Viewed in
2011
Formats
DVD
Premise
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a soldier who can relive the last eight minutes of another's life to stop a terrorist plot.
Liked
The pacing and execution.
Disliked
The ending.
Thoughts
Despite its ridiculous premise and marketing that somehow made it look even more ridiculous, the actual product was far from what it appeared.
Many people have compared it to many movies, but for some reason, I think of Rashomon, which doesn't make sense, but there you go. As a well-structured thriller, the mysteries were peeled away in an entertaining, intelligent way at each re-visit of those eight minutes. Almost immediately, I was caught up in the drama, not caring much about the nonsensical science.
Then, halfway through, the story-telling took an interesting twist by focusing more on Gyllenhaal's character. This added heart to the film. And in the end, we got some unexpected emotional payoffs. although the side effect was it made the main mystery more of a MacGuffin and the climax not feel like one.
The film also succeeded on strong performances. Gyllenhaal was good, and even better when the second half came along, allowing him to go to his acting strengths. Michelle Monaghan was likable as the female lead. I was very surprised to see Russell Peters in a serious film like this, but turns out he just plays a comedian.
What bugged me the most was the resolution. It was way too ambitious in trying to make it ambiguous while giving a Hollywood ending at the same time. It just left me slightly confused. Not the best way to end the experience.
Once you get past the premise, Source Code became a fun, intelligent, well-structured thrill ride, buoyed by strong acting.
What I would change
End it on the kiss. Hopefully that's not too spoiler-ish.
