Source Code- Grade B+

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, Love and Other Drugs), Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Maid of Honor), Vera Farmiga (Up In the Air, Orphan)
Directed By: Duncan Jones (Moon)
Release Date: April 1, 2011
Opening Weekend:
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
Synopsis: Soldier wakes up in body of dead terrorist attack victim on train in Chicago. Soldier finds out he's in secret military program that transports him into last 8 minutes of train victim's life. Soldier has no idea how he go into program. Soldier has to relive last 8 minutes to figure out train bomber's identity to save Chicago from future terrorist attack.  Soldier keeps failing mission, each time becoming more personally attached to people on doomed train even though he cannot change their fate. Soldier uncovers devastating truth about how he got into secret military program.



So How Was It?: Best piece of advice for watching this film? Just go with it. Don't think about it too logically or you'll end up being too frustrated to get the point of it. It's more a character driven story about compassion and the morality of how far we'll go for national security than it is a realistic film.


Even with its original concept of governmental time travel, Source Code still isn't overly memorable or moving. It's definitely not bad, it just isn't amazing. It's solid in its performances and ability to keep suspense building though. Where it starts to fumble is with its overly romanticized, borderline cheesy ending. It's jarring because even at its most head scratching of moments, Source Code still feels believable or at the very least, the audience wants it to be believable. Then the film just throws all of that away for what we call in my screenwriting class, a "Hollywood ending" meant to satisfy investors of the film. The film tried too hard to force its love story when in reality, what was far more interesting and meaningful were the underlying psychological issues soldier Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) was going through as he discovered what the Source Code program really was.











Acting Wise: Refreshingly enough, Jake Gyllenhaal is good. He plays soldiers well (see Jarhead). Michelle Monaghan has an undeniable warmness to her smile, at times threatening the audiences' allegiance to Gyllenhaal as character they care the most about in the film.






Technically: The film has a lot of CGI effects, mostly with the repeated train explosion scenes. Luckily, the quality of the CGI is genuinely good, aside from the one clumsy looking explosion in the opening scene.

The editing of the film is especially skillful. On paper, the thought of repeating the same 8 minutes over and over again sounds like a recipe for boredom but editor Paul Hirsch together with writer Ben Ripley's solid screenplay, make the 8 minutes feel surprisingly fresh every time. Kudos to them.



Best Scene: Stevens' phone call at the end to his father. Thoughtful, emotional and moving. Gyllenhaal really puts those trademark blue eyes to use.






The Shallow Editorial End: Gyllenhaal looks especially handsome in this film, even more so than usual. Farmiga is enviably gorgeous even when she's dressed down in her uniform.






To See or Not to See?: See it. Don't judge the movie by its trailer. Not to sound like a publicist but this film really does have a little bit of everything: romance, sci-fi, comedy and plenty of drama. Throw in some decent acting and you've got yourself a surprising crowd pleaser.

WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVENT SEEN THE FILM

For Those Who Have Seen It: The ending really just didn't make any sense. What the hell happened to the guy (Sean Fentress) whose body Colter Stevens was in at the end? Did he just disappear? How is Stevens going to explain the fact that he doesn't remember anything about Fentress's life to all his family, friends, coworkers, etc.?