Source Code new film from Duncan Jones (Merged)

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 690
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    It's certainly a different kettle of sci-fi to Moon, but still an enjoyable watch.

    Review here.
  • Steve AWOLSteve AWOL Posts: 1,910
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    I loved the way Duncan Jones directed Moon so am really looking fwd to seeing Source Code this week. Glad to see it's getting lots of good reviews too:

    http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/source_code/ 88% from 160 reviews currently
  • grimtales1grimtales1 Posts: 46,685
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    I'm looking forward to seeing it - but I felt the trailer gave away too much :(
    Actually in some ways the premise (going back in time to prevent an accident?) sounds a bit like parts of the graphic novel game Time Hollow, which I played some time ago. And maybe like Total Recall and Donnie Darko
  • heart break kidheart break kid Posts: 447
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    Good to see so much love for Moon in here. It was clear from watching that film that Duncan Jones knows his stuff and he made little concession to dumbing down or mass market appeal. Great score from Clint Mansell too. I'll be checking out source code for sure.
  • StansfieldStansfield Posts: 6,097
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    Really enjoyed this 8/10...
    it was better then Moon 6/10 too.

    But that women who kept spilling her Drink..:mad:...;)

    Vera Farmiga + uniform...I like.:cool:

    Loved the aerial views of Chicago too... it's never looked Better on Film.
    White Van Man strikes again
    And double decker Trains.....how cool them.:)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,324
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    Saw it yesterday, really liked it 8/10. The more I think about it the more I liked it.

    As an aside, does anyone else now see Chicago and think "ah it's daytime Gotham City"?

    @Stansfield, I was on a double decker train in Germany, they're seriously cool.
  • StansfieldStansfield Posts: 6,097
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    @Stansfield, I was on a double decker train in Germany, they're seriously cool.
    I'm guessing Bridges and Tunnels...would be a factor, why we don't have'em over here {UK}...:(
  • hallstarhallstar Posts: 925
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    I was on one of those trains last September going to Chicago. Sat upstairs and loved the way everyone held there tickets down for the conductor to reach up and take.

    As for the film i loved it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,682
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    Watched this yesterday, thought it was awesome.
  • NorfolkBoy1NorfolkBoy1 Posts: 4,109
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    Stansfield wrote: »
    I'm guessing Bridges and Tunnels...would be a factor, why we don't have'em over here {UK}...:(

    Most of Europe, the USA, Japan, most of the developed world in fact, has significantly upgraded their Rail network since the 1960s.

    We in the UK have let ours slowly rot.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,486
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    I saw this on Friday just before I came back from Florida and I thought it was fairly good and had a pretty original idea behind it, although some of it was kinda confusing. Worth seeing if you liked Inception and other similar films though.
  • StansfieldStansfield Posts: 6,097
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    hallstar wrote: »
    I was on one of those trains last September going to Chicago.

    As for the film i loved it.
    It didn't blow-up did it....;)
  • welwynrosewelwynrose Posts: 33,666
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    Went to see it this afternoon - loved it - I think the end gave more questions than answers
  • hallstarhallstar Posts: 925
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    Stansfield wrote: »
    It didn't blow-up did it....;)

    No, but then I don't know who else was on board :)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    I'm not going to give away any plot spoilers (apart from in tags below) but even what I'm about to say next might be considered a bit spoilerish.

    I loved it, but felt the last minute ruined it somewhat. There were two way better places to end it just a bit earlier, but they had to try and go for the slightly happier ending.
    I thought the perfect ending would have been the kiss, the frozen carriage, just as Goodwin pressed the button. In fact, I really don't know why that wasn't the ending.

    Then, I didn't mind the bit with them seeing Chicago and deciding how to spend their day. Even that could have been some sort of afterlife or what the brain experiences in death.

    But, they had to go for the everyone on the train being saved, and the future being rewritten. I wasn't a fan of that.

    Great film - but for me it finished five minutes before the credits.
  • jaimeswjaimesw Posts: 1,608
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    It was a brilliant film, but it could have been so much better. Some parts of it just didn't need to be in the film, infact it was like watching the uncut version which could have done with about 10 minutes left on the cutting room floor.

    Overall I will give it 7½/10
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,305
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    I really enjoyed it, not as much as Moon, but i never really expected to. Gyllenhaal was great. Can't wait to see what Duncan Jones cooks up for us next.

    While the ending did seem a bit too "schmaltzy", i wouldn't say it ruined the film or anything. Overall i'd give it about a 9/10.
    Also, just found out that the voice of Colter's father on the phone was Scott Bakula! They even managed to get him to say "Oh boy", lol.
  • KidMoeKidMoe Posts: 5,851
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    I'm not going to give away any plot spoilers (apart from in tags below) but even what I'm about to say next might be considered a bit spoilerish.

    I loved it, but felt the last minute ruined it somewhat. There were two way better places to end it just a bit earlier, but they had to try and go for the slightly happier ending.
    I thought the perfect ending would have been the kiss, the frozen carriage, just as Goodwin pressed the button. In fact, I really don't know why that wasn't the ending.

    Then, I didn't mind the bit with them seeing Chicago and deciding how to spend their day. Even that could have been some sort of afterlife or what the brain experiences in death.

    But, they had to go for the everyone on the train being saved, and the future being rewritten. I wasn't a fan of that.

    Great film - but for me it finished five minutes before the credits.
    The ending does make sense with the revelation at the end that the source code is not a time machine, but a device that creates an alternative reality every time it's used. So, when Colter goes into the Source Code he is not merely rewinding memories but living out a entirely new reality that only ends when he dies - which explains why, in his earlier attempts to save the girl etc the reality continues beyond Sean's (?) death. In this reality he is, for all intents and purposes no longer Colter - each time a entirely seperate Colter is created who will be in a life support machine who we are shown towards the end of the film when new Colter sends Goodwin a text asking to give the other Colter a break.

    (This does beg the question though of how the Colter in the original reality is aware of the consequences of the actions of the alternative Colters, however.)

    Still, ignoring that, in the final source code run as he manages to deactivate the bomb and doesn't die it makes sense that his reality continues, only with the difference that this time if he dies, his original version is dead also.

    I do agree that finishing on the freeze frame would have been a more emotionally charged and less tidy ending though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    KidMoe, I wasn't trying to imply that the ending didn't make sense. I just would have preferred for that element not to have been introduced at all. Spoilers follow!
    I felt they cheated a bit at the end, that they broke the rules established throughout the film. Those people on the train were dead, they were beyond help. That was made abundantly clear, as was the nature of the source code. I know there was some doubt about what could be achieved, but that was only ever in Colter's mind. Everyone else was very clear about how it worked.

    I thought it was a nice ending that he chose to live out his last eight minutes in the source code, and then Goodwin let him go. For me, the last few minutes just diluted it, and betrayed what had been established as the premise.

    Actually, having re-read your post, there are elements I disagree with. Throughout the film, there was no evidence of:
    A new reality being created each time. As far as I can remember, anyway. Nor did he ever live beyond Sean's death. He lived out the eight minutes and then his consciousness returned to reality, such as it was. Each time, Goodwin and co were getting more desperate, because time was passing and the dirty bomb was becoming more of a threat.

    The last source code was the only time Sean was saved, as far as I remember. But you're right - in a previous loop he had lived slightly longer than the eight minutes, until he was hit by the express train. I did wonder what would happen if he hadn't been hit.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    You know, the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get with the ending. Those last few minutes made it a very messy ending with lots of unanswered questions, most of which shouldn't be important anyway.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 265
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    KidMoe, I wasn't trying to imply that the ending didn't make sense. I just would have preferred for that element not to have been introduced at all. Spoilers follow!
    I felt they cheated a bit at the end, that they broke the rules established throughout the film. Those people on the train were dead, they were beyond help. That was made abundantly clear, as was the nature of the source code. I know there was some doubt about what could be achieved, but that was only ever in Colter's mind. Everyone else was very clear about how it worked.

    I thought it was a nice ending that he chose to live out his last eight minutes in the source code, and then Goodwin let him go. For me, the last few minutes just diluted it, and betrayed what had been established as the premise.

    Actually, having re-read your post, there are elements I disagree with. Throughout the film, there was no evidence of:
    A new reality being created each time. As far as I can remember, anyway. Nor did he ever live beyond Sean's death. He lived out the eight minutes and then his consciousness returned to reality, such as it was. Each time, Goodwin and co were getting more desperate, because time was passing and the dirty bomb was becoming more of a threat.

    The last source code was the only time Sean was saved, as far as I remember. But you're right - in a previous loop he had lived slightly longer than the eight minutes, until he was hit by the express train. I did wonder what would happen if he hadn't been hit.
    The ending didn't contradict the initial premise, it introduced a new one - that a new timeline, or parallel universe, was created each time "source code" was run - as alluded to by the message Stevens sent Goodwin when she arrived for work (and thus proving Dr. Rutledge's assertion that it is a mere simulation wrong). The screenplay niftily navigated that before the end since the 2 times Stevens/Fentress left the train he died anyway (incidentally rather than because the 8 mins were up). The implication though was that a new parallel universe was created the dozen or so previous times source code was run, and all the train passengers died in each of them! (Christina survived a couple of scenarios if I recall)

    I agree with you that the multiverse ending is messy (not least that Fentress is effectively dead and Stevens has to spend the rest of his life pretending to be him) and it should have tied up at the freeze frame concluding the last source code run.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    Jack,
    I understood it introducing a new premise, and I know it didn't contradict what had gone before, because Rutledge was wrong about the exact nature of the source code. But, I felt that as an audience member, I'd been sold and accepted the premise that the people on the train couldn't be saved. I suppose I just felt that the multiverse addition was unnecessary and messy.

    And, if a new dimension was created at the start of each loop, why did Colter remember things from the previous loops? And, why did Goodwin and Rutledge seem to remember things too? There was no indication that it was a new dimension each time, until the end when Colter/Sean lived.

    Annoying to have to put everything in spoiler tags, but it has only been out a few days!!
  • welwynrosewelwynrose Posts: 33,666
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    As this is only his 2nd film I'm really curious to see what DJ does next
  • KidMoeKidMoe Posts: 5,851
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    Jack,
    I understood it introducing a new premise, and I know it didn't contradict what had gone before, because Rutledge was wrong about the exact nature of the source code. But, I felt that as an audience member, I'd been sold and accepted the premise that the people on the train couldn't be saved. I suppose I just felt that the multiverse addition was unnecessary and messy.

    And, if a new dimension was created at the start of each loop, why did Colter remember things from the previous loops? And, why did Goodwin and Rutledge seem to remember things too? There was no indication that it was a new dimension each time, until the end when Colter/Sean lived.

    Annoying to have to put everything in spoiler tags, but it has only been out a few days!!
    Yep, the fact that Colter retains the information he learns from each run is a big issue with the multiple universes theory and for me means the logic circle in the film isn't exactly complete. I guess the implication is that there remains a link between Colter and Sean-Colter that is allows Colter to retain the new information learnt, but I don't really find that particually satisfying.

    I do think you are right having thought about it a bit more. Leaving it on the freeze frame would have still been an upbeat ending that leaves things more to the viewer to interpret whether Colter still 'lives' or not after the 8 minutes.
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