Advertise here.
 |
Title: Source Code
|
| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, the violence is mild as is the language. Recommended for ages 11 and up. |
It’s sort of refreshing to see a movie like “Source Code.” It still speaks volumes that Hollywood is running out of good names for their films, but at least once in awhile a quality product will still pop up from time to time. “Source Code” is an action film that could have easily been forgettable and disposable. A movie where contrived events and unlikely story twists come together to bring us some stupid stuff. In “Source Code” we get film where contrived events and unlikely story twists come together to bring us something exciting and fun. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens, a soldier who went missing in Afghanistan. Only problem is, he’s on a train now.
 |
He doesn’t know how he got there, but a woman is talking to him and calling him Sean Fentress. In eight minutes the train blows up and Colter wakes up in a metal tomb of some sort, talking to a woman named Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), who tells him that he’s part of a project called Source Code, and that he is reliving an event that happened a few days ago. They are making him relive it not to change history (because it can’t be done), but to find out information to help the government stop a future attack. This can happen because every time he relives these eight minutes, it’s in an alternate reality.
 |
It sounds convoluted, and who knows, in the wrong hands it very well could have been. I’m not even sure if any of this comes off as realistic in the movie. But despite all this, the movie is actually very effective. You can’t ask too many questions in a movie like this because it’s mainly there for fun, but in it’s own little universe all of this makes sense. The government isn’t quite the oppressive tool you’d expect them to be, and the idea of living a certain eight minutes over and over again actually provides a good setting for a mystery. I’ll even go far to say that this mystery is far more engaging then that of “Sherlock Holmes” from a couple years ago. If I were Guy Richie, I’d be getting the writer of this movie on board as soon as possible.
 |
Ah, but I’m supposed to be reviewing “Source Code,” not speculating on the future Holmes film. So yeah, this movie is preposterous, unrealistic, and convoluted. But it also has interesting characters that aren’t dumb, an idea that makes perfect sense (within the confines of the film), and a mystery that is engaging. There are even some shocking moments of emotion, which goes a long way to insure that we in the audience care about the result of what happens to these people. Is the movie disposable? Possibly. It’s not an instant classic and will likely be forgotten come summer. But it’s an interesting science fiction thriller that you can take seriously that also has a heart to it. Which is a lot more than I can say for most of the drama’s I’ve seen this year.
  |
 |
|
|
Spaceriffic Review
Want to see us review this? Send a donation with your title request, and it will be done (might take awhile, but it will get done).
Click here for a list of films that have already been requested before you request something.
