be our future after all? Time will tell.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog