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Source Code
Source Code turned out to be an enjoyable if even by Hollywood standards deeply implausible flick, even if the last twelve minutes or so are going to severely irritate some of you and even if the movie falls apart the more you think about it. And in fact I suspect you will mostly enjoy it if you don't think about it at all.
Of course, this being me, I thought.
Just so we're clear, my little romantic heart was ALL WARMED UP by the ending and loved it and I was all happy. It was my mind that was hurting, and my little analytic brain couldn't help thinking that however many flash images of the Cloud Gate sculpture earlier in the film suggesting that the characters would end up there (and I'm assuming added by a film editor later to give us a bit of a visual clue that the ending would make no sense whatsoever even if it made my little heart happy), the last few twelve minutes of the film had HI I'M A HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE DEMANDING A DIFFERENT ENDING plastered all over them. Ah well. Specific comments:
1. How did they manage to get eight minutes of ANYBODY'S mind there given that everybody's physical brains had presumably blown up and melted on the train, quantum physics nonsense to the contrary? And if they could get into the teacher's mind, why not get into everybody's mind on the train and just follow them around and see what they were up to?
2. On a related note: Ok, so, I move past that first issue and assume that yes, yes, they've gotten into the teacher's mind and can access the last eight minutes of his life and even have him move around and change things, but, um….in the original timeline, the teacher never left the train, so given that Colter was just accessing those memories, how exactly was Colter able to see a rental truck and license plate very much outside the train?
Oh. Right. Hollywood! Parallel universes! Moving on.
3. Timing: ok, original timeline: Mark blows up the trains, sends some warning message, and heads to Chicago to set off a dirty bomb. Here's my issue: that parking lot was not that far from Chicago. Just how long DID the military HAVE to hook up Colter/Source Code, download those last eight minutes and start running the program, and how nice of Mark to give them several hours to do so? Mind you, I grant that since it was a computer program (admittedly with a human mind inside) once hooked up it should have been able to run several simulations very quickly, pausing only for the various typed out conversations, but, still.
4. Timing, part two: C wants to know what on earth a high school teacher was doing heading to work at 9:45 in the morning period especially since they were clearly heading into Chicago and weren't going to get there for another half hour what with the train stops. I want to know why they weren't spending more time at the Dunkin Donuts. There's no reason why you can't enjoy a nice donut and cup of coffee while saving the world. In fact the coffee and sugar rush might help.
5. Questionable morality, part one: Ok, so, since he's saved like zillions of people and he can actually ask Christina out on a date unlike Wimpy Teacher Mark who apparently has been chasing this girl for years and not saying anything, Colter gets to live in the teacher's body, which is all great and everything, but, um, what happened to Mark's mind? Yes, I know he died anyway in the original timeline, but still.
And practical problems resulting from this: Colter knows absolutely nothing about Mark except that he (Mark) has a pretty friend named Christina and he's a teacher. In other words, Colter doesn't know:
Mark's ATM pin number.
How to write Mark's signature
If Mark's parents are alive or dead
How to teach whatever Mark teaches
Anything about Mark's friends, since he won't even be able to recognize them….
….and so on. I mean, if Mark has password protected his computer, Colter is in trouble. And let's face it, Colter is not exactly the word's best investigator, as shown by…
6. Dude, you've been told that the bombers have called in another dirty bomb threat. Now, sure, the first bomb on the train could have been planted by a suicide bomber, but, under the circumstances, it makes more sense that the first bomb was planted by someone that got off the train. And not just because the only reason to have a double cell phone detonator would be if you weren't going to be anywhere near the bomb when you detonated it (a suicide bomber could have just stayed in the ceiling and kept an eye on his watch.) Admittedly, the guy you racially profiled fit that category, but once you eliminated that guy, how about just focusing on the guys who are jumping off the train.
Also, small thing I just thought of: the original claim was that the bomber was watching the trains so that the passenger train would blow up next to the freight train, except, as we learned, the bomber was, as I thought he would be, off the train at that point, so I'm guessing either a) the freight train was a pure coincidence or b) the bomber had really memorized train schedules and was even able to take the ten minute time delay into consideration or c) he was watching trains through the internet. Whatever. I'm thinking too much about this.
7. I'm not sure why, at the end, the captain didn't tell the mad scientist that his plan actually worked, saying, "See? Here's my text message." Maybe she didn't want the military going after the guy now that he saved the world? But I still bet anything that she went ahead at some point and texted him back to hear the full story.
8.And I'm guessing that she had to kill him in the original timeline partly because he asked her to, and she correctly recognized that he should be able to control this much of his death, and partly because if he wasn't dead in the original timeline he wouldn't be able to take over the teacher's mind in the second timeline but, one, as the mad scientist pointed out, correctly, she just killed something that had saved millions of lives, without making a further attempt to talk him out of it (miserable though the capsule existence was) and, two, so, um what about the guy in the second timeline, still living in the capsule? Can he be summoned back even though in this timeline his mind is now inside the teacher's body? How is that going to work?
As I said, I'm probably thinking about this too much, but it says something that a very implausible film got me thinking at all. And as I said, despite my carpings, enjoyable.
Of course, this being me, I thought.
Just so we're clear, my little romantic heart was ALL WARMED UP by the ending and loved it and I was all happy. It was my mind that was hurting, and my little analytic brain couldn't help thinking that however many flash images of the Cloud Gate sculpture earlier in the film suggesting that the characters would end up there (and I'm assuming added by a film editor later to give us a bit of a visual clue that the ending would make no sense whatsoever even if it made my little heart happy), the last few twelve minutes of the film had HI I'M A HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE DEMANDING A DIFFERENT ENDING plastered all over them. Ah well. Specific comments:
1. How did they manage to get eight minutes of ANYBODY'S mind there given that everybody's physical brains had presumably blown up and melted on the train, quantum physics nonsense to the contrary? And if they could get into the teacher's mind, why not get into everybody's mind on the train and just follow them around and see what they were up to?
2. On a related note: Ok, so, I move past that first issue and assume that yes, yes, they've gotten into the teacher's mind and can access the last eight minutes of his life and even have him move around and change things, but, um….in the original timeline, the teacher never left the train, so given that Colter was just accessing those memories, how exactly was Colter able to see a rental truck and license plate very much outside the train?
Oh. Right. Hollywood! Parallel universes! Moving on.
3. Timing: ok, original timeline: Mark blows up the trains, sends some warning message, and heads to Chicago to set off a dirty bomb. Here's my issue: that parking lot was not that far from Chicago. Just how long DID the military HAVE to hook up Colter/Source Code, download those last eight minutes and start running the program, and how nice of Mark to give them several hours to do so? Mind you, I grant that since it was a computer program (admittedly with a human mind inside) once hooked up it should have been able to run several simulations very quickly, pausing only for the various typed out conversations, but, still.
4. Timing, part two: C wants to know what on earth a high school teacher was doing heading to work at 9:45 in the morning period especially since they were clearly heading into Chicago and weren't going to get there for another half hour what with the train stops. I want to know why they weren't spending more time at the Dunkin Donuts. There's no reason why you can't enjoy a nice donut and cup of coffee while saving the world. In fact the coffee and sugar rush might help.
5. Questionable morality, part one: Ok, so, since he's saved like zillions of people and he can actually ask Christina out on a date unlike Wimpy Teacher Mark who apparently has been chasing this girl for years and not saying anything, Colter gets to live in the teacher's body, which is all great and everything, but, um, what happened to Mark's mind? Yes, I know he died anyway in the original timeline, but still.
And practical problems resulting from this: Colter knows absolutely nothing about Mark except that he (Mark) has a pretty friend named Christina and he's a teacher. In other words, Colter doesn't know:
Mark's ATM pin number.
How to write Mark's signature
If Mark's parents are alive or dead
How to teach whatever Mark teaches
Anything about Mark's friends, since he won't even be able to recognize them….
….and so on. I mean, if Mark has password protected his computer, Colter is in trouble. And let's face it, Colter is not exactly the word's best investigator, as shown by…
6. Dude, you've been told that the bombers have called in another dirty bomb threat. Now, sure, the first bomb on the train could have been planted by a suicide bomber, but, under the circumstances, it makes more sense that the first bomb was planted by someone that got off the train. And not just because the only reason to have a double cell phone detonator would be if you weren't going to be anywhere near the bomb when you detonated it (a suicide bomber could have just stayed in the ceiling and kept an eye on his watch.) Admittedly, the guy you racially profiled fit that category, but once you eliminated that guy, how about just focusing on the guys who are jumping off the train.
Also, small thing I just thought of: the original claim was that the bomber was watching the trains so that the passenger train would blow up next to the freight train, except, as we learned, the bomber was, as I thought he would be, off the train at that point, so I'm guessing either a) the freight train was a pure coincidence or b) the bomber had really memorized train schedules and was even able to take the ten minute time delay into consideration or c) he was watching trains through the internet. Whatever. I'm thinking too much about this.
7. I'm not sure why, at the end, the captain didn't tell the mad scientist that his plan actually worked, saying, "See? Here's my text message." Maybe she didn't want the military going after the guy now that he saved the world? But I still bet anything that she went ahead at some point and texted him back to hear the full story.
8.And I'm guessing that she had to kill him in the original timeline partly because he asked her to, and she correctly recognized that he should be able to control this much of his death, and partly because if he wasn't dead in the original timeline he wouldn't be able to take over the teacher's mind in the second timeline but, one, as the mad scientist pointed out, correctly, she just killed something that had saved millions of lives, without making a further attempt to talk him out of it (miserable though the capsule existence was) and, two, so, um what about the guy in the second timeline, still living in the capsule? Can he be summoned back even though in this timeline his mind is now inside the teacher's body? How is that going to work?
As I said, I'm probably thinking about this too much, but it says something that a very implausible film got me thinking at all. And as I said, despite my carpings, enjoyable.