TV Club #6 Threads

Contagion hits cinema screens this week (you can check out my review here), heralded as the 'feel-bad movie of the year' with its grim portrayal of global pandemic caused by Gwyneth Paltrow (I may have over-simplified that slightly).

For this week's TV Club, we head back to 1984 for another film that will have you hitting the supermarket to stock up on tinned goods and batteries as we take a look at the apocalyptic tale of Threads which a gives a worryingly convincing depiction of nuclear war and its effects on the city of Sheffield.

Like Contagion, Threads tells stories of personal tragedy alongside the unfolding global devastation, but unlike Soderbergh's effort the misery never gives up and there really is no light at the end of the harrowing 2 hours.

Review: Contagion

Steven Soderbergh harks back to Traffic with another multi-narrative take on an epidemic blighting the world, but this time swapping drugs for germs and with mixed results.

For the first half Contagion is tense, gripping stuff and not afraid to bump off several of its all-star cast to hammer home how serious things get - but the documentary-esque take on the story means in the end it just peters out instead of building to the big climax you want from a blockbuster disaster film.

Jude Law is the stand out of the cast, straddling the line between bad and awesome with an accent that takes you about half an hour to work out he's actually trying to be Australian - but he brings just the right amount of OTT to the performance that makes his portrayal of paranoid blogger Alan Krumwiede the highlight of the film. Its a shame Eliott Gould and Marion Cotillard don't get half his chance to shine, there characters seemingly forgotten after being introduced - a fact made even worse with what happens Cotillard's character when we leave her.

In the end, the unsatisfying finish does stop Contagion from being a classic, but the film still comes recommended for its thrilling first half and you'll find yourself looking funny at anyone sniffling for a good while after the film finishes.