While watching this movies, I honestly had to remind myself that I wasn't watching some big-budget Hollywood production because the movie is clearly working with what it has and surprisingly, I didn't hate it...
Contamination is basically what happens when you mix a military mission, a secret laboratory, an alien virus and a bunch of soldiers who suddenly can't trust each other.... Sounds like a normal Tuesday in a sci-fi movie...
The story follows a black-ops team sent into a secret laboratory in the Alaskan wilderness after the facility mysteriously goes dark. Their mission is simple: recover sensitive information and destroy the place... Of course, nothing is ever simple in these movies...
When they arrive, they discover that something has gone terribly wrong. The lab is practically destroyed, people are dead or behaving strangely, and eventually they discover that an alien virus has infected the facility and this isn't your normal "I'm sick, give me some medicine" type of infection...
The virus messes with people's minds and turns them against each other. . That's where I think the movie becomes interesting because suddenly, the biggest danger isn't necessarily the enemy soldiers outside... It's the guy standing next to you..
Imagine being in the middle of a military operation and looking at your own teammate like, "Wait... are you still you?"..
That paranoia gives the movie some genuinely tense moments...
I also liked the fact that the movie doesn't spend forever trying to explain everything before giving us action. Once things start going wrong, the movie moves...
There are gunfights, infected people, explosions, soldiers running around the facility and quite a few moments where things get properly chaotic and honestly, for a low-budget movie, I think the action deserves some credit... It doesn't look like a $100 million Hollywood production, obviously... Sometimes you can see the limitations in the effects and production design but that's also part of the charm..
This movie has serious old-school energy..
It reminded me of those movies you could randomly find late at night, start watching without knowing anything about them, and somehow end up staying until the end because you're curious about what is happening.
The acting is another interesting one..
Neil Chase, Brandon Horth and S-Raj Kumar do a decent job with what they're given... The characters aren't exactly the deepest characters I've ever seen in a sci-fi movie.. Most of them are basically soldiers with different personalities and different levels of survival instinct but they work well enough for the story...
I especially liked the way the movie slowly turns the team against itself...
You start with soldiers who trust each other because they've been trained to work together.. then the infection starts spreading and suddenly that trust disappears...That's probably my favourite part of the movie...
The biggest problem for me is the story.
Some of the explanations feel rushed, and certain things happen simply because the movie needs them to happen..
The alien virus idea is interesting, but I honestly think the movie could have gone much deeper with it..
Imagine having more information about where this thing came from, what exactly it wants, how it works and why it affects people the way it does.. That could have made the movie much more frightening.
Instead, Contamination is more interested in giving us soldiers shooting things and trying to survive..
The movie also works better as an action thriller than as pure horror.. There are creepy moments, infected people and some disturbing scenes, but I wouldn't call this one of the scariest movies I've watched... It's more about survival, paranoia and chaos and I think that's where it succeeds...
Is it perfect? I'll let you decide when you watch it...
The story can be messy, some characters aren't developed enough, and the low budget is noticeable but I have to respect what the filmmakers were able to accomplish...
This is a small movie trying to create a much bigger experience, and it actually works...
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Rating: 70/100
