Contagion has a powerful start, establishing the disease and a cast of characters at a very rapid pace.

The tense musical score helped add on to this frightening entertaining thriller.

This kind of fear takes on a little different feel than the traditional horror film; maybe even more scary.

This is a human tragedy that delivers a strong punch.

Even though the build up to panic is terrific, it's the slow aftermath that is disappointing.

This should be one of the scariest movies of all time -- filled with amazing star power and directed by a master; but something happens halfway through when the paranoiac theme disappears and a calm realization takes over.

Still -- as disaster films go, this one is the most likely to happen.

The director of the movie Contagion has clinically staged a frightening, believable film about a new airborne virus that could become a devastating pandemic unless a life-saving vaccine can be produced for worldwide distribution.

The picture's title has many meanings, referring both to the way the virus spreads, and the way talk about the virus spreads -- along with a mounting sense of panic that also gets passed from person to person.

This tale is for anyone who enjoys an intelligent thriller, and it really validates a very particular vision of reality.