Good movie but grossly overrated

Admirable film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

To think that a bat and a pig in China could bring civilization to its knees!This very well acted film drives home the plausibility of just such a scenario. There is some very good casting and ensemble work here. Matt Damon does well as a cuckolded husband who tries his best to cope with a harrowing situation. Gwyneth Paltrow is also good as a career woman who engages in an impulsive risk on one of her many business trips abroad. Also excellent are Laurence Fishburne as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kate Winslet as one of his top on-the-ground people. Ms. Winslet's performance in an unglamorous role was deeply moving. This film does a great job of driving home the point virus may be far less of a threat than the volatility of the mob at a time when rumor can spread instantaneously over the Internet. Observing the rule of law disintegrate...turns this into a kind of horror film, although things bog down a bit as we have to listen to a few too many rants by Jude Law as a paranoid blogger. Still, there are many sobering truths here. God-willing, our species will not have to face a replay of the 1918 Spanish flu in any one of our lifetimes. How vulnerable we seem to be!The film ends on a particularly intriguing note as we watch the perambulations of animals whose unknowing behaviors could very well hold the key to man's fate. Throughout, this film carries a stomach-churching score that seems a classic example of how music can contribute and enhance the cinematic experience.

Considering the film shows how methodical and painstaking work by government agencies can effect change, the movie clips along at a remarkable pace. it's a breathless roller coaster ride with plenty of science packed in nonetheless. An exponential ascending course is taken exactly like the epidemic. It begins with a slow-burning beginning where a host of characters are introduced, and then comes a building drama up to a fever pitch followed by a dreamy epilogue. There's a bunch of great actors who are wholly convincing and likable (despite limited screenplay help). The interlacing sub-plots work really well - characters are linked together by the virus and caught in the epidemiological timeframe. There's danger and dynamism in the story with some real shocks in store, and above all just brilliant direction that draws all the elements together and grabs the viewer by the seat of the pants.

Watching this movie, I was surprised how many A-list actors were in it. Still, both Kate Winslet's and Gwyneth Paltrow's deaths could have been more satisfying. I always wanted to see them die in movies.The pandemic genre has been done to death and this entry doesn't bring that much more new, except for a more realistic approach.I must admit I didn't watch it to the end. Close to the end of the movie, they find the cure. Why, oh why, did they do that? Can't a good virus just wipe out the human race if it is only for once in one movie? So, I don't know the ending and I don't care. I'd have watched for two more hours if they had the audacity to go all the way.

A definite must watch for the way it terrifies sans supernatural elements.It's about an epidemic, a disease breakthrough yet very powerful in making impact psychologically. It's a rare film I must say that dares to take an ensemble cast, and go the whole hog of creating an epidemic. The film has Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow and many others. This implies that this is a script that convinced so many stars to be a part of it. So the script is great in itself. What makes it greater is the way it is directed. As a good director, Steven Soderbergh takes this script and adds pace making it a thriller than a medical autopsy of an epidemic.Yes, I must say it's a thriller and that's the genre of this film. It thrilled me from the word go and made me sit the very end and even after it's over it made me ponder. It actually gave me a lump in my throat. Kudos, to all those involved in making this and I rate this as one of the very important films for doctors and patients above the normal film viewers.Also, I stay in Hong Kong currently so I can relate to this film. I have seen, the MTR, the ferry and those streets that are shown in this film and actually felt very happy. But from Hong Kong to the USA and meanwhile citizens of other countries should be aware of any epidemic. There was SARS, there was Ebola, and now there is MERS and ZIKA now. We do not know their origins and the investigation is on and in future, there shall be more such epidemics if we are not careful.This film just acts as a mirror in showing to us, what life can be like if we are not just doing the right things. One person's carelessness, can cause a lot of damage. This film, inherently, gives a message to focus on personal hygiene in anything we do.The technical aspects are great and the atmosphere that this film created is chilling and amazing. It's a film that's a must watch and a 5/5.