When screenwriter Ben Ripley cobbled together “Source Code,” he contributed to the techno-thriller genre in one meaningful way: gratuitous computer generated explosions. These explosions are the result of a terrorist attack on a Chicago-bound commuter train that kills everyone on board. However, a top secret Army computer program called source code generates a simulation of the last eight minutes of someone’s life using the “afterglow” of consciousness and “quantum mechanics and calculus.” Quantum mechanics and calculus being scientific jargon for “hack writing and contempt.”
Inside this computer simulation, Col. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) makes a quantum leap into the body of a soon-to-be deceased teacher. Of course Army officials don’t brief Colter in advance about the details of his mission, thus leaving him to flirt with a comely passenger named Christina (Michelle Monaghan) before they are annihilated.
After the explosion, he finds himself in a computer-generated purgatory within source code that allows him to communicate with the real world. Here, Colter learns that he must discover the identity of the terrorist on that train before a second nuclear bomb detonates in downtown Chicago. This begins the eight-minute time-loop during which Colter is sent back into the simulation to search for clues, all while simultaneously falling in love with Christina. Despite inhabiting the body of a deceased man within a computer simulation of a terrorist attack that has already occurred, Colter convinces himself he can save Christina and the other commuters using source code — against the wishes of his commanding officers who want him to focus on the task of finding the terrorist before Chicago goes up in a mushroom cloud.
“Source Code” attempts to explore what it means to be alive through the interactions between Colter and Christina, and to find whether that life is real. However, films that question reality usually have structures that resonate thematically. The circular structure of “12 Monkeys” demonstrates predetermination, the reverse chronological structure of “Memento” depicts the fragility of memory and the divergent structure of “Donnie Darko” represents the possibility of multiple realities. “Source Code,” which is indebted to these films, borrows so many disparate plot elements that the filmmakers were left to assemble it into a shapeless pastiche that ultimately says nothing. As a story that withholds crucial information from the protagonist because “we don’t have time,” only to tell him that crucia information a few scenes later in order to advance the plot, the film collapses under its own weight — leaving Gyllenhaal’s character to exclaim, “This makes no sense!” Members of the audience undistracted by the CG train explosion every eight minutes, will agree.
Information about “Source Code” can be found at enterthesourcecode.com.
Movie: Source Code
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Release Date: April 1
Grade: C
