• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
• Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), English Dolby Surround 2.0, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, Thai Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Subtitles: English SDH, Cantonese, French, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
  
• Region: ABC (Region-Free)
• Rating: PG-13
  
• Run Time: 106 Mins
• Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: January 3, 2012
• List Price: $35.99

BestBuy.com:

Purchase Contagion on Blu-ray+DVD+UltraViolet at CD Universe

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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]

The Film

[Rating:3.5/5]

Director Steven Soderburgh’s latest, Contagion, is a suspenseful thriller that focuses on the threat of a new deadly super-virus outbreak that has quickly spread around the world and the breakdown of society the fear of the virus itself causes.

Shortly after arriving home from a trip to China, Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) takes ill with what she first suspects is simply jet lag, but quickly turns serious and deadly. Her son soon takes ill and dies as well and her husband (Matt Damon) is brought into the hospital and put under quarantine. Perplexed, doctors soon realize she is part of a pattern of deaths sweeping across the globe. It is a deadly virus they have never seen before, and Beth is believed to be patient X.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), headed by Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) are called in to act quickly to contain the virus and work with pharmaceutical companies and health departments around the world to come up with a vaccine, but it’s not quickly enough as millions begin to die.

Meanwhile, the internet blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) has begun to report on his blog that the government is lying to the public about the deadliness of the virus and their intentions on finding a cure, quickly spreading a panic throughout the population that begins to lead to a breakdown in societal rules. Can a cure be found in time to save society from falling into complete chaos?

With its numerous interconnected story lines and underlying theme about a deadly virus, Contagion is sort of like Outbreak meets Crash. It is a compelling film with fine acting all around, but where Soderburgh and the screenplay fail is the desire to quickly tie up all the loose ends in the latter third of the film, which is where Contagion begins to lose its cohesiveness and become a bit “Friday Night Freak Show.”

Video Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

Originally captured digitally with the RED One MX at 4.5K resolution, Contagion arrives on a Blu-ray BD-25 in a splendid AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement from Warner. The film itself doesn’t always offer much “pop” as it tends to alternate between a muted palette and a warmer, more glowing palette. Still, there’s lots of detail here with good contrast and vastly extended shadow delineation.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is quite good as well, with big low frequencies and an abundance of atmospheric sounds in the surround channels that make for an engaging and well-balanced mix. Dialogue is clean and clear as well and there are good dynamics.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:3/5]

The supplements, while offering some brief interviews with the cast and crew, focus mainly on the speculation of a real-world outbreak scenario.

The supplements:

• The Reality of Contagion (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:11:29) – Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, and Bryan Cranston, along with medical journalist Sanjay Gupta, explore the real science of global viruses and what they mean to the human race.
• The Contagion Detectives (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:04:57) – Meet the greatest minds in the world and how they helped prepare Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law,and the rest of the cat in the fight against deadly viruses.
• Contagion: How a Virus Changes the World (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:02:01)
• BD-Live
• UltraViolet Digital Copy

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4/5]

A somewhat thought provoking outbreak thriller from Steven Soderburgh, Contagion is given a very solid Blu-ray release from Warner that should offer pleasing, if not outright spectacular, home theater entertainment. I don’t know if I’d recommend this one as a purchase, but at least a rental.

Additional Screen Captures

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BestBuy.com:

Purchase Contagion on Blu-ray+DVD+UltraViolet at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]