Source Code review

Concerning Source Code, I did not know what to think when I saw the trailer. I saw what I considered to be a great idea, with a cast that I liked, helmed by a director I respect. Duncan Jones brought us Moon, which was sadly nominated for no Oscars. The low-budget science fiction story was a step in the right direction for movies and a worthy entry into the genre.

So when I heard about Source Code, I figured it would be one of those movies that was probably a good story until Hollywood got its hands on it. It had a much bigger budget and a more notable cast. I did not plan on watching it until my friends announced their plans to do so, and I tagged along. I was blown away.

Source Code is more than you see in the trailer. That’s saying something, too, because these days, movie marketers don’t know how to rope an audience in without giving away major plot details. This can be death for a science fiction film, as most of them rely on the element of surprise. Yet Jones and the studio managed to keep the juicier stuff under wraps and that made all the difference.

The movie follows Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) who wakes up on a train, not knowing where he is. Sitting across from him is Christina (Michelle Monaghan), who addresses him as Sean Fentress, as his drivers license and reflection confirm. While Stevens tries to figure out what is going on, the train explodes. He wakes up in a sort of cockpit and is addressed as Captain Stevens by a woman on a computer screen, Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). She tells him that he was just inside the titular source code and explains, through interesting scientific exposition, that this allows him to occupy the memory of the subject’s last 8 minutes of life. The subject here is Sean Fentress, a teacher who was aboard the train, which was blown up by a bomb that morning. Stevens’ mission is to find the train bomber in order to save more lives, able to try and retry the same 8 minutes to complete his task, all while trying to find out where he is.

This is a brilliant movie and, like Moon, is a step in the right direction. I was so happy that this was not another mindless, nonsensical thriller like many movies in the past couple of years. Gyllenhaal is a solid leading man here, and I sympathized with his situation. I felt as confused as he was, and I learned what was going on along with him. There’s much more to this movie than I can say right now, but it is worth paying the full ticket price for it. Movies like this deserve to be supported for delivering thought-provoking, coherent entertainment. Source Code is for everybody, both the casual, “let’s just find something to do tonight” moviegoer and the serious movie geek (like myself) who will pick it apart. It is entertainment on both an aesthetic and intellectual level. This is what you should be seeing this week in the theaters.

-Conner Dempsey