Source Code is like a fast-paced mind game, which can be enjoyed the most if we follow the advice of one of the character's in the movie: "The Source Code is a gift. Don't squander it by thinking." The movie shows the journey of Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) trying to identify the perpetrator of a train bombing, after being thrust into the shoes of another man, Sean Fentress, a history teacher. Capt. Colter is an US Army helicopter pilot, serving in Afghanistan. Colter's last memory is of his helicopter crashing in Afghanistan, and when he wakes up, he is in a train, that too inside the body of a total stranger.
Colter has no idea of who he is or where he is and most importantly, why he is there. The train that Colter is traveling in has a sudden explosion, and many lives are lost. The next minute, Colter finds himself inside a pod of some sort, where he finds a monitor with a superior officer (Vera Farmiga), talking to him over it.
Colter is told that he is part of a project called Source Code, which utilizes brain patterns and brief sections of human memory to explore any tragedy as it happens, thereby helping in identifying its root cause and, more importantly, its perpetrator.
Dr. Rutledge(Jeffrey Wright), the creator of Source Code, explains this is a program which combines the eight-minute situational memory span of the human mind, with the momentary brain power that remains after a person's death, to recreate the final minutes before death. Colter, being a trained soldier and of a similar physical makeup of one of the blast victims Sean Fentress, is in this situation asked to interact within the realm of the train to determine the person responsible for the train blast, in time to stop the next blast.
Repeatedly, Colter travels through the final eight minutes before the Chicago bound train explodes, and is jolted back to the pod after the explosion. It is within these repeated eight minute intervals that Colter has to identify the criminal mastermind who sets off the blasts, obtain his own identify, and also realize that the feelings he has for his co-passenger Christina(Michelle Monaghan) is love, and take it further. Will one man with a tight time limit be able to do all this? Watch the film to know! The film takes us through many twists and turns, and when you think the film has ended, you're in for a surprise, as the Director decides to place a few more twists there too.
Gyllenhaal does a wonderful job of portraying a gamut of emotions, as he goes through shock, mystery, romance, anger, and what not from one minute to the next. The movie is helmed by Duncan Jones, the maker of Moon. The story and screenplay has been penned by Ben Ripley, who has some wonderful dialogues like the one stated in the beginning, and also poses some thoughtful questions like "What would you do if you knew you only had one minute to live?" The movie has been given a PG-13 rating, by the Motion Picture Association.
Watching the film, one can't help being reminded of Groundhog Day, but Source Code holds its own. It is one hell of an entertainer, and the thrills and spills keeps one guessing and engrossed in the movie, right till the end.
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