Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Currently Obsessed With: Source Code


Eight minutes till the commuter train explodes. Eight minutes to discover the terrorists responsible and prevent further tragedy. Eight minutes to call your father one more time and reconcile. Eight minutes to fall in love. Eight minutes to come to grips with your situation and accept your fate. For army helicopter pilot Colter Stevens, those eight minutes must be spent well enough to last a lifetime or he'll have to repeat those eight minutes again........and again till he gets it right. Welcome to Duncan Jone's "Source Code." In an attempt to maintain the spirit of the film, I shall try to explain my fascination with this piece in eight sentences or less. Jones has crafted a nifty little time travel film......wait.....that's nine sentences already........damn......back to the source code.


.edoc ecruos eht ot kcab…..nmad…..ydaerla secnetnes enin s’that…..tiaw…..mlif levart emit elttil ytfin a detfarc sah senoJ  .ssel ro secnetnes thgie ni epeip siht htiw noitanicsaf ym nialpxe ot yrt llahs I ,mlif eht fo tirips eht niatniam ot tpmetta na nI “.edoC ecrouS” s’enoJ nacnuD ot emocleW  .thgir ti steg eh llit niaga dna…..niaga setunim thgieesoht taeper ot evah ll’eh ro emitefil a tsal ot hguone llew tneps eb tsum setunim thgie esoht ,snevetS retloC tolip retpocileh ymra roF  .etaf ruoy tpecca dna noitautis ruoy htiw spirg ot emoc ot setunim thgiE  .evol ni llaf ot setunim thgiE  .elicnocer dna emit erom eno rehtaf ruoy llac ot setunim thgiE  .ydegart rehtruf tneverp dna elbisnopser stsirorret eht revocsid ot setnim thgiE  .sedolpxe niart retummoc eht llit setunim thgiE.



Duncan Jone's  first foray into sci-fi was well received with 09's "Moon," and it's nice to know that his sophomore effort doesn't disappoint. Gyllenhaal impresses here as the bewildered time traveling soldier trying to make the most of his allotted interval. He's backed up by beautiful co-eds Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga. The film races along at a nice pace, and you'll probably find yourself discussing what it all means long after the credits rolled as my wife and I did. The science of it all is perhaps a tad sketchy, but don't let that deter you from getting on board. I find myself pondering exactly how I would utilize those eight precious minutes aboard the Chicago bound commuter train in the story. Could I tie up the loose ends of my entire life in that time frame? Could you?



8 comments:

  1. Source Code was a great movie! Vera Farmiga put in her usual good performance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really enjoyed the film, although I found the final 5 minutes a bit cheesy for my liking, would have preferred the darker ending!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it was pretty solid although it didn't quite hit on all cylinders for me. The ending was a bit of a letdown IMO.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Custard I feel the happy ending is something of a rarity these days so I didn't mind.

    @Castor I enjoyed "Moon" much more, but still felt this was a decent follow up. I can see people having a problem with the ending though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm w/ Castor, the ending is a bit of a head-scratcher, but overall it's a worthy effort from Duncan Jones.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm going to follow the crowd here and say if the film ended 5 minutes earlier it would've been better for it. I really enjoyed the acting of Vera Farmiga in this one. She was the equal parts stoic and compassionate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This was a good film just had little flaws here and there even though Duncan Jones' direction is amazing and he makes something that would seem repetitive quickly, very inspired. Glad you like it so much Markus!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Like many of you, I could totally nit pick. All your points are valid, but I'll take well thought out sci-fi like this against Transformers or something like that any day of the week and twice on Sundays. We need more guys like Duncan Jones making films.

    ReplyDelete