SusannahSOURCE CODE
June 6th 2011 07:17
SOURCE CODE (2011)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright.
Directed By: Duncan Jones
Hot on the heels of The Adjustment Bureau comes more from my favourite genre, the mind-bending sci-fi. Director Duncan Jones follows on from his well regarded sci-fi debut, Moon, with a sophomore film effort that again explores science fiction, and, to a certain extent, identity, while branching out into an exploration of quantum physics.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Colter, a soldier in the U.S. military, who ends up being part of an experimental program called The Source Code. Earlier that day, in Chicago, a terrorist has blown up a train, causing everyone on board to die. Using the source code: a combination of a dead man's (Sean’s) memories of the last 8 minutes of the event, and the afterglow of the event itself, like the lingering glow from a lightbulb that has been switched off, Colter is able to experience the lead up to the bombing, and is asked to find out the identity of the bomber before a second terrorist attack occurs the same day.
Each trip back can only last 8 minutes; so each time Colter awakens in Sean's body, in a train seat opposite Christina (Michelle Monaghan) and experiences Sean's death when the train inevitably explodes. The repetition of events gives it a mind-bending Groundhog Day quality, as Colter learns the sequences of events, while his attraction to the doomed Christina grows.
Like any good sci-fi mind-bender, there are twists along the way. How does Colter end up involved in a program he does not remember volunteering for? As he learns more about how the explosion was caused, with a nod to terrorist racial profiling in his pursuit of an Islamic man, he believes that the bomb can be stopped inside the source code. Communicating with him the whole time are scientist, Dr. Rutledge, (Jeffrey Wright), and military officer Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). They communicate with Colter via a screen inside his capsule, instructing him on his mission and putting him back inside the source code whether he likes it or not.
Questions have been raised on the internet regarding how Colter can possible know what occurs on the train outside of what the dead man, Sean, knew. However, as Colter spends more time inside of the source code he suspects, beyond what Wright and Farmiga tell him, and possibly beyond what they know themselves, that it is actually a parallel universe. Perhaps the source code has created a parallel world, perhaps it is just a link to the parallel world, but Colter starts to believe that if he prevents the bombing inside the source code, that he can stay inside it and continue on in that world with Christina alive with him.
Sure, the science is farfetched, and there are probably holes in it if you think about it too much, but it is science fiction after all, not science fact. Some may complain about the ending being too upbeat for a mind-bender, but like Inception and The Adjustment Bureau before it, mind-benders do not necessarily have to have dystopian endings (But does Inception end happily?). Without giving anything away there is a moment near the end of source code that would perhaps have made a more fitting ending, leaving the question open about whether or not anything exists beyond the 8 minutes, but it is a minor quibble. Gyllenhall gives another solid, and compelling performance as a leading man (watch out Damon and DiCaprio), and Michelle Monaghan is appealing, despite having so much botox in her forehead that her eyes practically bore out of the screen in a desperate bid to create a facial expression above her mouth. Farmiga is solid as always and Wright gives good creepy, megalomaniac scientist.
Jones has managed to create a compelling film in Source Code where the pace does not lag and the mystery of how events will be solved keeps you engrossed. Yes there much more of a Hollywood sheen, and evident increase in budget for Jones' second outing as a director, but it still feels like the same guy who directed Moon. There is a feeling of authorship in the direction which does not feel overwhelmed or encompassed by Hollywood interference. As a fan of sci-fi I look forward to finding out what his next project may be.
Watch the trailer for Source Code here.
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Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright.
Directed By: Duncan Jones
Hot on the heels of The Adjustment Bureau comes more from my favourite genre, the mind-bending sci-fi. Director Duncan Jones follows on from his well regarded sci-fi debut, Moon, with a sophomore film effort that again explores science fiction, and, to a certain extent, identity, while branching out into an exploration of quantum physics.
Source Code poster
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Colter, a soldier in the U.S. military, who ends up being part of an experimental program called The Source Code. Earlier that day, in Chicago, a terrorist has blown up a train, causing everyone on board to die. Using the source code: a combination of a dead man's (Sean’s) memories of the last 8 minutes of the event, and the afterglow of the event itself, like the lingering glow from a lightbulb that has been switched off, Colter is able to experience the lead up to the bombing, and is asked to find out the identity of the bomber before a second terrorist attack occurs the same day.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter
Each trip back can only last 8 minutes; so each time Colter awakens in Sean's body, in a train seat opposite Christina (Michelle Monaghan) and experiences Sean's death when the train inevitably explodes. The repetition of events gives it a mind-bending Groundhog Day quality, as Colter learns the sequences of events, while his attraction to the doomed Christina grows.
Christina and Colter face fate
Like any good sci-fi mind-bender, there are twists along the way. How does Colter end up involved in a program he does not remember volunteering for? As he learns more about how the explosion was caused, with a nod to terrorist racial profiling in his pursuit of an Islamic man, he believes that the bomb can be stopped inside the source code. Communicating with him the whole time are scientist, Dr. Rutledge, (Jeffrey Wright), and military officer Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). They communicate with Colter via a screen inside his capsule, instructing him on his mission and putting him back inside the source code whether he likes it or not.
Farmiga and Wright as Rutledge and Goodwin
Questions have been raised on the internet regarding how Colter can possible know what occurs on the train outside of what the dead man, Sean, knew. However, as Colter spends more time inside of the source code he suspects, beyond what Wright and Farmiga tell him, and possibly beyond what they know themselves, that it is actually a parallel universe. Perhaps the source code has created a parallel world, perhaps it is just a link to the parallel world, but Colter starts to believe that if he prevents the bombing inside the source code, that he can stay inside it and continue on in that world with Christina alive with him.
Christina and Colter
Sure, the science is farfetched, and there are probably holes in it if you think about it too much, but it is science fiction after all, not science fact. Some may complain about the ending being too upbeat for a mind-bender, but like Inception and The Adjustment Bureau before it, mind-benders do not necessarily have to have dystopian endings (But does Inception end happily?). Without giving anything away there is a moment near the end of source code that would perhaps have made a more fitting ending, leaving the question open about whether or not anything exists beyond the 8 minutes, but it is a minor quibble. Gyllenhall gives another solid, and compelling performance as a leading man (watch out Damon and DiCaprio), and Michelle Monaghan is appealing, despite having so much botox in her forehead that her eyes practically bore out of the screen in a desperate bid to create a facial expression above her mouth. Farmiga is solid as always and Wright gives good creepy, megalomaniac scientist.
Colter inside the capsule
Jones has managed to create a compelling film in Source Code where the pace does not lag and the mystery of how events will be solved keeps you engrossed. Yes there much more of a Hollywood sheen, and evident increase in budget for Jones' second outing as a director, but it still feels like the same guy who directed Moon. There is a feeling of authorship in the direction which does not feel overwhelmed or encompassed by Hollywood interference. As a fan of sci-fi I look forward to finding out what his next project may be.
Watch the trailer for Source Code here.
If you like this post then
Tweet it!
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