I heard good things about Source Code before stepping into the cinema, including its 90+% score on Rotten Tomatoes during its opening week, so I was expecting good things from the movie. Boy I wasn’t let down.
Jake Gyllenhaall stars as Colter Stevens, a soldier who is thrown into an experimental project, Source Code, which puts him into another man’s body to relive the last 8 minutes of the man’s life. In the 8 minutes he spends in the body, he is supposed to figure out who the bomber of a train is in order to prevent a much larger bomb from going off in the city that day.
From the get go, you should know that this is a science fiction movie, and a “time travelling” one at that – so expect obvious flaws and plot holes. It’s never easy to write stories about parallel lives and going back in time without making any mistakes, but Source Code does a pretty good job of covering it up with an entertaining cast, light hearted gags, and romance.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a convincing soldier who happens to be caught in someone’s body and portrays his character’s emotions really well, especially in the scene about the phone call to his dad. Michelle Monaghan plays Christina Warren, Colter’s love interest in the movie, and does a pretty good job at it – you can’t help but fall in love with her as well. Russel Peters cameos in the movie as a standup comedian and even gets a chance to perform on the moving train. Nothing to complain about here, there’s eye candy for people of both sexes.
The movie ends on a high note, like a typical Hollywood ending, but it somehow doesn’t cheapen the whole experience. You feel for Colter, and really root for him to get the girl. You might walk out feeling a bit confused, and as you start to dissect the plot, you’ll start to be unimpressed. But taking it at face value and with a little thought – just a little and you’ll find that Source Code is one of the best movies you’ll catch this year. Source Code gets 8/10.