Life is good. Death sucks. Just ask Colten Smith, Jake Gyllenhaal's character in Source Code. It's a flick that is one part Die Hard and one part Groundhog Day with a little Clue thrown in for good measure.
Colten Smith is a military man who is caught up in a big government experiment on the war against terror. Actually, he's caught in a shadow of time. This sci-fi shadow provides him with an 8-minute window to solve a mystery that will save millions of lives, with the certain exception of those on board his commuter train to Chicago. The train has a bomb planted on it. However, that kaboom-in-waiting is just part of the problem. That bomb is merely a distraction for a yet another device that could essentially level the city. I know, right! Where are the Cubs going to lose for another century if not in the Windy City? But...I digress...actually, Colten is not Colten. At least not on the train. He's morphed into a man of similar physiological make-up, a teacher named Shane. He's got 8-minutes to figure out who the bomber is and report it back to authorities. The trouble is that it requires several takes, which means time after time, our hero is blasted into oblivion along with a chickadee that he begins to grow rather fond of in Christina (Michelle Monaghan). Along the way, we learn much about Colten and yadayadayada, we see his numerous attempts at saving the metropolis of the Midwest on his way to saving the show.
It's pretty good. I'll go with 3.0 Stars. It's certainly an interesting concept and one that is at least somewhat reasonably explained. I guess my real issue with the plot is the timeline along each of Colten's journey's into this time shadow. It's supposed to be 8-minutes, right? Right. And it might be in the first journey. However, by the time you get deep into the flick, each 8-minute jaunt either lasts an eternity or he accomplishes so much in that small window of time, you're left thinking--"No way all of that happened in 8-minutes." I mean, for crying out loud (which I'm a big proponent of by the way), he sends e-mails, chats up his new crush, calls his papa, crowns a suspect, etc, all in the span of eight minutes??? Come on! Where was the back rub? The manicure? Checking out the latest and greatest viral sensations on YouTube before checking out how his flick ranked on True's Yadayadayada? It all became a little too much to be believable.
Plus, I'm all about Sci-Fi and messin' with time in a movie, but there were a few elements that extended beyond the realm of plausibility. No, I'm not talking about the time shadow itself. I was okay with all of that within the confines of the fiction. I/m referring to a few other elements that will go nameless (...you know I hate ruining even a part of your flick experience...that's right, True cares!), but left me scratching my head a little too much.
All in all, it's a pretty entertaining flick. Love Jake (loved him since Brokeback Mountain). Love Maggie (loved her since The Heartbreak Kid). It's worth a view, but take a Dramamine...or maybe some Drambuie to help you navigate the numerously inevitable death sentences imposed on poor Colten by the ole US of A. There's enough entertainment value here for me to have made it part of a great Friday night out for a movie and a Menchie. So, I'll say, "...see it and see it BIG".
True...OUT!
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