Kansen rettô

"Pandemic" is a movie that sort of raised mixed emotions for me. The story in the movie is compelling and captivating, even though it drags out in a slow pace at times throughout the movie (making the 2 hours seem longer than they are). But in general, the movie works pretty well at a good pace.

There were some pretty nice images throughout the movie, I especially liked the gloomy doomsday-like images of the normally busy and crowded Japanese cities devoid of life and shown in a bleak gray-scale.

Most of the medical scenes seemed real (or believable enough), although there were a handful of scenes that had some flaws in it. Scenes that will make you go "hmmm, I wonder what kind of doctor/nurse would do that with their medical background". Which is a shame, because the medical stuff is what should carry most of the weight of the movie. But these flaws don't really bring the overall movie enjoyment down that much.

For some reason, the actors/actresses having to cry in this movie were all so amazingly poor at portraying hurtful emotion and crying. It all came off so forced and fake. That was almost literally physically painful to watch. Oh, and you just got to love the "Engrish" that is used in the movie. Japanese people speaking English is usually funny, and in this movie, it is!

The cast, in general, were fairly good. No award-winning acting going on though, but most did a fairly good job none the less.

I would say that "Pandemic" is a mix of high rolling thrills and dragged out waiting. This is the type of movie that you watch one, and most likely never again. The movie does, however, leave you imprinted with lingering thoughts. Is a pandemic of this kind and magnitude lurking just around the corner? This effect is what brought the movie together in full circle.

This film is about a mysterious, incurable and deadly infection that spreads throughout Japan alarmingly quickly.

"Pandemic" is a refreshing surprise. Though it contains some gory scenes, it does not rely on shock tactics to scare. Scenes of chaos, anarchy and people begging for help are enough to make people feel uneasy and to maintain suspense. Apart from some technical details (such as entering an infection zone without even a surgical mask), the medical scenes are believable.

"Pandemic" raises the issue that people, and even countries, are not equipped with epidemics like this. With new viruses being discovered every now and then, it is scary to think that the events in "Pandemic" could actually happen.

raises a question of countries not being equipped, says the other reviewer? basic biology should teach us this... and that every breath is a miracle. it will never cease to amaze me(although it is unDOUBTedly one of the more clever mind mechanisms to prevent us from going crazy thinking about this sort of stuff aaaaaaaalllllllllllllll the time) that people don't realize how easily something such as an aids virus might mutate so that it can be spread through the air by droplet nuclei(a sneeze)... which just goes to prove that some education CAN be a dangerous thing. ;-) we're always just 'this/that close' to being wiped out en masse... maybe it's the ace up nature's sleeve just in case we get TOO destructive. although, re:me, it should've happened alREADY then... but please don't mistake this for a death wish on my part. too many good movies yet to be made...