Review: Source Code (2011) - Duncan Jones

"Source Code is not time travel. Rather, Source Code is time re-assignment. It gives us access to a parallel reality."

          This was a film I’d heard a lot about when it came out in the cinema, and really wanted to check it out unfortunately I never got around to it, so I thought I’d rectify that. The premise of this movie is really interesting and is full of the kind of twists that M. Night Shyamalan is best known for having in his films, but that’s getting a bit ahead of myself. So the basic plot of the movie is, a US soldier (Captain Colter Stevens played by Jake Gyllenhaal) using an experimental device called the “Source Code” is able to relive the last eight minutes of someone’s life, in this case the man in question is Sean Fentress, a school teacher who died on a train bombing that took place before the films story starts. The majority of the film takes place during those eight minutes before the train explodes, with Stevens  trying to find out who and what caused the explosion as the man responsible claims that the train bombing was a precursor to a larger dirty bomb that he will detonated in downtown Chicago.

          It was really interesting to see Stevens try a variety of different methods to identify the bomber and locate the bomb to identify characteristics which may help identify the bomber; it’s also funny to see him avoid pitfalls he previously encountered and solve problems from experience. The whole movie on the train feels like a puzzle and you feel invested in the solving the problems and feel invested when it’s solved. However not all of the film takes place on the train. Stevens is supported by a team of scientists and army personal; it’s in these scenes we feel unease and that there might be something more going on that they’re not telling both us the audience and Stevens, as they are very unwilling to answer his questions each time he returns to his cockpit after each eight minute segment. Eventually Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) explains to Stevens that his body is on life support and that his mind is connected to the Source Code machine and that the cockpit he’s been returning to after each mission is just a figment of his imagination, this angers Stevens and he demands that he be allowed to die. They deny his request and send him back into the Source Code, where eventually Stevens’s identity’s the bomber as Derek Frost (Michael Arden), who the army track down and arrest.

          Stevens then asks if he can be returned to the Source Code one last time to try and save the people on the train and then have his life support switched off, which Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright), the boss of Source Code initially agrees to, but reveals he was only lying to Stevens and orders Goodwin to wipe his memory and prepare him for the next mission. Goodwin instead decided to honour Stevens wishes and sends him back into the Source Code where he successfully catches the bomber and emails Goodwin thanking her for what she did for him, he then disarms the bomb and even has the whole train carriage he was on laughing as he kisses Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan) the pretty girl who was sitting opposite him on the train as the timer runs out on the eight minutes. Goodwin then pulls Stevens life support and we see him die.

          The movie then flashes to the earlier that morning where Goodwin receives an email from Stevens thanking her for what she has done and telling her that the Source Code works better that they could ever have expected, the date is then revealed to be that of the day of the train bombing, which now never took place. The next scene is of Stevens now permanently in Sean Fentress body going on a date with Christina Warren.

          I really had no idea what to expect from this film when I watch it, other that knowing the basic plot. I was blown away by how engaging the story was and how little the eight minute train segments over lapped and in no way were boring or repetitive. I would highly recommend this film and I’d give it a 8/10. Well worth checking out if you haven’t seen it already.