Source Code

Rented Source Code on iTunes for a flight today. It was an interesting film. I'm not sure I liked the twist at the end, but it was kind of cool. For me there were two things that made it so compelling: the acting and the premiss. All of the actors do a great job making the characters real. Gyllenhall's war hero chopper pilot is both inspiring and heart breaking. You want him to succeed and get the girl and find some peace. The actor that plays his handler paints an equally compelling character. You can see the conflict in her. She knows her duty and will see the mission through. You also see the pain it causes her to use another soldier this way. The idea that you can relive the last eight minutes of a person's life is interesting. The idea that you can use those eight minutes as the basis for a role playing game is out there. The idea that you can use those eight minutes to relive the past is crazy, but fascinating. Can you do that without altering the time line? Is it all just a computer simulation? If it is just a simulation how can you trust that the "facts" that are uncovered aren't just ghosts in the machine? Is it really time travel? The who done it and the love story are almost ancillary. They are required to give the characters something to do and some way to make the premise tangible. They are handled well enough to make the film work. I do recommend the movie. I think it would be better on a big screen although I didn't find the small screen detracted too much.