Contagion ****

With considerable economy despite a large number of characters and story lines, director Steven Soderberg masterfully tells the story of a high-mortality world-wide flu epidemic in "Contagion." Starting with Day 2 of the outbreak, the film follows a visitor to Hong Kong who turns out to be patient zero in the outbreak. Soon ever-widening effects involve her family, the CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO), Homeland Security, Internet rumor-mongers, and authorities and first responders at all levels. Taut at 106 minutes, and grippingly suspenseful, carefully-chosen characters played by truly stellar actors represent very personal and relateable stories, sometimes for the briefest of periods. The main story lines follow patient zero (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her husband (Matt Damon); CDC head (Laurence Fishburn), field investigator (Kate Winslet), and vaccine researcher (Jennifer Ehle); a WHO investigator (Marion Cotillard); and a health and alternative medicine blogger (Jude Law). It's a reality-based story with real science underpinnings, not another cinematic Armageddon, which, in the end, only adds to the drama.