At the Movies with Fatwayne

Source Code starts out to be both confusing and repetitive. We see this man on a train talking to a pretty girl, Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan) and we don’t know who he is or how he got there. The big problem is that Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) doesn’t know either. Christina seems to know him from earlier commutes on the train but Colter’s last recollection is taking fire while piloting his helicopter on a mission in Afghanistan. Things do not go smoothly for the good Captain as the train explodes after he has been on it for only eight minutes.

When he regains consciousness he is strapped into a chair in what appears to be his helicopter. He is then hailed via computer by Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) who attempts to bring him back to reality. Colter is confused and he is not given much help from Capt. Goodwin. She only wants him to focus on his mission which is to go back aboard the train and ascertain who is responsible for the bomb blast. She tells him that he has only eight minutes to solve the problem before the train explodes again.

This is where the repetition comes into play. Colter goes back several times and through a lengthy process of elimination and repeated scenes (can you say “Groundhog Day”?) he is hot on the trail of the mysterious bomber. The problem is that I got tired of seeing the same woman spill coffee on his shoes and the same passengers doing their individual things ad nauseum.

Colter finally discovers that he has been assigned to a project called Source Code whereby his conscientious can be transferred into another person’s body during the last eight minutes of that person’s life. The scientists reason that they would be in a position to avert or even change the course of events if their mission proves successful. There are a lot of complications and surprises in store for Captain Colter Stevens as he strives to prevent the train catastrophe and prolong his growing affection for Christina.
I will say that once the film gained momentum I found it to be a very entertaining sci-fi mystery. It has some shocking moments as well as some tender ones which left me very satisfied with the whole experience.

Rated – PG13 -

Fatwayne’s Rating

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