"Source Code" is an action thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter Stevens, a army helicopter pilot who finds himself suddenly thrust into a government program in which his mind is supplanted into the body of a man who died in a tragic train bombing. However, he only has eight minutes in the body for each jump before he is ripped away from the memory and forced to start again. Colter has to discover the cause of the bombing and its bomber and relay the information to the technicians who are communicating with him in the interrim and help prevent further terrorist attacks.
This premise may seem like a lot to swallow, especially since I'm not that great of a writer. However, the action sequences are tense and thematic, the dialogue is smartly written, and Mr. Gylenhaal gives a great performance as the struggling pilot attempts to make sense of the events on the train.
Now, I'm not going to go into the details of the plot because this is not a review, I just have a bone to pick with this movie.
SPOILERS: I have already spoiled some things in the other movies I have reviewed, but this is a suspenseful sci-fi action thriller, so I feel obligated to warn those that haven't seen it, for it is definitely worth a See It rating...I guess I lied about this being a review. Also, for anyone who has seen this movie or plans on seeing it, I would love to hear your theories on this movie, because I am honestly a little lost.
Now, my issue with this movie comes from the mechanics of the Source Code machine, which is able to project Colter's mind into the body of the man he is controlling, Sean. Now, the creepy inventor of Source Code, who seems to be attempting to act as if he is equal parts Agent Smith and Severus Snape, details that the machine works by accessing the eight minutes of short-term memory stored in the mind of Sean before he died, thus the time limit. So at first, it appears that the machine is nothing more than a simulation based on the data provided by Sean's mind, which is what Colter initially believes.
HOWEVER, this makes no sense at all, because Colter is privy to plenty of information that Sean could not possibly have seen or known before he died, including the location of the bomb and plenty of environmental information of events that occurred outside of the train. Colter is able to roam freely within and without the train, and unless Sean scanned his eyes over every inch of the surrounding world during his eight minutes, this cannot be a simulation.
The inventor later states that Source Code is actually giving Colter access to an alternate reality...this is extremely different from just accessing the memory of Sean's deceased mind. Regardless, I think I can assume that the machine somehow generates a parallel reality from the information of Sean's brain, while not actually using the memories stored therein. Okay, that's a little more involved and a little less explained, but it's a movie, right?
Now, keeping in mind that Colter is able to view and interact with the alternate reality generated by the Source Code device, the inventor still clearly states that the world within the source code, but Colter comes convinced otherwise. After completing the mission of gaining the necessary information, Colter reenters the machine saying he is going to save everyone on the train, including the woman he has fallen in love with. Colter succeeds in his task and stops the bomb within the alternate world as his body dies within his own world. Even after he succeeds, Colter expects the world to be once again ripped away from him.
However, the simulation does not end. Colter finds that he is able to continue living as Sean, despite the intended purpose of Source Code. The machine has somehow managed to transport Colter into a world in which he is able to stop the terrorist attack and sends a message to the technician that helped him get there, telling her that "Source Code worked even better than you imagined."
So what the hell happened? Did Source Code just manage to manufacture an entirely real, alternate reality from nothing? How did the inventor think he was creating a simulation generated from the short-term memory and instead become the God of an entire dimension?
Also, at the end of the movie, Colter is walking in Chicago and sees a shiny metal monument in the park that he, as well as the audience, realizes that he caught glimpses of as he jumped in and out of Sean's mind multiple times. So how the hell did that happen? Is Source Code not only able to generate entire universes, but also able to show the user flashes of the best possible reality that could exist within the constraints of some dead guy's mind?
Now, I'm not saying this makes "Source Code" a bad movie-in fact, you should See It-but this brings up too many questions for me to ignore. I'm already making concessions for the fact that Gylenhaal gets to steal Sean's body away and make off with the girl that already wanted to bang him. I like the ending to the movie, but I feel as if I was tricked by the premise of the Source Code device, and just saying "It worked better than we thought" is not good enough to satisfy the movie critic in me.
Maybe you guys know what's up?
Until next time, what are your thoughts on the film? I love to hear the opinions!
-kmaker
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