Source Code
April 12, 2011 1 Comment
In a hybrid breed between Inception and Ground hog day, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Captain Colter Stevens in another mind-bending, reality-twisted action thriller where he needs to save the world, charming the audience with his winning smile along the way. I’m a bit of a stickler for consistency in plot, and so some things in this movie bothered me, but in general, an enjoyable ride and Jake Gyllenhaal wasn’t too rough on the eyes either.
To round out a well-casted group of actors, Michelle Monaghan played the extremely likeable, witty girl he is always trying to save, every 8 minutes, and you can see why he might fall for someone like her: pretty, funny, smart, and realistic. Vera Farmiga plays the cool, distant role she plays so well, not a far cry from her sleek self in Up in the Air. Jeffrey Wright, who you might remember from movies like Basquiat, also plays the same weirdly cracked out character that he also plays so well: quirky, fidgety, but clearly exceptionally brilliant in his own way. In this particular case he plays the lead scientist who creates the “source code” to allow Captain Stevens to relive the critical 8 minutes before a terrorist attack to solve this who-dun-it mystery.
I don’t really have too many other comments for this movie, except that it wasn’t a bad movie, it was fun, a good way to spend 2 hours in an afternoon or evening to just completely forget about any stress that you might have and just relax in the suspension of reality that director Duncan Jones dishes out to you.
No super special effects (e.g., Inception), no curiously philosophical takes on life that may or may not change your life (e.g., Matrix), not even really a wickedly original idea that is extraordinarily well-executed (e.g., Memento), but just a decent, fun way to spend some time in the movie theater/at home if you are looking for something fun to watch. In other words, not quite worth a full priced ticket, but probably worth above waiting for it on rental…$6
If you heart Source Code
Recommendations from …:
Inception
Groundhog Day
The Matrix
Fat Kids Movie List 
Another movie fallen prey to the late fever of wannabe mind-bending, reality-twisting, thought-provoking action packed blockbuster attempts that stops short at simply trying too hard. There were way too many wtf moments and even with as much defensive explanation I could conjure up to make sense of the plot, that could not save how utterly ridiculous and inconsistent the story was. Jake, who quite frankly is not eye-candy enough to save the movie, easily deactivates a bomb that supposedly is wired by a genius bomber on a mission to destroy an great city of Chicago. And that’s the least of it. His attempts at charm and wit were painfully forced and terribly delivered. Michelle Monaghan’s character, perhaps because of the 8 min scheme, could only be annoyingly trivial, which made Jake’s infatuation with her unconvincing. Jeffrey Wright…what was he doing??! That leaves Vera Farmiga to answer the moral questions, while juggling an unusual crush and giving an unoffensive, but also unmemorable performance. Topping it off, the movie tries to end on the not so creative “what if” for the audience, generated by a parallel universe in the “source code,” which in itself makes no sense at all. Overall, it felt like someone made a movie out of a poorly written story by a 10 year old boy, who had a brilliant seed of an idea. AND it didn’t even have all the usual blockbuster special effects to make it an entertaining watch. At least the movie’s worth the watch for a good rant. Some movies don’t even do that much.