Source Code
Director: Duncan Jones
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan and Jeffrey Wright
Release Date: 2011-04-29 00:00:00
Quick Take: Twisted sci-fi that is thoroughly entertaining
If you thought Inception was intelligent, The Matrix path-breaking, Pi intellectually stimulating or Groundhog Day thoroughly entertaining, chances are you’ll end up liking Source Code. The film is as unique in its concept as any of the above mentioned films and, most importantly, it affects you enough to make you think, discuss and talk about the possibilities of its premise long after you walk out of the screening.
The plot of the film is classic sci-fi mumbo jumbo, the kind that gives average students attending a physics class a serious sense of disbelief. Soldier Colter Stevens wakes up inside the body of an unknown man, he’s on a train, his companion is attractive and there’s a bomb on the train too. Before you think this is Fritz Lang meets Alfred Hitchcock, think again. It becomes a Run Lola Run. As the plot thickens, several new layers are added to the story, several new doubts are added to the explanations and it all complicates into one messy test of the average moviegoer’s perception and intellect.
The film uses complex physics theorems like alternate time lines, alternate realities, parallel universes and dimensions and gives you a new world where all these theories blend together to give you blow-your-mind kind of abilities. With each passing second, as Jake Gyllenhaal copes with temporary loss of memory to discover new aspects of his reality, the viewer is fed pieces of the plot that he can add to his jigsaw puzzle to make more sense of the film.
And while the complex narrative engages your brain cells, the piercing background score isolates your senses. The film has fantastic editing and within the 90-odd minutes of its runtime the film squeezes in a lot of information. The best way to watch Source Code will perhaps be to watch it at a stretch.
This is a one man performance and Jake’s energy and range of emotions drive the film. Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan do well with their supporting parts too.
Just in the end, the film takes a turn that warrants suspension of disbelief. All the reasoning and logic makes way for an illogical turn of events. It’s like love and hope triumph over science and logic. Some of it makes sense and some of it doesn’t. And because the movie leaves room for speculation, it urges the viewer to think about the climax and come up with reasons to believe or condone it. Source Code it not an instant classic nor is it the most original piece of cinema ever made. But it has all the trappings of a sci-fi film that make for good entertainment.
Director: Duncan Jones
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan and Jeffrey Wright
Release Date: 2011-04-29 00:00:00
Quick Take: Twisted sci-fi that is thoroughly entertaining
If you thought Inception was intelligent, The Matrix path-breaking, Pi intellectually stimulating or Groundhog Day thoroughly entertaining, chances are you’ll end up liking Source Code. The film is as unique in its concept as any of the above mentioned films and, most importantly, it affects you enough to make you think, discuss and talk about the possibilities of its premise long after you walk out of the screening.
The plot of the film is classic sci-fi mumbo jumbo, the kind that gives average students attending a physics class a serious sense of disbelief. Soldier Colter Stevens wakes up inside the body of an unknown man, he’s on a train, his companion is attractive and there’s a bomb on the train too. Before you think this is Fritz Lang meets Alfred Hitchcock, think again. It becomes a Run Lola Run. As the plot thickens, several new layers are added to the story, several new doubts are added to the explanations and it all complicates into one messy test of the average moviegoer’s perception and intellect.
The film uses complex physics theorems like alternate time lines, alternate realities, parallel universes and dimensions and gives you a new world where all these theories blend together to give you blow-your-mind kind of abilities. With each passing second, as Jake Gyllenhaal copes with temporary loss of memory to discover new aspects of his reality, the viewer is fed pieces of the plot that he can add to his jigsaw puzzle to make more sense of the film.
And while the complex narrative engages your brain cells, the piercing background score isolates your senses. The film has fantastic editing and within the 90-odd minutes of its runtime the film squeezes in a lot of information. The best way to watch Source Code will perhaps be to watch it at a stretch.
This is a one man performance and Jake’s energy and range of emotions drive the film. Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan do well with their supporting parts too.
Just in the end, the film takes a turn that warrants suspension of disbelief. All the reasoning and logic makes way for an illogical turn of events. It’s like love and hope triumph over science and logic. Some of it makes sense and some of it doesn’t. And because the movie leaves room for speculation, it urges the viewer to think about the climax and come up with reasons to believe or condone it. Source Code it not an instant classic nor is it the most original piece of cinema ever made. But it has all the trappings of a sci-fi film that make for good entertainment.
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