Source Code (2011)

I've been waiting for this movie for 2 years. I loved Duncan Jones' last film/debut Moon.

It was worth it.

Source Code is the best movie that I've seen so far this year. Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens, a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Military. He wakes up on a train in the body of a man named Sean Fentress. Across from him is a woman named Christina played by the always wonderful Michelle Monaghan. After a few minutes of being confused as hell BOOM! We start out with a big CG building and it's like AUGGH! Then Helicopters burst into flames and they're like AUGH! BOOM! AUGH! Then motorcycles burst into flames while they jump over these helicopters. An 18 wheeler spins out of control and its all like BROSH! And this huge tanker full of dynamite is like BRAH! BRAHH!

In other words the train blew up.

Turns out that Colter Stevens is in a computer program called the Source Code which allows him to enter somebody's body for the last 8 minutes of his life. Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright play the people in charge of the Source Code. They are very good in their supporting roles. Stevens' job is quite simple: Find the bomber so the next attack can be prevented.

So some might argue that this movie isn't original, but they'd actually be kinda wrong. Yes, this movie features Groundhog's day formula and it's about terrorism. It's been compared to a crapload of movies including

■Groundhog Day ■Inception ■Déjà vu ■12 Monkeys ■Quantum Leap ■The Butterfly Effect ■Memento ■Avatar ■Assasin's Creed ■Vantage Point ■Unstoppable ■Prince of Persia: The sands of time ■Final Destination

I haven't seen all of these, but I've seen most of them. Let me say right now that Source Code is not that similar to any of those films. Source Code is great, intelligent, entertaining science fiction. There are many great things to say. First off, the acting is fantastic by everybody. Gyllenhaal is in this movie for nearly every frame and he's great in every scene. This is one of his best performances to date and he's had a lot of good performances. Michelle Monaghan has this innocent charm with her character. Vera Farmiga and the very underrated Jeffrey Wright give very interesting and complex performances as well. This film is a whodunit, and lately a lot of those have had rather obvious answers to who did it. The guilty person and/or persons in this movie is NOT obvious. Not at all. At least not to me. A film like this could have suffered from being repetitive since Gyllenhaal repeats the same 8 minutes over and over again, but each time is significantly different from the last so the film feels fresh throughout. The best thing about the movie though is the human story in it. It's really emotionally connecting especially around the end. Stevens was a very, very likable character who I wanted to succeed. The message is moving. The ending is fascinating. I think too many people are calling it off as a plot hole. Its clearly meant to be open to interpretation, kind of like Inception. Lots of people think that it should have ended 10 minutes earlier, but I thought it had a very strong ending. The movie clocks in at a mere 93 minutes, but every second is great.

Sure, a real life Source Code isn't a computer program, but I don't get why so many damn people are complaining about that. Another note is that the trailer is a tiny bit misleading. It makes it seem like the whole movie is about Gyllenhaal trying save Michelle Monaghan in a typical "save the girl" formula. It's not. The movie is about Gyllenhaal looking for the bomber and it's entertaining all the way through.

Sadly Source Code hasn't done good at the box office. It's too bad, because it deserves a LOT of money.

Source Code may not be quite as good as Moon, but it's damn close.