Source Code Review

Rating: 4/5


Science fiction is a genre that is really hard to pull of well. Not only do sci-fi writers have to come up with a good story, but they have to come up with a story that has some sort of crazy science to it that makes it unique. Time travel is usually a good place to start, but the story won't work unless there's a creative spin on it. Then, you need to make it plausible, so that it's not too fictional. Good thing Source Code does this stuff.

Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up and finds himself in the body of a complete strangers, surrounded by strangers, and on a train. The woman in front of him (Michelle Monaghan) somehow knows him, and after eight minutes, the train explodes. Stevens then wakes up in a strange capsule, where he is told by Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) that the army is making Stevens relive the last eight minutes of one of the victims of a train bombing, so that he can find the bomber and prevent further attacks.

Ok, the "science" in this movie is absurd. Assassin's Creed level absurd. There is no way that anybody could ever relive and control the experiences of someone who was burned up in an explosion. And yet, the movie is smart enough and well written enough that I just went along with it. Even though the ending is a stretch and quite hokey, I could still buy the whole "genetic memory" thing. This of course is helped by the great performances. Gyllenhaal, Farmiga, Monaghan, and Jeffrey Wright (a brilliant actor who plays the creator of the machine) are all great. The characters are well developed, which really adds to the atmosphere of the film.

Because Captain Stevens gets to know the characters in the simulation, we do as well, and each moment waiting for the explosion we know is coming is tough. The editing is also of note. Source Code never stops moving, and it's really really cool how Duncan Jones and his team put it all together. Overall, Source Code isn't groundbreaking, but it's good. I recommend it.