SOURCE CODE (2011)

I misjudged Source Code.  Again I blame a misleading trailer. 

Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a Chicago train sitting opposite a woman (Michelle Monaghan) who seems to know him.  She’s confused when he asks why she’s calling him by another name, where they are and where they’re going.  In eight minutes the trains explodes.  Colter Stevens wakes up several more times, on the train, in the same place.  Sometimes he wakes up somewhere else, for instance wearing his army uniform and hanging upside down in a plane, and there’s another woman (Vera Farmiga) talking to him from another world it seems, and she’s the one who keeps sending him back to the train, always for eight minutes, on a mission to find the bomb before it explodes.   This woman, Goodwin, also a soldier, begins to enlighten Stevens on what’s going on.  Goodwin tells Stevens very sad things.  Things like he’s going to keep being blown up until he accomplishes his mission, he can’t stop the explosion, he definitely can’t save Christina Warren, and he’s actually dead.  Captain Colter Stevens is not planning to fail his mission, he’s not convinced that he can’t achieve the impossible, and while he can’t change being dead, he can at least convince Goodwin to kill him completely and end the abuse of his neurological functions.

No, I haven’t told you everything.  There is a twist and a turn and a very exciting sequence of events towards the end, and then a very, very big twist at the very end, and then you’re confused. 

Am I the stupid one?  I always thought a trailer was supposed to entice me into going to the cinema.  Why am I finding that I’m being convinced not to go to the cinema?

If someone eating a plain donut asked if you’d like one, but you didn’t like plain donuts, you’d say no because you’d assume they were just offering you another plain donut, even when they might in fact have a more interesting donut in their bag.  But if someone eating a donut covered in chocolate and sprinkles and raisins asked if you wanted one, and you very much liked the look of that donut, you’d say yes, because you’d assume that was what they were going to offer.  You could always enquire about the donut but trailers can’t talk. 

So it looked like a plain donut here when it wasn’t a plain donut at all.  A thought-provoking idea and smart writing with great execution makes Source Code a decent film to watch.  There might be one or two slow moments but otherwise no complaints.  The story could appear a little dicey at the end and some might think the ending should have been simpler.  Sadly, it’s impossible not to think about the war and the loss of lives.  This does add depth to the film.

If you’re at the video store or flicking through your Netflix and you’ve already seen all the films you felt you had to see, then borrow or pick Source Code.  Even if you aren’t happy with it at its end, you’ll at least find yourself affected, if not mentally, emotionally.