Lots of brains translates to an overall great film

Rating: 8/10 (15 April 2011)

My faith has been restored that great movies will come out in 2011. Source Code is a highly original and fantastically well structured film from the director of the hidden 2009 gem, Moon, which to anybody who hasn't seen it, they are missing out on a major feat in science fiction as an art form. But Source Code is something entirely different. Our protagonist is Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) who wakes up on a train and doesn't know who he is or how he got there. He tries to make sense of all of his surroundings and just as he gets oriented the train explodes when a bomb goes off. Flash to a dark undisclosed location and Colter now finds himself waking up from something like a dream while a woman talks to him from a monitor screen. Colter quickly learns that he is part of a military project called source code which allows him to relive the last eight minutes of the life of one of the passengers. Through this technology Colter is supposed to find the bomb and the bomber in order to prevent a second attack. Plenty of other intriguing subplots develop and the film has a lot to offer, spanning a wide field of socio-political issues. The movie is smart, fun and even a little emotional.
This is a surprisingly quiet film for something that is, in a way, categorized as an action film. But is more of an art film action flick that is significantly smarter than your average film of this nature. The story is very involved and there is a lot going on, and a lot to keep up with if you want to get the full effect from the film. The film impressively is able to please the simpler of movie goers with its suspense and action, while also appeasing the crowd that is looking for more thinking than just an hour and a half of escapism. Thus the film, for me, kept my brain working and my eyes glued to the screen, anticipating where exactly the film would lead. I can be easy to tell where some of the bigger aspects of the film are headed, but there are many different smaller parts of the film where you can't be too sure of how exactly it is going to unfold. Because of this I was very satisfied by the end of the film when everything was resolved excellently, while still leaving enough unanswered questions to keep the mind juices flowing. In a nutshell, this movie is smart.
Ben Ripley, in his feature film debut as a writer does an excellent job on the script here. I wouldn't say it is the highlight of the film, but really there is nothing inherently wrong with any of the dialouge or any of the characters. The character of Colter has some great moments and there is some very well written dialouge between him and the various characters he interacts with. He plays a fairly existential role as the film explores the out of body, out of mind experience and gives it a sci-fi twist with the source code explanation. But he is a character who has to play a part in almost two separate realities simultaneously as he constantly jumps back and forth between the train and where the military is holding him in order to conduct the source code project. It is very interesting to watch how these two entirely different locations create this fascinating story, and it all fits together so well.
Source Code is one of the best of the year so far, and with the next month or so's lineup for movies, I think it will stay that way, I'm sad to say. But it is OK because Source Code is an excellent film with a lot of brains, and plenty of flare to stay interesting. The story never falters and it never wastes time with any useless subplots. Every little thing plays a role in bringing the story to an excellent close, and overall an incredible story is woven, and everything is executed just right. It can be a little slow at times, but the film is fairly low key overall, except for a few moments. This film doesn't pack too dramatic of a punch, but it is simply just a good film that was made very well and provided for a much higher level film experience than what I normally receive on a trip to the theater.