An exciting storyline involving the topical and scary premise of an unknown virus sweeping the world and a large cast of Hollywood A-listers (and B-listers) employed to bring it to life. What can go wrong? Quite a lot, as it happens...
Firstly, you've got the killing-off of Gwyneth Paltrow's character 10 minutes into the movie. Now, i'm no great fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, but surely the obvious shock-tactic of killing a recognisable face at the start of the feature has become a boring cliché? Then there's Jude Law's appearance. Off the top of my head i'm struggling to think of any movie where Jude Law stood out as a good actor. I don't particularly dislike him. I just don't rate him. One surefire way to make him unlikeable, however, is to give him an accent that he patently can't pull off. Maybe it's childish of me, but incredibly bad accents put me off whatever else is happening on camera. Oh, and if his accent isn't bad enough you've also got the distraction of his dodgy teeth. Perhaps these gimmicks were thought necessary to deflect away from his unconvincing performance.
Apart from that the cast is fine. Not exactly challenging roles for the likes of Matt Damon or Marion Cottillard, but they do OK. Kate Winslet probably fares best as she is the one person who seems capable of conveying real emotion (and I didn't think her American accent was too bad).
As for the plot, it's predictable. Virus breaks out, scientists baffled, no-one knows what to do, public panic and breakdown of society and then a cure appears from nowhere with no real explanation and everything's fine again. I felt like watching this movie was a waste of time. And yes, I realise i've now wasted some more of it writing about it.
If you want a virus movie with more substance go see Perfect Sense starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green. Much more worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours.
Firstly, you've got the killing-off of Gwyneth Paltrow's character 10 minutes into the movie. Now, i'm no great fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, but surely the obvious shock-tactic of killing a recognisable face at the start of the feature has become a boring cliché? Then there's Jude Law's appearance. Off the top of my head i'm struggling to think of any movie where Jude Law stood out as a good actor. I don't particularly dislike him. I just don't rate him. One surefire way to make him unlikeable, however, is to give him an accent that he patently can't pull off. Maybe it's childish of me, but incredibly bad accents put me off whatever else is happening on camera. Oh, and if his accent isn't bad enough you've also got the distraction of his dodgy teeth. Perhaps these gimmicks were thought necessary to deflect away from his unconvincing performance.
Apart from that the cast is fine. Not exactly challenging roles for the likes of Matt Damon or Marion Cottillard, but they do OK. Kate Winslet probably fares best as she is the one person who seems capable of conveying real emotion (and I didn't think her American accent was too bad).
As for the plot, it's predictable. Virus breaks out, scientists baffled, no-one knows what to do, public panic and breakdown of society and then a cure appears from nowhere with no real explanation and everything's fine again. I felt like watching this movie was a waste of time. And yes, I realise i've now wasted some more of it writing about it.
If you want a virus movie with more substance go see Perfect Sense starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green. Much more worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours.