Two deadly virus disaster movies. Which was better? I say Contagion by a lot. Outbreak was pretty good, due in large part to Dustin Hoffman's acting ability, but as an overall film Contagion was better directed and executed, and also more realistic (in terms of how a pandemic would play out).
Yeah "Contagion" easily. Go with "Outbreak" if you want more of a blockbustery type vibe. The whole, we need to catch the monkey, is just fucking stupid. "Contagion" might be a bit slower, and maybe boring in spots, but it's a lot more realistic about what it's trying to portray.
Yeah, Outbreak would have been a really fucking stupid movie with a lesser talented cast. But the combination of Hoffman, Spacey, and Morgan Freeman made it a decent flick. Plus, Donald Sutherland plays an effective villain/asshole. Contagion doesn't have the same starstudded cast, but it's just a better and more realistic film. BTW - it literally just hit me that Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey were in two movies together in 1995 - Se7en and Outbreak. Maybe it took so long to realize that because only one of those movies is memorable.
Contagion is well worth watching. It's the most realistic outbreak movie made. Not as "sexy" as Outbreak, but a better film. Outbreak wasn't poorly made - it's not like Michael Bay made it. It was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, who directed some quality movies (Das Boot, In The Line of Fire). So the guy knew what he was doing. Outbreak also had quality acting from Hoffman, Spacey, and Freeman, which definitely helped. Scientifically/medically speaking though, it was just a ridiculous film. Gotta find the monkey, the government planning to firebomb an entire US town, just over-the-top Hollywood shit... but it wasn't poorly made nor poorly acted. But Contagion was far more medically accurate, and given what's going on, Contagion is also more scary... because it deals with a new strain of swine flu causing a pandemic, which is always possible. Outbreak is just a fun, escape type film at this point.
