You wake up on a Chicago Commuter train. You are disoriented you feel out of place in this situation as if this is some kind of surreal hyper-realistic, vivid dream. It feels so real so lifelike you start to look around to try to get your bearings when you hear a beautiful woman's voice calling you but she is calling you by a name that you are not familiar with, she is calling you Sean. But your name is not Sean you have no idea who she is or what is going you try to inquire about the circumstances of your apparent arrival on this mysterious strange when suddenly the train is engulfed in a blaze of fire. You see flashes of images before you; you wake up in a chamber again disoriented. You hear a woman's voice talking to you the voice is that of Capt. Colleen Goodwin(Vera Farmiga), she tells you that you are taking part in secret Government experiment know only as "Source Code" that let's a person travel back into a person's mind in the last eight minutes of their life. Now it is up to you to prevent a massive terrorist attack on Chicago now it is up to you to find a bomber and save millions and the catch is you only have eight minutes to do so. Now the clock is ticking and time is running out before the next attack you have no clues, no hints and have no idea what you are looking for so how do you stop a terrorist in the past when he couldn't be stopped? The only way to save the future is to change the past, good luck.
Duncan Jones' "Source Code" comes at a time during this early year where the quality of films coming out are well... less than average, "Source Code" is a revelation of a film a Science-Fiction action thriller with enough human elements and mind-bending thrillers to please even the most advent of action fans. What is most fascinating is how this film uses a rather standard action/adventure premise of a bomb on a train a renegade terrorist threatening to cause mass genocide and turns it on its head with mind bogglingly twist and thought provoking questions on life, love and how your actions can change the course of your future. "Source Code" is a brilliantly made and well paced action/sci-fi whodunit that deftly blends 70's style paranoiac thriller elements with modern day CGI laden filmmaking and thanks to an intelligently written and concise script by Ben Ripley "Source Code" is one of the years most fascinating films an engaging, perplexing thriller that starts at fast and proceeds to speed up from there taking its audience down a strange and twisted rabbit hole that dares to challenge its audience with its cerebral story of science, love and life. "Source Code" transcends fascinating becoming something more than just a statement on science and love it becomes a powerful humanitarian statement about human life is something that is expendable to service the means of a higher power. If you had the power to change, an event in the past that could save the lives of hundreds of people, would you use that chance to right a wrong another human being made would you do what ever it took to make it right. "Source Code" is a powerfully evocative film with heavy prophetic themes layered with themes of existentialism and the coherence of time that asks the beguiling question. Can you really alter the flow of events after they have already been set in stone and even if you could would it matter.
"Source Code" is by far the best film of the year. This is an ingenious mix of classic Sci-Fi storytelling and intense character drama deftly blended with the A typical special effects now associated with the Science-Fiction genre however, this film is anything but typical movie fare. "Source Code" is what Science-Fiction use to be before special effects, big budget action sequences, scantily clad women, illogical plots and stale dialogue took over this is(to me anyways) what Sci-Fi is all about, what Sci-Fi should be about. It should not be about big explosions or hot women (save that for the increasingly dull “Fast and the Furious" franchise) it should be about the characters, about the story the human story that this great genre can bring to light. "Source Code" is a welcomed return to style for moviegoers who have been aching for a good Sci-Fi/action romp that assaults the senses and boggles the mind. "Source Code" is the best film of the year so far a brilliantly executed Sci-Fi whodunit that breaks the mold of modern Science Fiction by finding the human story amidst the action and the special effects.
Gyllenhaal has become one of modern Hollywood's most reliable and talented young actors sure like any actor he's had his bad days("Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time") and good days( "October Sky", "Brokeback Mountain", "Donnie Darko", "Good Girl"). Duncan Jones' "Source Code" adds another success(or good day as I like to call it) to a rather impressive line of work from the young Mr. Gyllenhaal, In "Source Code" Gyllenhaal delivers one of his most emotional, charming and gripping performances as a solider trapped in a rather perplexing existential crisis. He is forced to participate in a special Military program to find the identity of a mad bomber who is responsible for the destruction of a Chicago Commuter train. Gyllenhaal is equally sensitive and charming as a man stuck in the plot of “Groundhog Day” gone rampant; he plays Capt. Colter Stevens as a dedicated serviceman who will do anything for his men, his country and a good woman. He gives real human depth to a character that in a less talented actors hands would boil down to nothing more than an A typical average Joe hero trapped in a case of dire peril. This is one of the best performances of hid career and it triumphantly proves that he is not just another pretty face but also one of Hollywood's best leading men. The rest of the cast including Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffery Wright all turn in strong supporting performances in one of the best and most challenging films of this New Year.
"Source Code" is one of the most inventive and engaging films, I have seen so far this year. An intelligent, thought provoking look on human existentialism how sometimes one man, one person can make a difference in a person's life and change the outlook on a dire situation when hope seems dim. This film finds the human story and depth of character amidst the action and intrigue to help create one of the first great films of this New Year and a true testament of what we as humans can do when we have something we truly believe and love to fight for the things that we hold most dear.
