Source Code: A Review

From the director of Moon (2009, USA), Duncan Jones, comes a gripping sci-fi thriller that will leave you questioning your own illusion of reality.

Source Code (2011, USA) follows Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a military fighter pilot who was in a plane crash and awakes to find himself on a commuter train headed for downtown Chicago. However, as Stevens sees his reflection in the window of the train he soon finds out that he is in another man’s body, Sean’s. Stevens soon learns that he is part of a futuristic program, known as Source Code, run by military officials, which allows him to enter the last 8 minutes of a dead man’s memory that is projected into an alternative reality. Stevens is sent back again and again to find the person who bombed this train and stop another imminent attack on Chicago. With not much time, Stevens soon learns that all is not as it seems as he unravels conspiracies and starts to question his own condition of his existence. It would seem that one death is no longer a sufficient price for a soldier to pay for serving his country.

Stevens is an alienated man trying to figure out his purpose of existence. Alienation is a common theme found in Duncan Jones’ films. Stevens did not get to choose his fate and the job he now has to do, as he is being controlled by authoritative forces that he, and the audience to begin with, does not understand. The job that Stevens must do involves finding the bomber of the train, however as he only has eight minutes to do so Stevens soon finds that he must die multiple times in order to gather the information to stop the attack from happening. Thus, the film plays with existential views of mortality, as death becomes a means to an end and by the end of the film Stevens is able to defy his bodily death in his reality. The film also plays with existential views of reality with the idea that we are controlled by an authority that governs us and makes choices for us. This idea defies the views of existentialism, in which a human being is responsible entirely for the choices they make. Stevens however, did not choose his fate but awakes in it.

It would seem that the film makes many comments on our reality, including our relationship with technology. The computer program, source code, allows a person to be in two places at once, which is much like our experience of virtual reality that we get from the web. This plays with the Cartesian idea that we can exist in two places at once, one where our mind is and another where our material bodies are. It would seem that Stevens is able to lose himself, like we are able to, in a virtual reality.

This fantastic film is filled with suspense and takes you to a new level of reality. It will leave you truly amazed and thrilled and definitely wanting more.