Source Code is a more convoluted, faster paced Ground Hogs Day [1993] with guns and a ticking time bomb

Rating: 6/10 (15 April 2011)

Source Code is a more convoluted, faster paced Ground Hogs Day [1993] with guns and a ticking time bomb. Although not that well made Source Code is a reminder that audiences prefer complex story lines, even if they aren't completely coherent.
Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a Colter Stevens, a helicopter pilot who is trapped in some sort of machine simulator. The beginning of the film starts with Stevens waking up on a train in a body that is not his own. He's sitting across from Christina Warren played by Michelle Monaghan, a female companion who he will learn later on has a small crush on him, or at least who she thinks Sean Fentress. Stevens lives 8 minutes of Fentress's life trying to gather himself when a bomb suddenly explodes killing everyone on the train.
Stevens awakens in a metal dome disoriented and locked into a harness. Without knowing who or where he is an image and voice appear when he is contacted by Luit Goodwin played by Vera Farmiga. Goodwin tells Stevens that he must identify the bomber of the train so that they can prevent another terrorist attack. Steven's doesn't quite understand what's going on with his last memories being aboard a helicopter in Afghanistan. Before too many of Stevens' questions are answered he is to told to try again and abruptly plugged back into the source code.
This process continues over and over until bit by bit is revealed what the source code is. Apparently source code allows a certain someone to be plugged into the consciousness of another certain someone and live out an alternate reality, something involving string theory and such. The rules are that he only he can only live out the last 8 minutes of that someone's life because that's how long the "flash" lasts when someone dies. Also, whatever he does in that reality will not affect any other reality.
So Gyllenhaal is plugged into the source code relentlessly by his military commanders over and over until he finds the bomber. Over the course of his multiple reenactments Stevens narrows down the bomber and develops a relationship with Ms. Warren and Luit. Goodwin.
Gyllenhall and Monaghan are good but nothing spectacular. Jeffrey Wright plays the nerdy mastermind quite well. He's cruel, discordant and tunnel minded; just what you'd expect from a scientist who's spent his whole life dedicated to his pet project. But it is Vera Farmiga who really shines in her role as the intermediate officer between the enslaved Steven's and the heartless scientist. In every scene Framiga battles with the two conflicting personas of her character. The female empathic side trying to soothe and care for Stevens as he's used as a cog in the high tech military defense machine; and also the military stratagician (stratagician is not a word???) who must convince Stevens to finish the mission while withholding the painful truth of Stevens' condition.
The music in Source Code is a little pretentious and is abnormally noticeable. Its special effects are not the greatest with explosions and slow motion looking like they had been done by a sub par video game company. However it's not just the special effects, nor its mediocre cinematography but also Source Code's erratic pacing and editing for my undistinguished rating. The scenes don't flow well together and you feel just as pushed around as Gyllenhaal's character as you bolt back and forth between scenes. This feeling may have been deliberate on director Duncan Jone's part but watching the movie you feel like you've been riding the old bumpy wooden roller coaster you'd find at the boardwalk.
At the end of the film you're constantly teased with false endings. As soon as you think it's going to end, they tag on and extra scene which tangles the plot even further. During the last 20 minutes they start abandoning the rules of source code and begin cramming in new content. It's like they shot multiple endings of the film and instead of choosing one, they decided to put them all in.
Source Code is an intriguing film with a lot of complexities and philosophical metaphysics involved which I think is the reason for its success at the box office and among critics. As we know from Inception and The Matrix audiences today are really drawn to these alternate reality movies. However Source Code is not particularly well constructed and i'll be re- watching Ground Hog's Day numerous times before I even think about re-watching Source Code.