shineyman I must admit - I'm not a massive movie watcher, and movies like this are exactly why. I find myself questioning why such massive holes in the plot exist.So, the film starts with a man waking up late as there is no electricity so doesn't hear his alarm. As it turns out, there is no water either (the reason that there is no water isn't explained in the film).As the guy tries to set off for work, he finds that his front door has been glued up, and is unable to leave. When he looks out of the window, it turns out that it seems EVERYONE has been glued into their flats as well (we're talking 3 full high-rise blocks of flats here). OK - wait. Just HOW ON EARTH did someone manage to not only glue everyone's front doors shut, and all of their windows shut overnight without ANYONE noticing??? I'd be sceptical if they could CLEAN 3 entire blocks of flats windows in a single night, never mind glue all the windows shut - completely silently, without anyone noticing. OK - so at the same time he finds out that he's locked in - he's on the phone - and of course - the line goes dead halfway through the call (presumably as "the government" wants to stop residents from calling the outside world to tell them of the situation). But wait - we've already established that the guy had overslept so presumably it was maybe 8-9am. There must be dozens of people in the block who HADN'T overslept and must have had time to get the call to the outside and tell them of the situation.Later on in the film, on of the "Hazmat" officers gets taken hostage, and is paraded in the front window to other members of his group. You'd think that something is done about this, but no - for hours and hours nothing is done about it. Not a single attempt is made to either talk to or arrange rescue of the hostage. Further along, someone is shot whilst impersonating a Hazmat Officer. Given that this is in an apparent quarantine area, with some sort of mystery virus around - why is a dead body left on the ground for the rest of the film? Wouldn't there be some attempt be made to remove it, to prevent contamination?There are so many holes in the plot, I'm gob-smacked that this film got nominated for multiple awards. I STILL don't understand why the water was turned off for the tower block, or what the "government" expected hundreds of people to do for drinking water, having locked them inside for over a day.Anyway - there are obviously people that enjoyed this film, but for me - I can't! I'm simply asking too many questions whilst watching it.

ericrnolan "Containment" (2015) is the film that sounds cliché but isn't. It's a surprisingly fresh take on an old standby -- diverse people isolated by an outside threat are forced to cope and survive with each other, along with the threat. In this case, an entire apartment block in Britain is forcibly and mysteriously quarantined overnight; residents awake to sealed doors and hazardous materials units being deployed along the grounds.But this is a smartly written independent sci-fi thriller that avoids a lot of common tropes. Then it introduces plot developments that are unexpected, yet make perfect sense. It's more original than you'd guess at first.There's a lot of nice acting, including work by Lee Ross, and by Louise Brealey of "Sherlock" (2010) fame.My only complaint was a thematically ambiguous ending that seemed lost on me. But I'd still give this an 8 out of 10.

siderite The problem with the film is that it has been done before, and much better. I am a fan of contagion themes - real ones, not zombies or some other crap like that - but I found this boring as hell. People talk a lot, overreact, reach stupid conclusions and then just fail right before implementing a good idea.The only thing they got right is how incompetent "the authorities" would be in a case like that, but even that has been done to death, especially in British productions.Bottom line: you know this film has failed when I suddenly found myself hoping the infected would act like zombies.

Dan Ashley (DanLives1980) Remember the nuclear disaster movies of the '80s? Remember the plague epidemic movies that replaced them as the next big thing to be scared of? Containment is nothing new when it comes to concept but you have not yet seen a viral pandemic scenario played out solely on a rough English tower block estate and that's what this is! I'm drawn to these movies like a moth to flame because I like a good disaster movie and I love survival horror. Containment is a little of both but it steers more towards the style of television drama and that's what it ultimately looks like.I enjoyed the mix of character archetypes and the frankness between them. It gets the story going without wasting any time. There's little to suggest that any one character has plot armour above all others, or that any one character is destined to meet an exceptionally terrible fate. Everyone is in the same boat without romanticising character stories the way most disaster movies do.The gritty urban setting is perfect, as is the tone, but rather than give in to the character-conventional theatrics, it's more a frank study of how certain people might respond to such situations. Some are just as uncompromising as the thuggish hazmat teams practically assaulting them in their own homes. Others are victim to it from the outset and that gives us a recipe for serious escalation.Think Night of the Living Dead, and The Crazies! Although for me the best performance comes from the unofficial lead, taken by understated actor Lee Ross, the character Sergei (about as Russian as a tin of custard) steals the show so often that everything remains up in the air.Other characters aren't so convincing; one reminding me of Dylan Moran's stereotypical stuck up weakling in Shaun of the Dead. You'll see what I mean. I found him a bit of a bad distraction at times. Otherwise this is a nice change.If you want to drop the fancy spectacle and pick up on some effective drama, this is a movie for you.