"What would you do if you knew you only had one minute to live?"
"I'd make those seconds count."
Last year’s Inception proved there was still a large audience for science fiction movies, and part of me wonders if this movie would have been as successful if it were not for Inception whetting everyone’s appetite again for this genre. Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son) proved himself in his outstanding directorial debut in Moon in 2009. Moon was phenomenal and accomplished more with a budget of $5 million than most movies do with $200 million, so I have been eagerly been waiting to see what Jones would do as a follow-up.
Source Code is essentially a ninety-minute series of plot revelations, and the plot is rather good, so I will avoid discussing much of it. If you need something, the movie about a man named Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhall) who is, through the magic of technology, forced to relive the same eight minutes on a train over and over until he can unravel a terrorist attack. At the end of the eight minutes, the train explodes, killing everyone on board. As he investigates the train, Stevens realizes that the technology is more than what it seems and there is more going on behind the scenes than the operator (Vera Farigma) is telling him.
Like Inception, the technology used in this movie is absurd and doesn’t make the tiniest bit of sense, but this hardly matters as it is merely the channel through which the story is told. The story is very good, and focuses on the value of human life in its different forms and when different people believe it's worth saving and when it's not. Similar to Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, Stevens must understand all of the people on the train to try and uncover what is happening around him and how he can escape his situation. By learning about each of his fellow passengers, Stevens begins to narrow down the potential group of terrorist suspects and also develops his own personal reasons to prevent the train from exploding.
Like the train it takes place on, the movie travels quickly and the script is fast-paced. The movie is well-shot, and there are some fantastic uses of slow and still motion photography used throughout. There is one shot that stood out showing all of the characters on the train frozen in time laughing at a joke with smiles on their faces. It's sappy, but awesome. The editing is choppy and makes extensive use of repeated shots and close-ups to showcase the intensity and panic of Stevens' situation. Jake Gyllenhall and Vera Farigma act well, making the story believable and adding credibility to its premise.
My biggest issue with this movie lies in the ending. There is an absolutely perfect place to stop this movie before it spirals further into absurdity. When I watched the movie, I was convinced it was going to end at this particular point, and I was ecstatic. Instead, it throws in one final plot twist that, for me, removes any finality from the story and just made me raise an eyebrow. I wish that it would have ended just a few minutes earlier. Maybe I need to have more of an open mind, but my mind is pretty open, and I still found the ending a bit reaching.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed Source Code, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction movies and a good thriller. The story, acting, directing and cinematography are all top-notch. I just wish someone pulled the plug a few minutes earlier.
