Why I Liked... Source Code (2011)

(Dir. Duncan Jones Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga)

I like Groundhog Day. I like action films. I like Duncan Jones. I liked Source Code.

Right?

Ok, so if I were to judge this film by the trailer, I’d have said that the explanation would be weak, the dialogue weak, and that it wouldn’t make much sense. At all.

But what actually happened? Ok, the dialogue wasn’t exactly blowing me away, but let’s take a look at where we are-an army base. A train. People commuting in the morning. So really, what exactly was I expecting?

So. Let’s get to the explanation, shall we? I won’t spoil anything, but I will go over the explanation so you’ll already know what’s going to go on, and then you won’t have to spend an extra five minutes thinking ‘wait...wait...wait...wait...ok, got it. I think, no-wait...’ during the film. And for those of you who have already seen it, well, maybe this’ll help anyway.

Jake's confused.

Soldier Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) has woken up in someone else’s body, and has no idea why. It’s a pretty freaky sensation, and something he’s not quite ready to get used to. He finds himself sitting opposite Christina (Monaghan), a fellow passenger/friend of the body he’s in. Eight minutes later, the train blows up.

Soldier Colter Stevens wakes up in his own body. He has no idea what’s going on, and neither do we. At least, an explanation...

Have you ever stared at a light bulb right after it turns off? There’s a glow you can see, much like the purple shapes you get behind your eye lids when blinking at the sun. Turns out that the brain does this as well. Turns out Colter is basically re-living the last eight minutes of Brain Glow from some random dead dude on the train.

Oh yeah, the body he’s in is dead-they’re all dead. While Colter keeps reliving the last eight minutes, Regular Time keeps ticking on. His mission is to find out who planted the bomb on the train, so that in Regular Time World, they can figure out when and where the next attack will be.

Ok, got it? Good.

...still kinda confused.

But what else can be said about this film? I said I wouldn’t spoil it, so I guess I can’t go into how one of the plot points used is one of my most hated and explain why I hate it so...so yeah. I did enjoy it, however-it was fun to watch, as fun as any Groundhog Day-esque episode of life can be (I say episode because there was this great episode of Supernatural that did their own take on the subject), but like all of them, it can get a little tiring.

Which is why Source Code writer Ben Ripley came up with that explanation. It makes it different, yes, it makes it slightly more believable than ‘oh oh oh, it’s magic!’ but it still goes on it’s merry little way into the fantastical world of alternate realities...

 RUSSELL PETERS!!

My way of saying that the ending was kinda weak. But really-you have a film that’s fast paced, fun to watch, and full of explosives every eight-ish minutes-how are you supposed to end it? The film gives Goodwin (Farmiga) two options, and in my opinion, she chooses the wrong one.