Thursday, April 7, 2011

SOURCE CODE

Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan
Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright


"Make every second count"


Cinema 8, SM Megamall




8 minutes. That is the very limited time that Air Force Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is given to find out the identity of the bomber of a Chicago bound train. In order to achieve that purpose, he is 'inserted' into the mind of a teacher named Sean Fentress who was a passenger who died on the train. He can only stay for eight minutes at a time, but he can keep returning as often as he needs to find the bomber. This is achieved through a project known as the Source Code, a device developed by the military to analyze terrorist attacks.

While his mind travels to the past, his body is locked in a mysterious pod. He communicates with the other members of the Source Code project through video. During every mission, he is briefed by Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) a woman in military uniform. But most of the communication is practically one-way, as the leader of the project, a certain Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright), rarely answers his questions and insists on updates. To make things even more complicated, Capt. Stevens begins to fall for Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan) a fellow passenger on that ill fated train.

"The Source Code" is a sci-fi thriller that was constantly moving, constantly generating questions which kept the movie quite interesting. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this movie is the variety of traits the main character shows in the movie who has a strong sense of justice, duty, honor, and love. Another positive quality of this movie, is how each visit in the source code continues to build up to the climax of the movie. The relentless search for new pieces of evidence is also intertwined with constant character development of the protagonist allowing you to get a better attachment to the character.

The editing was seamless even though they had to keeping showing the last 8 minutes before the bomb explodes over and over again. The fast pacing of the movie didn't jar your senses as there were scenes of reflective moments intertwined within for adjustments. The different characters were well developed and you kept discovering new things about them as the story progressed.

The ending though was a bit puzzling and I still can't seem to wrap my head around it until now. But that's only because I refuse to embrace the concept that an alternate parallel universe can exist concurrently with reality. The sci-fi elements notwithstanding, the film did good by being an edge of your seat form of suspenseful entertainment that will capture your attention for 93 minutes.

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