Source Code (2011)

 4/5

i wandered into it the other day completely indifferent - i couldn't remember the trailer or even seeing it advertised on the telly. but i was enjoying a mid-week afternoon out to myself, and after a morning of book browsing, lunch, and coffee, i decided to take a lookie at what was playing at my favourite cinema around the corner. Source Code was starting in 10 minutes, and so in i popped.

holy sh-t, what a GREAT bloody pop-in!

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Colter Stevens, an Army helicopter pilot whose last memory was flying in Afghanistan. but when Colter wakes up in the body of another man on a Chicago commuter train that explodes after 8 minutes, he finds himself in a strange little steel capsule pod. a woman named Goodwin (played by Vera Farmiga - btw, she looks so much better in this than she did in Up In the Air (2009), non? FRESHER) informs him of his mission - to find the terrorist bomber on the train.

i don't wanna give anything away, but through a little something called “quantum rendering,” Colter has to relive those 8 minutes over and over until he is able to find the bomber and stop an impending larger attack in the heart of the city. it kinda reminded me of Quantum Leap, where Gyllenhaal is Sam Beckett, and Farmiga is Al. actually, come to think of it, it's like the action, sci-fi, thriller equivalent of Groundhog Day (1993) *of course i could make a Bill Murray connection... this idea of a person reliving the same moment over and over until they get it right.

Source Code is a fun movie - it moves fast, it keeps its pace, it keeps the viewer interested, and everyone is really well cast, especially Gyllenhaal. i thought the evolution of his character's mood, the progression from him at first waking up unaware and confused to learning what the hell was going on, was really well done - totally believable and natural feeling.

what didn't really work for me was where they condensed a few of his "trips back" into a short montage of "oh, i'm awake - now i exploded" moments. i think there were several ways this passing of time could have been done in cooler, smoother fashion, but whatever. i also could have totally done without Russell Peters' character, whose performance made me feel quickly and frequently that he should totally stick to stand-up and stay the f-ck away from feature films. 

and although slightly predictable in the end (i kinda felt like the director was allowing the audience to be half a step in front of our protagonist, which i wish i wasn't) i really enjoyed this film. it's a great "don't talk to me now" movie - i wanted to listen, to watch, not miss a detail or a clue. 

there were times that my mind wandered - i started to think (fantasize?) about how fun it would be if Gyllenhaal's character would use each trip back to try to come on to and have 8 minutes of CONSENSUAL SEX with every woman on the train. 

is that pervy?

anyway, Source Code is a very good time. plus Gyllenhaal is hot and easy to look at... f-ck, is it sad that i think so even at the end?

recommended!