Make every second count

Source Code

We all love good old fashioned Action / Sci-Fi / Thrillers don't we? 

Last year we got the very good and heart pumping "Unstoppable" - in which our two heroes stationed themselves inside a moving train in an attempt to stop an unmanned freight train heading toward a city. However, Unstoppable is nothing like Source Code.

Source Code is along the lines of Inner Space, Ground Hog Day with a twist of Die Hard / Speed esc action.

Source Code is heart stopping, brain twisting and emotion wrenching fun.

Source Code begins with our lead character, Captain Colter Stevens (U.S Army) (Jake Gyllenhall), waking up on a Chicago commuter train, opposite Christina (Michelle Monaghan) a woman whom we sense he's never met, talking to him as if they've known each other some time. Immediately after, we learn that he's a Helicopter pilot for the US Army, and that he in fact has never met this woman before. He has no clue how he's gotten to where he is, or why. All he knows is that this woman apparently knows him well, and thinks his name is 'Sean'. Confused by all of this, he goes to the bathroom, only to find that the person in the mirror isn't him, it's someone else. 

As we, the audience, try to process all of this information in our mind, the train abruptly explodes into flames, killing everyone on board. 

 

Let the Source Code sequence commence...

The opening immediately attaches you to the story, with the great score, unsettling tone, and disorienting editing. It also leaves us with tons of questions: What the hell just happened? Who is Christina? Who is this 'Sean' Character? Why is Colter in this situation?

Colter wakes up again, but now in a dimly lit cement capsule, alone, talking to fellow soldier Goodwin. We discover that the commuter train he was just on was destroyed by a terrorist bomb earlier that day, and that there may be an even larger attack that could destroy Chicago (wouldn’t be a story without that little twist). We also learn that he's a participant in an experimental Army intelligence program that allows him to continually relive the last eight minutes of one of the train's passengers life (Sean), in order to find the bomb and the terrorist who has threatened the larger attack in the heart of Chicago. 

 
And like Groundhog Day, he experiences the same events over and over again, remembering each and every one, giving him the chance to inspect every suspicious passenger, as well as getting to know Christina a bit more along the way. Eventually beginning to care for her safety but unfortunately, all of these people are already dead, they only exist within the 'Source Code' (Bummer huh). Every eight minutes he's warped back to the capsule, where he is debriefed by Jeffery Wright and Vera Farmiga's characters, then sent back into the Source Code to try and save the day…..again. 

 
The science behind the film is very far-fetched (although I like to think very possible!), so it's up to you, the viewer, to let go and let Duncan Jones (Moon) and his crew take over your mind for an hour and a half. Duncan promises a very intense thrill ride that will definitely be memorable in the future as a very intelligent and unique take on the contained thriller and in my opinion he delivers this promise solidly throughout. Nevertheless, there definitely are plot-holes in the film, and the ending is maybe too subtle for the everyday sci-fi fanatic.

I believe it's safe to say that this film succeeds in almost every category, with the constant suspense and mystery, great action sequences, and the amazing soundtrack throughout. Source Code keeps you guessing throughout, anticipating who the bomber could be and how Captain Stevens can stop him before it’s too late for downtown Chicago and his parallel love interest.

Source Code deserves your hard earned cash and is defiantly a film you should experience at the cinema and one that hopefully will become a box office success worldwide.

I for one will be logging back onto the Source Code when this is released in high definition later this year.

So sit back, plug yourself in and let your mind be transported into the Source Code.

Let me leave you with this - What would you do if you had less than a minute to live?