Contagion is now science fiction as it posits a world in which people care if there is a disease spreading. But, it was always a good “What if” thriller and still works even though we know what if.
Soderbergh makes RED digital look vivid, especially on 4K UHD. The footage highlights international locations. Like Traffic, there is a different color hue for each segment of the plot and those colors are thematic too.
The cold sweats really shine in 4K. This is morbid, but the orange hazmat suits and yellow tubes in the lab really pop. After the riots, it gets dark in some abandoned houses for a nice Matt Damon silhouette.
The only surround sounds are in the Macao casino, and a little bit with the riots raiding military trucks but it’s subtle.
The Blu-ray era extras also reflect pre-pandemic expectations for how we’d handle a virus. That optimism is perhaps a bit harder to reconcile than the movie itself because at least the movie was fiction.
Also note the new graphic shows a blue surgical mask. Please wear an N95 rated mask if you can.