Review of Source Code (2011) by Lewis E — 05 May 2013

A soldier is tasked with continuously returning to the moment before a train explosion in order to find the culprit. The concept is unique, giving the impression that imagination and effort had gone into it. The acting is well done and the short running time makes it an easy watch. I liked the way it introduced and reflected on the idea of being able to relive your final moments, whether you would act differently having gained more appreciation for the important values in life. Furthermore, the fact that he was forced to continuously replay this scenario on the train did not make the film as dull as one might have predicted, enough emphasis also being attributed to the present-day scenes to avoid a repetitive rhythm.

The bad thing was it seemed as if the present-day scenes were at the fore front after a while, unravelling the reasoning behind Gyllenhal's personal story; consequently the investigation into the train bombing, which I believed was the more interesting plot, took a back-seat. This meant that the final climax of catching the bomber (who isn't hard to predict but ah well) lost some of its significance. There must have been great pressure to have a happy ending because they ditched the original premise in order to meet this objective. No sufficient explanation is really offered on how the ending is possible but then again some will say that the idea of reliving the past through this source code is far-fetched to begin with. I just feel that they stretched it a little too far in order to please gentler natured viewers.

A good source of entertainment which I recommend to everyone. Unfortunately I was not blown away, making it is doubtful as to whether I will be reliving 'Source Code' in the foreseeable future.