MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:33 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right
Source Code
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Summit Entertainment |
| Release Date: |
July 26, 2011 |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Not too young, they may never ride a train again. |
| Date Movie: |
It’s a good movie for you to snuggle on the couch. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Nah. |
| Gratuitous Violence: |
There is some killing and, well, the train does blow up a number of times. |
| Action: |
There is some chasing, but nothing crazy. |
| Laughs: |
A chuckle here and there. |
| Memorable Scene: |
The ending e-mail. |
| Memorable Quote: |
Nothing stood out. |
| Directed By: |
Duncan Jones |
As the credits started to roll when my wife and I were watching “Source Code,” she simply said, “Is there some extra special feature on there that will explain what the fuck they meant?” Happily, on the “Source Code” Blu-ray, there is, but sadly it’s embedded in the “Access: Source Code” feature, which pretty much makes you watch the entire movie, again. She didn’t have time for that and relied on my infinite knowledge of the space-time continuum for an explanation, which, in transposing space and time, I basically shifted the conversation to “Did you like the movie?” She did. And so did I.
Here’s the basics…
Jake Gyllenhaal is a soldier, Captain Colter Stevens, and he finds himself transported into the body of a man on a commuter train. It seems that this train gets blown up, and through the magic of a government program, he can “infiltrate” the last eight minutes of a person’s life. So, his new mission is to find out who blows up the train, or at least gather enough intel to prevent the second attack that is coming soon. The problem is that Colter has to pretty much re-live this explosion over and over again, each time going back to his mission-control capsule to report on his findings. The other problem is that, along the way, he finds himself falling for a train passenger, Christina (Michelle Monaghan – and who wouldn’t?), and also learns that in conjunction with re-living the last eight minutes of this mystery dude’s life, he can also manipulate the events happening along the way.
So, for our multiple train rides, we get Captain Stevens learning from each trip, falling in love, learning the true value of the “Source Code,” and hopefully saving Chicago from being blown-up.
You want the key to why I really liked “Source Code?” Well, the movie people didn’t get too crazy with stuff, and by that I mean that we don’t get a lot of back-story about Captain Stevens, just enough to pretty much know he is a good soldier and misses his father, we also don’t get too crazy in the back-story of Christina, and we also don’t get too crazy into the total science of the story. Nope, like an action-packed version of the movie “Groundhog Day,” instead of Bill Murray continuing to go back until he learns about love, we get a mission of saving humanity, with a touch of love. And I’ve got to say, as the movie was ending, I almost got a little weepy knowing the fate of Captain Stevens, or did I? And even better? The movie clocks in at about and hour and half, just long enough to give you a great movie, and not one of those movies where you get antsy thinking it’s about 15 minutes too long!
I don’t want to give too much of the movie away because the joy of this film is the journey Captain Stevens takes from his first infiltration to his final conclusion, and telling anything more would really ruin the fun.
Your wife might not understand it, hell, you probably won’t understand it either (although you’ll probably try to make something up to satisfy her and make her think you are super-smart), but just sit back, strap it in, and enjoy a movie that takes you on a wild ride, albeit it’s sort of the same ride over and over again, on the same train, for about an hour and half. But it sure is fun! It’s 4 ½ stars out of 5 for “Source Code,” and not just because the commuter train blows up in front of my college alma mater, Illinois Institute of Technology. It’s a great rental for the both of you to snuggle, and even the older kids to enjoy with you.
In terms of the extras, for the Blu-ray, most of them are embedded in the “Access: Source Code” feature, which is really cool even if you do have to watch the movie again. During the movie, you will get pop-ups with movie trivia, interviews with the cast, and most importantly, experts telling you about time travel that might help explain the movie’s ending.
