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When is Jeffrey Wright not weird? His characters are usually a combination of weird, offbeat and over the top. He woke me up when I started to nod off during QUANTUM OF SOLACE.
"that's why I eat
the peppersssssssssssssss"
I thought this was a pretty solid movie - certainly the best sci-fi I've seen in a minute, and I frankly liked it more than Moon (which struck me as having a central conceit even less believable than half-assed Quantum Leaping). But more than the film itself, I like Jones as a filmmaker. Absolutely massive talent.
Quote:
Farmiga needed to be restrained. Her relationship with Colter was crucial to the film's emotional center. Jeffrey Wright recognized it as his only chance to play a villainous mad scientist. I was in.
"Soon we will be able to make dozens, neigh, HUNDREDS of source codes! And we will rake in beautiful moneys!"
It is an interesting dilemma though: is the chance to save possibly millions of lives worth keeping one man in a Hellish-sort-of limbo for eternity?
Just got back from this. I went in relatively fresh. The only thing I had read about the film was that it lacked urgency. Going in knowing that, I accepted it and really fell into the film's serene groove. There was no real sense of tension (what do I care if a fictional Chicago blows up?), but I got caught up in Gyllenhal's performance. I cared about the people on that already-dead train because he cared. I'm a cheesy guy, so I would've loved the film to have ended on the much-talked-out freeze-frame camera move (or on the distorted reflection on the Cloud Gate), but I liked how the film ended anyway. It just makes such an optimistic statement and gave me the warm fuzzies that Moon did.
In full agreement about loving the reveal of Gyllenhal's character being represented by text.
Though, I would've appreciated a little more setup before he finally gave his dad a call. It was kinda moving, but I thought it could've been a sweeter moment. Would've made for a more conventional film, I guess, but I find that I sometimes need a bit of hand-holding.
The film didn't reach particularly satisfying highs, but it was a very solid piece of work.
It is an interesting dilemma though: is the chance to save possibly millions of lives worth keeping one man in a Hellish-sort-of limbo for eternity?
It also makes me wonder... is it ethical to abuse, beat, racially profile, threaten, and unlawfully search the dead in a parallel universe to save the lives of people in 'your' universe?
This. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, but I couldn't help but be bothered by this, and how much it must suck to be Sean Fentress. In "our" reality the guy gets blown up in a train explosion, and in the one reality we see where his body survives, his mind is permanently taken over by Colter Stevens, who also gets the girl Sean has likely been pining over for a while, and going by his notebook, had every intention of asking out. Not to say that Colter had it any better, and was certainly deserving of his happy ending, but still, it's pretty much the worst cockblock ever.
The "lack of urgency" could have been resolved if Jones had traced the van's ominous trip towards the center of the city. Of course, a white van as a "ticking clock" of sorts was used rather recently and effectively in another science fiction film, but it would have been a good idea irrespective of that.
All these suggestions to increase the sense of urgency are completely wrong.
Clearly defining the stakes early on would ruin a large part of the film. The information that is withheld from Gyllenhal and the audience creates an intense mystery about the nature of this universe.
For a large part of the film we do not know what Wright and Fermiga are lying about. But we know they are lying about something. Maybe the threat is not in their universe at all? Maybe its all a sim? Or maybe he is trying to find a killer in another universe? Maybe hes being tricked into helping the terrorists? Early in the film, it felt like anything is possible.
As I was watching it, my mind was racing with the possibilties, with one of them being, is he dead? The subtle concerned looks and unwillingness to speak clearly by Fermiga and Wright was expertly done, and all this creates a delightful uncertainty and mystery. These calls to make it more "dramatic", or like a thriller would change the film into something else, into something more standard and generic.
If this was done, the sense of isolation Gyllenhall and audience feel would be ruined by showing a glimpse of the primary universe. Theres a reason we never leave the military facility in the primary universe. This is a reoccuring theme in Moon as well, and the audience never gets a glimpse outside of Rockwells universe either. This sense of isolation is crucial to both films.
And as I mentioned before, this would also harm the sense of mystery that the movie painstakingly fosters.
All these suggestions to increase the sense of urgency are completely wrong.
Clearly defining the stakes early on would ruin a large part of the film. The information that is withheld from Gyllenhal and the audience creates an intense mystery about the nature of this universe.
For a large part of the film we do not know what Wright and Fermiga are lying about. But we know they are lying about something. Maybe the threat is not in their universe at all? Maybe its all a sim? Or maybe he is trying to find a killer in another universe? Maybe hes being tricked into helping the terrorists? Early in the film, it felt like anything is possible.
As I was watching it, my mind was racing with the possibilties, with one of them being, is he dead? The subtle concerned looks and unwillingness to speak clearly by Fermiga and Wright was expertly done, and all this creates a delightful uncertainty and mystery. These calls to make it more "dramatic", or like a thriller would change the film into something else, into something more standard and generic.
If this was done, the sense of isolation Gyllenhall and audience feel would be ruined by showing a glimpse of the primary universe. Theres a reason we never leave the military facility in the primary universe. This is a reoccuring theme in Moon as well, and the audience never gets a glimpse outside of Rockwells universe either. This sense of isolation is crucial to both films.
And as I mentioned before, this would also harm the sense of mystery that the movie painstakingly fosters.
Well said. The criticisms regarding a lack of urgency have gone over my head, and I think you nicely pinpointed why. For me, the mystery of trying to figure out exactly what was going on was imbued with its own urgency. And I think that was the intent. Gyllenhall, as much as he's trying to find the bomber, is more concerned with figuring out where the fuck he is and what he isn't being told. Piecing it together kept me on the edge of my seat until half-way through, and by then the disaster seemed pretty imminent.
Pretty much loved it. One thing: When Colter hypothesized a second trigger on the train bomb and confirmed its existence on his final trip, did anyone else expect this to lead into an 'overtime' stretch where he realizes that the white van must also have a backup trigger and he has no way to warn Vera Farmiga Prime about it?
Well said. The criticisms regarding a lack of urgency have gone over my head, and I think you nicely pinpointed why. For me, the mystery of trying to figure out exactly what was going on was imbued with its own urgency. And I think that was the intent. Gyllenhall, as much as he's trying to find the bomber, is more concerned with figuring out where the fuck he is and what he isn't being told. Piecing it together kept me on the edge of my seat until half-way through, and by then the disaster seemed pretty imminent.
Exactly, the mystery builds its own tension and urgency. This mystery works because, beyond the goal of finding the bomber, we have absolutely no idea why Fermiga and Wright are putting Gyllenhal in this situation. In hindsight, It also makes sense in the context of the situation, since Fermiga and Wright do not want to engage Gyllenhal with any unnecessary information for obvious reasons. This mystery is integral to why its such a good movie; its the reason I thought it was an excellent film. I'm a little surprised so many chewers came out of this film with the complaint that it lacks urgency and high stakes. A little strange.
As for the ending, I agree the freeze frame would've been a good point to end it. But I think what Renn said is spot on; the ending is validated by the foreshadowing of the reflective blob. I also think its probably wrong to claim this ending is a product of studios desire to create a happy ending. Remember, Moon similary had an ending that one could argue went beyond its natural scope to give a happy ending, when they confirm our Sam goes back to Earth to testify against his corporate slave masters. Its clear Jones likes to end his films on a certain and positive note.
Farmiga has a marvelous moment when Colter asks for the truth, "soldier to soldier". Her face doesn't change but her heart breaks.
Well, "Chris P. Bacon" sounds suspiciously like a pseudonym. But for whom?
Farmiga has a marvelous moment when Colter asks for the truth, "soldier to soldier". Her face doesn't change but her heart breaks.
It was a fantastic subtle performance from beginning to end. The kind that doesn't get a lot of attention. In fact, I didn't even think about how much she did with such little 'acting' until you mentioned this moment.
The score actually reminded me of John Powell's score for Paycheck at times. The score over the opening credits sounded kinda like North By Northwest. It just felt old fashioned in general. Sure, it wasn't as 'awesome' or 'cool' as a score by Mansell, but I thought it worked well.
Loved this. I really admire Jones' adeptness at mining optimism from circumstances as bleak as those of Colter Stevens or Sam without being schmaltzy or cheesy; he's good at pinpointing genuine emotion in his characters and drawing that out of his actors in a way that feels natural. Source Code didn't blow my mind quite like Moon did, but it's a confident and very well-crafted sophomore effort; in fact, it might be more confident than Moon even if it's lacking that movie's low-tech and muted charm.
Very old fashioned in a way and surprisingly fun film. The limits of Jones' cinematic vocabulary sure aren't apparent yet. I hope his next movie is as different from this as Source Code was from Moon. Gyllenhaal was super fun. Farmiga was as always great. And Michelle Monaghan is always, always worth saving from a horrible death in a bombing.
Poor teacher though. He got Gyllenhaal'd. Still, with the train and Chicago saved it was a net gain.
Someone remade the trailer using the Source engine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxLatJgT8w&feature=player_embedded
In general, I rather enjoyed this. Fairly exciting, and superior to MOON by leaps and bounds. Not a perfect film by any means, but one of the better ones I've seen in recent memory. I liked it as much as ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, essentially: a solid and engaging effort, if by no means a classic
TWO BRIEF COMPLAINTS/SPOILERS:
This movie seems to think it's full of twists, but the truth is that everything was far too clear from moment one
1) I knew it was the wallet dropping guy who left the bomb within the first five minutes of the movie. How did I know this? Because Jones included a half second shot of that guy grimacing in fear after he finished smiling when the guy handed his wallet back to him. There is literally no other reason that guy would have reacted that way if he wasn't reacting to feeling like he'd almost been made
2) It was pretty darn obvious they'd started an alternate universe with the source code device within the first time we learn Gyllenhall is actually in a separate location jacking in to that reality. There is no way that a deadman's memories could include experiences and info that he never learned in life. The only way new details outside of the dead man's experience could be viewed would be if we were watching a different reality. If that universe is actually there because he visited it, than it couldn't blink out of existence merely because Gyllenhaal died in his separate home dimension. The notion that they were attempting to learn info from a "simulation" was laughable on it's face, and so many of the film's big reveals were expected and unsurprising. Oh well
I really liked this, the only sticking point was that Gyllenhall couldn't put together that Source Code was making alternate realities until the end. The first time he gets off the train and sees it blow up in the distance should've been enough. The "rules" say that he dies that explosion so the simulation can't go past that point. Once he sees smoke in the distance he's past the theoretical limits of the program, but despite being a very sharp guy otherwise, he can't put two and two together for another hour of movietime.
Solid sci-fi outing, but in no way is it Moon's equal.
superior to MOON by leaps and bounds.
Nope. No. Nada. Nein.
Saw this again last week and I think it's one of the best Sci-Fi movies we've had in a while. Nothing but praises from me for everything. Well, would've liked a credit sequence that didn't look so TV-movie, but other than I'm very happy with the movie.
One thing though. If Source Code only opens a way for Gyllenhaal to go to another universe, wouldn't there be a high chance that he would end up in a universe where there is no bomb on the train? That's why I thought Source Code would create another universe rather than jumping to an existing one. Unless they had the possibility to find certain universes before sending him forward.
This was a lot of fun, and knocks Super 8 off my Best of 2011 list (there's still a lot of movies I need to see, playing catch up). Gyllenhaal is suitably strung out and maniacally humorous at all the right times. Although the twist can be seen coming from a mile away, it's nice that it's given time to breath. Like, for instance, what's the significance of his brain creating scenarios like leaking coolant and a broken heater inside the "pod"? Is it his mind reeling and projecting visualizations of his trauma? Fascinating.
I'm with the party that believes Gyllenhaal was getting sent back to the same point in reality prime, but every time his actions created a parallel world. This is proven by him going past the 8 minute mark a few times, but the problem is the lab can always pull his consciousness (soul?) back to reality prime. He escapes this by his physical body being destroyed back in the present day of reality prime, thus disconnecting the lab from his mind. That's why I buy the ending.
It is disconcerting that he took over the teacher's body, but ah well.
I do agree there could have been a stronger sense of urgency. This could've been done if a time had been set for when the dirty bomb would be detonated in Chicago. "It's 10:00am right now, and we only have until 3:00pm before the bomb is detonated. That means we can only send you back 37.5 times..." or something, you know, taking into account the gaps in-between each "leap". There needed to be a little more progression of time.
Still, awesome original sci-fi. Can't wait for Jones' next film!
The 'alternate realities' of Source Code is a thousand times more believable than Moon's Attack of the Clones. Rockwell is aces in that flick, definitely, but I don't understand why people give that amazingly dumb concept a pass and then get picky about the quantum mechanics of experiencing a dead guys memories.
I saw this on a turbulent flight to New York back in November. Forget 3D. Watch a movie about terrorists blowing up passenger trains while being jostled around inside a plane at 35,000 feet.
