ViewGuide

Created Apr 17, 2011 08:10PM PST • Edited Apr 17, 2011 08:20PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   Source Code starts out with a bang (literally), but ends in a cloud of confusion, diminishing the overall effectiveness of what could have been a better movie.

   Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Colter Stevens, unwillingly recruited by the government to help determine who causes a commuter train to blow up. To accomplish this mission, he must be transported back again and again in time to the same event, hoping each time to discover more clues.

   Had the movie stuck with this basic premise, it probably would have been much more effective. Instead, the final act becomes so convoluted and confusing, that viewers may be left scratching their collective heads wondering the ending. The basic principle of K.I.S.S. is lost, and we are subjected to thick intellectual plot devices that left this reviewer (and his 14 year old son) confused. Sadly, once this occurs, it loses any appeal I may have had to see it again (a la Inception) to clarify parts I missed.

   What becomes even more incredulous is that all of the characters in the movie seem perfectly fine discussing quantum physics and other abstract scientific thinking. Too much of a jump in reality for my liking.

   Wait for it on DVD.

4. Acting

   OK 2.5

5. Male Stars OK 2.5

   Jake is Ok in the lead role.

6. Female Stars OK 2.5

   Vera Farmiga is good in her role as the stuffy but sympathetic Mission Control person. Michelle Monaghan is adequate, yet along for the ride, in her role as the passenger with sex appeal.

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

8. Male Costars Barely OK 2.0

   Jeffrey Wright is stuffy and wooden in his acting as the brains behind the physics. I couldn’t tell if it was in the script, or just him.

10. Film

    OK 2.5

11. Direction OK 2.5

    Lots of special effects seem to try and compensate for story derailment.

    As a suburban Chicago native, It was bittersweet to see parts of the film done in Canada that were made to look like Chicago.

    BTW, if you see the film, look for the red building next to where the train blows up. You’ll see it several times throughout the movie. Anyway, you’ll notice that there are two mansard roofs, yet one is partially missing. My grandfather went to college there, and once told me that a chemistry student really did blow the roof off the building in the 20s or 30s. Interesting, and useless, bit of trivia.

12. Play OK 2.5

    The last 20 minutes should have been redone. Otherwise it was fine.

13. Music OK 2.5

14. Visuals OK 2.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.1

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Brutal 2.9

    Lots of slow motion explosions. Some fighting and shooting.

19. Rudeness Salty 2.4

    Some milder swearing.

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.7

22. Circumstantial Supernatural 3.9

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Supernatural 3.1