The ABSOLUTE best scene in the movie was the woman telling “Sean” that Colter died in combat. The look on JG’s face - a crooked half-grin as he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and struggled to absorb what she was saying - was perfect.
One suspects, upon reading this, that you didn’t actually watch the movie.
Someone pointed out to me one reason why the crazy reflective sculpture might have been featured in the final shots of Source Code.
From the Wikipedia article:
Cloud Gate, a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park within the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. … [T]he sculpture is nicknamed “The Bean” because of its bean-like shape. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. … Kapoor’s design was inspired by liquid mercury and the sculpture’s surface reflects and distorts the city’s skyline. Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate’s 12-foot (3.7 m) high arch. On the underside is the “omphalos” (Greek for “navel”), a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections. The sculpture builds upon many of Kapoor’s artistic themes, and is popular with tourists as a photo-taking opportunity for its unique reflective properties.
Did anyone notice what was on the computer screen behind Goodwin, screen left. A womans face on it and some red text that said “20 years later” or something like that. I noticed it several times in the early interactions with Goodwin but it was gone later and I thought it might be an easter egg or subtle clue or something.
That was a pretty fair summary of the Gyllenhal’s character. Oh sure, he had his moment of rebellion where he yells “Fuck you” at his controllers, but one cheesy clip from his father is all it takes to bring him back to his stereotypically heroic soldier self.
DoomMunky’s analysis of the movie was pretty good overall. I have to say I enjoyed it more than him because a lot of the moments worked for me in isolation, even if the ending spoiled a lot of what came before. I thought we were going to get an interestingly poignant movie, and instead we got a bunch of lazy sci-fi cliches. (Alternate worlds? Really? What is this, the Twilight Zone?)
He spends the entire first half of the movie saying “fuck you, where am I, stop making me do this.” Later, he says “fuck you, I’m not going to be a ‘good soldier’ and let you keep my corpse around forever, let me die.” So, at what point exactly is he a heroic soldier? He only does it so that they’ll let him die, then he decides he wants to save everybody just for himself, then wants to die.
No, he spent the entire first half of the movie asking for more information while also performing his mission. As the movie progressed, he occasionally dug his heels in, but was motivated to continue the mission by events that established his heroic soldierly nature. (e.g. millions will die in Chicago & his father being so proud of him. Or something. I try to block out the cheesy father monologue from my brain.) And even when he asks to die, it’s firmly established that the rationale for it is that one lifetime is enough service for any soldier. In other words, he didn’t abandon his duty or do something selfish… he requested a reasonable & very honorable discharge. That’s why they threw in all that claptrap about “Goodwin… I’m asking you to disconnect me. A request, from one soldier to another.” And she saluted him at the end, because he’s such an awesomely heroic soldier. Etc.
Soldiers in American mythology aren’t expected to be automotons. Our myths about heroism include a limit about what can be asked of people. That’s why the Japanese suicide tactics in WWII weirded us out so much. That wasn’t heroism. That was just fucking insane. Within the context of the movie, the evil chuckling doctor was a villain precisely because he required too much of one man.
And so I go to see this earlier today, and really liked it, question about the ending to make sure I understood correctly…
spoilerzspoilerzspoilerzspoilerzspoilerzspoilerz
So it was a time travel device after all?
spoilerzspoilerzspoilerzspoilerzspoilerzspoilerz
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No.
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Ok now I don’t understand the ending at all…
:|
Multi Universe or Parallel or whatever.
I saw this last night and was pretty disappointed by it. There’s a lot of great ideas that I think the movie failed to build on effectively. It was Groundhogs Day as a sci-fi thriller, but not nearly as clever as Groundhogs Day was. Although I found the ending unintentionally hilarious in kind of a twisted way.
SPOILERS
Our “hero” takes over the consciousness of another man, effectively murdering him and stealing his girlfriend. Granted, he saves everyone else on the train in that universe, but there’s still something kind of twisted about the whole scenario.
END SPOILER
If another man from a parallel universe suddenly takes over your consciousness and never tells anyone or even admits it to himself, what do you have to complain about?
The fact that he’s screwing your coffee date, dammit!
I think I saw Groundhogs Day after we stopped at pancakes house.
Also, Christina wasn’t Sean Felcher’s girlfriend, and I have to say I doubt he was ever going to make a move on her without Captain Colter Stevens’ help.
Also also…“effectively murdering him”? What?
-xtien
“Is this a red flag exercise?”
Well, in this new alternate reality where Colter saves the train, good ol’ Sean just kinda…isn’t there anymore.
Yep - he pushes the dude out of existence. If that isn’t the same as killing him, I don’t know what could be.
Is this the movie where rodents take over the earth?
We’re going to push you out of existence! Okay, team: on three. One. Two…