Sci-Fi at it's best

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2011)

The film has a really interesting storyline, Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) military helicopter pilot awakes up on a train and has no idea where he is, why he is there and doesn't recognise anyone around him, opposite him sits Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan) who seems to know him and keeps referring to him as Sean, this creates the first of the films 'huh' moments. He spends a few minutes stumbling around the train dazed and confused gets to the toilet and looks at himself in the mirror and sees someone else, shocked he bolts from the toilet runs into Christina and then they are both engulfed in a fiery explosion as the whole train is destroyed.
Colter awakes strapped into some sort of harness in what appears to be a metal room of sorts with someone who refers to themselves as Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) who proceeds to run a series of memory tests on Colter, evading Colter's questions about where is he and what is going on. He doesn't get any answers and is constantly being told by Goodwin that time is running out, and asked 'have you found the bomb yet?', 'have you identified the bomber yet?'. Further confused Colter gets told he has to go back into the Source Code; once again he awakes on the train in what appears to be a repeat of the earlier events, except that he notices he can change things. This series of events repeat several times as he eventually locates the bomb, several red herrings are presented including a foreign individual (who is completely innocent) identifying the US military's ethnic profiling procedure.
All the while, as these events are reoccurring it becomes more and more apparent that Colter is not doing this because he is following orders, but because he has started to care about the people on the train and is continually trying to save them. But every 8 minutes or if he gets killed in the Source Code he winds back in the chamber. Eventually after pushing for more answers a new person speaks to him, a Dr Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) who is bullish and insists he carries out his orders. But gives a very quick indication as to what is happening, that he is reliving the last 8 minutes of Sean's life, but that it is futile to try and save the lives of people on the train because in reality they are already dead, what he is essentially doing is reliving a fixed moment in time, and that he must hurry as the events that are occurring in the Source Code happened that morning and that the person responsible for the bomb is planning another, bigger bomb and that is why he needs to hurry.
All the time this is going on, the chamber that Colter is in keeps changing, getting smaller, colder, bigger raising the question, where is he? As the film comes to its climax Colter finds out that in the real world he is actually dead, killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Naturally this comes as a bit of a shock to him and comes to the realisation that his only purpose is to stop this bomber, he comes to an agreement with Dr Rutledge that if he stops the bomber he will be put back in to the Source Code. With new impetus and the hope that he can go back into the Source Code and live happily ever if he stops the bomber he identifies the person responsible for the bomb, but in doing so gets shot by the bomber. Once out of the Source Code, the information is relayed to Goodwin and Dr Rutledge and then to the relevant authorities and they apprehend the suspect who is a normal person who has a personal vendetta against the modern world.
It quickly becomes apparent that Dr Rutledge has no intention of allowing Colter back into the Source Code, leaving Colter in his chamber he goes away to get the plaudits for his Source Code experiment. Colter starts to talk to Goodwin and reasons with her to let him back into the Source Code and to pull the plug on him after the 8 minutes.
On this his apparent last voyage in to the Source Code he not only stops the train bomb, but captures the bomber, handcuffs him to a rail on the train, phones the police and tells him where the van with the dirty bomb is parked. He also borrows someone's BlackBerry and sends an email to Goodwin. He tells Christina that he loves her and as the 8 minutes come to a conclusion kisses her and as Goodwin pulls the plug the world freezes mid kiss.
Seconds pass and then the world continues, Colter looks at his watch and the timer moves past 8 minutes, and the universe doesn't end. The scene changes to a military lab and Goodwin walks in and checks her email, she receives an email from Colter stating that if she receives this email the Source Code isn't just 8 minutes but a whole new universe.
How you interpret this is up to you, is it a new Universe, is this an afterlife, what Colter's subconscious wants to happen, and that is the beauty of the ending, it isn't set in stone it is open to your interpretation.
I really enjoyed this film and I will definitely now watch Moon, Duncan Jones's first film. Having already bought the film on Blu-ray about a year ago that is half the battle done! I loved the ending, I really liked how open ended it was, the acting was great throughout, Dr Rutledge trampling on Colter's rights just because he is technically dead rises some interesting questions no matter how effective the Source Code technology is.
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