johnlink ranks SOURCE CODE (2011)
You know me: always up for a good thriller! SOURCE CODE was a movie which supposedly did the science-fiction/suspense genre pretty well. Some decent actors, a decent premise (Jake Gyllenhaal reliving the same eight minutes of a disaster over-and-over until he can solve the mystery), and a fairly high 7.5 score on IMDB. Time to give it a run!
I watched SOURCE CODE (2011) on 4.15.12. It was my first viewing of the film.
Am I missing something? This is not a bad movie by any means. It does fairly well as entertainment and the last moment is nice, but this is very average overall.
The concept is one which should work, and some of it does. But the love story feels forced, the plot is entirely predictable, and the dialogue is never more than rudimentary. I just can’t fathom why anyone thought anything special about this movie, save for maybe thinking the end was cool.
I’m not sure how I feel about the ending. It certainly doesn’t try and be anything but typical Hollywood. Director Duncan Jones’ MOON was a movie which felt like it was being made in spite of what a Hollywood machine would want to do to it. SOURCE CODE feels like those producers made up for it by pitching this fastball right down the middle, serving it up in the wheelhouse of the lowest common denominator of film viewer.
Part of the problem is that much drama is made of what happens within each eight minutes of rewind time. The problem with that is in the fact that we know if it goes wrong, he can just do it again. Some characters are trying to hurry Gyllenhaal up back in the real world, but because he is in no hurry the audience is on his side rather than that of his questionable military handlers.
Maybe someone can make an argument for this movie, but it just felt slightly off for me. It was entertaining enough. I didn’t hate it. But I did dislike how safe it all felt.
SCORES
FILM: 4; MOVIE: 6; ACTING: 5; WRITING: 3
4+6+5+3+0=18
FINAL SCORE: 4.5
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