Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Source Code Review


I'll start this review off by saying that Duncan Jones is a genius. He has crafted two classic science fiction movies in his first two attempts at making feature movies. Moon and Source Code are two classics, and that is a testament to Jones' ability as a director and the actors he chooses to cast to fill out his movies. In Moon there was Sam Rockwell and in Source Code there is Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright. The casting is spot on for each of their parts and it shows in how the characters interact with each other and how well the movies flow. Rockwell was the anchor of Moon and Gyllenhaal is definitely the anchor of Source Code. He truly embodies the character he is playing and it lends a hint of reality to a movie that has a very "out-there" concept.

The story is great in this movie, I am not going to spoil it at all as I try to keep my movie reviews spoiler-free. The idea of trying to foil a terrorist attack with a version of time travel is definitely a movie concept I have not seen explored with some depth in a long time. The visual effects are also top notch in the movie, most of the time you can't even tell that there is an effects shot on screen. Most of the time when there is an exterior shot of the train, it is an effects shot and that includes close ups and wide shots. The amount of detail in the effects is spectacular, and this is shown throughout the movie. Had to force myself not to spoil the plot in that last sentence. There is also the theme of "how far will you go in order to protect your country?" within the movie that Jones' does a great job of portraying in the movie. You get to see how each character answers this question so to speak as the movie progresses.

Overall, I have to highly recommend this movie. The cast is spectacular, the story is great, and the effects are top notch. That is the movie trifecta for me and that also means that you need to go and watch this movie. If you like sci-fi then you will love this movie and by the way this is one of the only movie that I can watch with Gyllenhaal in, the other being Brothers and Love and Other Drugs. He is becoming a great actor and Michelle Monaghan is always great to look at on screen. Watch it, you'll thank me later.

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