Welcome back for another installment of "Movie Reviews...", this time around I'm going to review a film fresh out of theatres, "Source Code". It has been a little while since I've seen a first-run movie on the big screen: as much as I like movies, I prefer the more intimate setting of home viewing, and it's cheaper too. Besides, if you have a big enough television and loud enough sound system, the theatre effect is quite easy to re-create, and control at your will, i.e.: bathroom breaks, snack breaks, tobacco breaks, annoying kids, etc. It usually takes a REAL special movie (or special event) to get me to go, most likely a comic book movie or a Stephen King adaptation, but every once in a while, I'll catch a random movie I wasn't planning on seeing, which in some cases works out (Die Hard) and in others, does not (Memoirs of a Geisha...don't ask). This happens to be one of the times when it worked out.
Also not a literary genius.
I went in to this movie thinking it was an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel, so I was expecting a total and complete mind-warp. For those unfamiliar with his work, first understand that the man was completely bat-shit insane. His mind has given us such great literary-turned-cinema works as "Total Recall", "A Scanner Darkly", and a little film you may have heard of called "Blade Runner". He is credited as being the most adapted sci-fi writer of all time. But this isn't his work, I only found out later. Does that lessen my opinion of the movie? Not one bit. "Source Code" starts off with a bang, quite literally. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Colter Stevens, a decorated army helicopter pilot who wakes up on a train in a body that isn't his. After naturally freaking out and trying to figure out what's going on, suddenly the train explodes and he finds himself strapped in to some sort of capsule surrounded by computers and monitors and the like. He is brought back to "reality" by Capt. Colleen Goodwin, played by Vera Farmiga, who explains to him that he is inside the Source Code, which allows him to be transported to the last eight minutes of an individual's life, in this case a teacher on the exploding train named Sean Fentress. Goodwin explains to Stevens that they want him to gather information and try to pinpoint the bomber before he can set off another, deadlier dirty bomb attack. They explain to him that he can't change events or save anyone because it's not like a time machine, but more like a VCR, allowing you to rewind and watch events, but not alter them.
"Huh?"
Along the way, Stevens (as Fentress) meets and becomes drawn to Christina Warren, played by Michelle Monaghan, a woman who travels the train every morning with Fentress and has a friendly relationship with. Stevens becomes determined to not only find the bomber, but try to stop the events from even happening and save Warren's life along with everyone else, even though he has been told numerous times that he can't. He also tries to figure out what happened to himself, and why he is in this program in the first place, which leads to many twists and turns that I can't reveal here. But they aren't the kind of twists that will get you lost either, everything is pretty well spelled out along the way. You don't find yourself scratching your head and going "Huh?", too often, and if you do, you weren't paying enough attention. Shame on you.
I recommend picking this one up as a definite rent when it hits, or, if you're a Gyllenhaal fan, a purchase. He does a great job here, though he's not quite ready to be the next action star. Everyone else on display does a fine job, the best perhaps being the creator of the Source Code, Dr. Rutledge, played by Jeffrey Wright. You never know whether to look at him as a good guy or a bad guy, he seems to be straddling the line of neutrality that is so easy to fall on either side of. There are a couple of small plot holes, nothing to ruin the overall experience, but they may inspire some debate. Also, for the trivia buffs out there, keep an ear out for Scott Bakula, in a voice-only performance.
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