Review 73: Source Code
Source Code is a smart, exciting and tense sci fi action film, a showcase for an excellent leading performance from star Jake Gyllenhaal and terrifically inspired addition to aspiring director Duncan Jones’ budding filmography.
When decorated soldier Cap. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the Source Code, a program that enables him to cross over into another man's identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack.
The plot is a simply ingeniously crafted piece of sci fi action. It follows two main storylines that very emotional, the storyline between Colter and Christina on the train and then theres the virtual storyline between Colter and Coleen. Those two storylines compliment each superbly as Colter's relationships between these two people tie into eventually him finding himself.
When decorated soldier Cap. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the Source Code, a program that enables him to cross over into another man's identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack.
The plot is a simply ingeniously crafted piece of sci fi action. It follows two main storylines that very emotional, the storyline between Colter and Christina on the train and then theres the virtual storyline between Colter and Coleen. Those two storylines compliment each superbly as Colter's relationships between these two people tie into eventually him finding himself.
There is a subtext of living your life to the fullest and making amends so that you can make a better future and seeing the world through someone elses eyes in this case, its Colter Stevens litterally seeing the world through the eyes of a commuter on a train.
At its core, Source Code is very much a sci-fi thriller, but it's also got elements of mystery. Think Groundhog Day meets Murder on the Orient Express. An unusual combination but one thanks to an ingenious script by Ben Ripley, it works. This leads to the films human touch, as Colter keeps reliving those eight minutes, Colter finds that he can remember his previous visits even though Christina and the other passengers can't.
At its core, Source Code is very much a sci-fi thriller, but it's also got elements of mystery. Think Groundhog Day meets Murder on the Orient Express. An unusual combination but one thanks to an ingenious script by Ben Ripley, it works. This leads to the films human touch, as Colter keeps reliving those eight minutes, Colter finds that he can remember his previous visits even though Christina and the other passengers can't.
The way the screenplay is structured, gives the audience enough of a jolt to alert the sense and keeps them on their toes and whats happening. This tight scripting and editing along with Colter experiencing events on the train in eight minute bursts lends film a great sense of pacing.
Duncan Jones's direction is suspenseful and visceral. Giving the film a strong Hitchcockian influence where paronioa is rampant and always there and Colter is always questioning everyone and everything. Constantly giving you the sense that something bad is about to happen but we as an audience are unsure of what that something is. The cinematography is splendid and captures the calm, relaxing albeit suspenseful atmosphere of traveling a on train to Chicago. The film opens with some beautiful landscape shots of Chicago and its suburbs. The score by Chris Bacon is catchy and energy filled, the production design is superb, the train compartment that Stevens inhabits for the majority of the films 93 minute runtime is brimming with activity from the various passengers doing very ordinary taks. Anyone could be a suspect, the costumes are fantastic, the minimalistic special effects are brilliantly handled and lend themselves to the films grounded tone and the ending has a wonderful sense of emotional payoff.
Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a terrifically commited, driven and determined performance playing Cap. Colter Stevens, experly convey his vulnerability as well as his sense of desperation and confusion to this new world.
He starts off in a place where he has no idea of what's going on and as the film goes he slowly becomes master of this virtual world. That growth and evolution of the over the course of the film is very fun and engaging to explore and play with because sometimes things go wrong, other times, things happen spontaneously.
He's thrust into a situation where he has no control over and he's just as clueless as we are as an audience.
We learn every single new thing about this virtual world, the Source Code creates along with him.
He also expertly showcases the right amount of paranoia and determination in the face of confusion as he tries to locate a bomb in a public area, he punches his fellow passengers, steals phones, rummages through bags, tries to steal a gun from a guards locker, knowing full well the bomb can be anywhere on the train.
Michelle Monaghan gives an earnest and lovely performance playing Christina Warren. She lights up the screen with her likeably, enduring presence.
Christina is at a crossroads in her life; She hasn't really reached her desting yet and hasn't grabed life by the reigns and hasn't met her fullest potential as person. Then she meets Colter Stevens, who to her mind is fellow comuter on the train that she's traveling on and with his encouragement, he gives her the courage to start living her life in the way she wants to.
Even though she's a love interest, she's very much intergral to the films emotional centre, because she's the person that Colter intreacts with the most throughout the majority of the film.
Whenever Colter is dropped into the Source Code, she's always the first person that he encounters because he's dropped right in the middle of a conversation between her and the person she thinks that she's talking to. We never learn how it starts and we never learn how it would gone. So for every one of Colter's actions, her responses matter.
Jeffrey Wright is fantastic as the morally dubious Dr. Walter Rutledge, the creator of the Source Code. Outwardly appearing a very compassionate and caring scientist, as the film goes on, he's revealed to also be self-absorbed and sees Colter as less a human and more like a machine. The film plays around with the idea of wether or not he's a good guy or a bad guy and he's very compasionate and caring about things as long as he's involved in something that involves him and his technology. Ultimately, Rutledge just wants to save lives by any mean necissary, so whatever he does no matter how nefarious it may appear, you can see that his argument has some kind of justification, it's just unfortunae that the brunt of the unfairness lands on poor Colter Stevens.
Vera Farmiga is also terrific Cap. Colleen Goodwin. Colleen serves as Colter's and to an extent our guide to the virtual world of the Source Code. It's her job to blow the whistle when he messes up and to cheer him on when he gets winded. For Goodwin, this experiment is a numbers game for her; saving people is scientific and through her relationship with Colter and as it deepens as the film goes on, he personalises that for her.
Even the extras who play the passengers on the train have a chance to shine because they're the victims of this train bombing thats about to happen. They have no idea what's about to happen, they're just going about they're normal everyday lives so it's only natural that they're very receptive to Colter because to them, he's acting like a crazy person.
4.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
Duncan Jones's direction is suspenseful and visceral. Giving the film a strong Hitchcockian influence where paronioa is rampant and always there and Colter is always questioning everyone and everything. Constantly giving you the sense that something bad is about to happen but we as an audience are unsure of what that something is. The cinematography is splendid and captures the calm, relaxing albeit suspenseful atmosphere of traveling a on train to Chicago. The film opens with some beautiful landscape shots of Chicago and its suburbs. The score by Chris Bacon is catchy and energy filled, the production design is superb, the train compartment that Stevens inhabits for the majority of the films 93 minute runtime is brimming with activity from the various passengers doing very ordinary taks. Anyone could be a suspect, the costumes are fantastic, the minimalistic special effects are brilliantly handled and lend themselves to the films grounded tone and the ending has a wonderful sense of emotional payoff.
Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a terrifically commited, driven and determined performance playing Cap. Colter Stevens, experly convey his vulnerability as well as his sense of desperation and confusion to this new world.
He starts off in a place where he has no idea of what's going on and as the film goes he slowly becomes master of this virtual world. That growth and evolution of the over the course of the film is very fun and engaging to explore and play with because sometimes things go wrong, other times, things happen spontaneously.
He's thrust into a situation where he has no control over and he's just as clueless as we are as an audience.
We learn every single new thing about this virtual world, the Source Code creates along with him.
He also expertly showcases the right amount of paranoia and determination in the face of confusion as he tries to locate a bomb in a public area, he punches his fellow passengers, steals phones, rummages through bags, tries to steal a gun from a guards locker, knowing full well the bomb can be anywhere on the train.
Michelle Monaghan gives an earnest and lovely performance playing Christina Warren. She lights up the screen with her likeably, enduring presence.
Christina is at a crossroads in her life; She hasn't really reached her desting yet and hasn't grabed life by the reigns and hasn't met her fullest potential as person. Then she meets Colter Stevens, who to her mind is fellow comuter on the train that she's traveling on and with his encouragement, he gives her the courage to start living her life in the way she wants to.
Even though she's a love interest, she's very much intergral to the films emotional centre, because she's the person that Colter intreacts with the most throughout the majority of the film.
Whenever Colter is dropped into the Source Code, she's always the first person that he encounters because he's dropped right in the middle of a conversation between her and the person she thinks that she's talking to. We never learn how it starts and we never learn how it would gone. So for every one of Colter's actions, her responses matter.
Jeffrey Wright is fantastic as the morally dubious Dr. Walter Rutledge, the creator of the Source Code. Outwardly appearing a very compassionate and caring scientist, as the film goes on, he's revealed to also be self-absorbed and sees Colter as less a human and more like a machine. The film plays around with the idea of wether or not he's a good guy or a bad guy and he's very compasionate and caring about things as long as he's involved in something that involves him and his technology. Ultimately, Rutledge just wants to save lives by any mean necissary, so whatever he does no matter how nefarious it may appear, you can see that his argument has some kind of justification, it's just unfortunae that the brunt of the unfairness lands on poor Colter Stevens.
Vera Farmiga is also terrific Cap. Colleen Goodwin. Colleen serves as Colter's and to an extent our guide to the virtual world of the Source Code. It's her job to blow the whistle when he messes up and to cheer him on when he gets winded. For Goodwin, this experiment is a numbers game for her; saving people is scientific and through her relationship with Colter and as it deepens as the film goes on, he personalises that for her.
Even the extras who play the passengers on the train have a chance to shine because they're the victims of this train bombing thats about to happen. They have no idea what's about to happen, they're just going about they're normal everyday lives so it's only natural that they're very receptive to Colter because to them, he's acting like a crazy person.
4.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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