Source Code

In terms of direction, character work, and tension, the film runs like clockwork. All three main characters are written, cast, and performed in a way that evokes a sense of maximum viewer identification and sympathy. The film has high-quality visuals, camera work, and atmosphere, but the list of strengths suddenly ceases if you reflect on the screenplay. It departs from the field of science fiction, which plays in the style of "what if," but still adheres to a logical interpretation of the world, whereas in the case of Source Code, logic took a vacation. Here, the story is based on a logical short circuit, a nonsensical premise that filmmakers get away with simply because a significant portion of the audience has become accustomed to switching off their brains with the first shots of a film and enjoying the visual effects and action. Another problem is the traditional Hollywood happy ending. This film would be much more impactful if it ended with the sacrifice of the main hero and his voluntary demise in the capsule in the laboratory. Overall impression: 60%. (10/14/2013)

Source Code is a little big movie reminiscent of Donnie Darko, Proyas’ Knowing or The Adjustment Bureau, which was released at the same time. It is visually refined, with a playful, well-thought-out script, as well as emotional and witty. It’s great when a spring Hollywood genre movie that doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it is worms its way into your heart more than “big” winter Oscar dramas. That is exactly the case with Source Code. Jake Gyllenhaal is very good here. Ignore the cheap, forced epilogue. I’m sure it was a concession to the producers, who wanted a more uncomplicated happy ending than the real one, the only one possible, inevitably reached through tears. (05/08/2011)

Once Duncan Jones masters the storytelling pace, he can be talked about as the new golden child of Hollywood. His films have a good concept, great actors, captivating atmosphere - and too long a duration. Fortunately, with Source Code, it is not such a problem as with the overstretched Moon, but still, I couldn't shake the feeling that by cutting about ten to fifteen minutes, it could have been the most tension-filled film of recent times. Nevertheless, thanks to the still very solidly paced plot, the chemistry of the main duo, and above all, the well-rounded ending with a twist - it is a cinema experience with an intensity that many action thrillers hopelessly lack. 75% (05/12/2011)

Three words: Jake Fuckin’ Gyllenhaal. Finally, this handsome man didn't remind me of a steamed chicken, but his subtle charisma pulled the film in both genre positions. As a "mental" detective, he has the necessary energy, like a lover who has his scary softened eyes for eight minutes of love-making. Duncan Jones may not have had the strongest script to work with, but he caught on to the themes that fascinated him back in Moon, making the otherwise fairly ordinary sci-fi thriller into a very chilling spectacle. The hero, isolated and deceived even by the almost Verhoeven-Cronenberg motif of his exploited body - at the end all of this beautifully blew the wind into my sails, turning that rather austere and quickly exhausting story of a return to the past (or the appearance of the past) into a really powerful and quirky film that has no competition this year. If it weren't for the sometimes stupid dialogues and sometimes cheaper visuals, I'd have gone to euphoric heights. (04/12/2011)

Jake Gyllenhaal is cool, the film has a brisk pace, but my god! In science fiction you can use any crazy idea you want, but it has to stand on sufficiently firm laws, which isn’t the case here. This fictional universe is haphazard from the get go, and let’s not talk about the ending. Taken together, Source Code doesn’t have any climax. The last fifteen minutes could have turned into either an utterly irrelevant and uninteresting filler, or in nonsense, and unfortunately it was the latter. I was really thrilled with Jones’ previous film, Moon, but this is one is just a popcorn movie that squanders a very good premise, which if more refined could have resulted in a sci-fi gem. PS: Before the screening I was almost certain I wouldn’t be disappointed. I’m sorry about the rating. PPS (Spoiler): This film would make a little sense only if I were to accept the hypothesis that the device that works according to clearly explained laws, will work according to completely different laws, and completely differently, and that it will manage generate pure chance, and that by pure chance it will work spontaneously, regardless of the instructions of its creators, who still control it according to the laws they believe it abides to, but actually doesn’t… and I won’t do that :-D (04/22/2011)