Review: "Contagian" (2011)

Meticulous and frightening, the virus-thriller "Contagian" unravels with a steely, matter-of-fact resolve as it boldly, scrupulously lays out the pieces to its seemingly cautionary trappings, though truthfully director Steven Soderbergh appears more interested in the wildfire intensity of the disease, the mechanics of the containment. 
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Essentially a strict procedural, the film is gorilla-glued together by Stephen Mirrione's crisp, propulsive editing and Cliff Martinez's disquieting, driving electronic score, applying "Contagian" with a cohesive sense of forward motion, continuity, even when the exhaustive script by Scott Z. Burns (which rather uniquely reduces the film to a build-up of ultra-brief snippets) seems as elusive as the disease itself. 
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Covering all of its bases, the film follows Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) in his Minneapolis home after the nearly immediate death of his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) in the opening moments. Once her death hits the frequencies, the scope widens to various worldwide acronyms who write on white-boards, sit around meeting rooms discussing plans of action and dodge radical bloggers (Jude Law) who theorize that the government is concealing treatments in favor of profiteering. 
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In many ways, the film retains a documentary-like sense of realism, approaching the prospect of an epidemic from all angles (the recently inflated H1N1 scare crops up in conversation from time-to-time) and containing (for the most part) relatively few movie moments, amounting to something resembling the antithesis of the buttered, exaggerated, yet perfectly enjoyable "Outbreak".
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Truth be told, the film is never more cunning or immaculate than it is in its first hour or so (a real filmmaking feat of tidy, whip-smart precision), but when that composure, that cold, calculated rhythm gives way, "Contagian" suffers with its strange lapses in time and rough patches of rushed, sputtering conclusions.
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Regardless, Soderbergh's thriller is one of the few examples so far this year of intelligent, thoughtful filmmaking within the realm of big-budget, big-studio productions. It's also likely the first film of the year to give you a sore throat by the halfway mark. [B+]