26/09/2015

Source Code

  
Didn't Tom Cruise do a movie more recently with this basic premise, but with more special effects and a worse script? 'Source Code' Starts intriguingly. Apparently Stevens knows as little as we do. We soon discover the basic situation, and I am pleased to find that I will be guaranteed to a train explosion every eight minutes.
The shooting style is fairly basic, similar to most action orientated movies. There are few interesting angles or sequences that stand out purely from a cinematographic point of view. This doesn't take away from the movie as a whole though (it just means less bonus points), as it is very plot driven. The most important aspects are the actors and the writing here. The writing is good, and all the actors do well (Jake Gyllenhaal in particular).
Also, I've never seen a two story train before - am I malnourished, train-wise?
  
  
For such a necessarily repetitive film, it's filled with twists and turns. It's a triumph of character creation that their relationship can seemingly progress just by repeating the same eight minutes over and over. While she does not change, his attitude towards her does. Much of the plot of this feels like '12 Monkeys', though with a very different filming style and tone
The fact that he has been dead for a while is a nice reveal, and I think the movie ends well. He saves a load of people in the real world, before going back and saving the train in the source code. This doesn't matter, as far as we are concerned, but really it matters at least as much as what happens in “reality”. Real life is only what you perceive it to be, the only difference between fiction and non-fiction is in our heads. None of it matters, or it all does. As he dies and his new life just keeps ticking along I wondered if he was now permanently in an alternate universe, or if this was just to pacify a Hollywood audience. But I don't think it matters either way.
That actress must have gotten bored of saying “So I took your advice, it was very good advice.”
  
Source Code: 63.9