Just got back from a double feature of this and Sucker Punch.  I hope Zack Snyder goes blind and is forced to retire.  Anyway...

BAM!  Right into the action, and off and away we go into Source Code, the first real sci-fi movie with a big release in a long time and the film Inception wishes it could have been.  Here is real sci fi; here is an intelligent story; here is a movie that doesn't pander (except once, and I will, unhappily, get to that).  

I will reveal nothing about the story, but it's clever, thought-provoking, twisty, and everything else you can ask for out of a sci-fi thriller.  More importantly, though, it's a brilliant, brilliant script, and that's why you should all see it.  The film covers a wide variety of ideas in a very tight and simple way, but more impressively, it encompasses the natural progression of a romance in a very, very unusual situation.  I've never seen a romance quite like this before, and it's pulled off with aplomb.

Which is not to suggest that the script isn't also a tight suspense thriller.  The movie runs parallel storylines (of a sort) that are both filled with mystery, tension, and very well-handled character dynamics.  The story is very strongly character-driven, and the actors are more than up to the task in a uniformly strong cast dealing with difficult material.

I don't really know what to say about this one but that you should go watch it.

Ooh.

I agreed I would mention the one thing.  There is a flaw.  And it's near fatal.

SPOILERS

The last six minutes of the film are absolute bullshit.  They basically invalidate all of the drama preceding for the sake of a feel-good ending.  They are a relentlessly terrible sequence of scenes that I hope could only have come from the mind of some asshat producer.  I would seriously advocate walking out of the movie at the point you feel satisfied with its conclusion, rather than when it actually ends.

END SPOILERS

But yeah.  Absolutely see this movie.  A script to note and a thought-provoking film to be highly enjoyed.

I thought it was the best movie I'd ever seen until the ending. They establish a set of rules and then turn around and break them to get a Hollywood ending. However, Duncan Jones has started off well with this and Moon

Heretic,

I've read the script and thought it was great. Is the ending in the film different from the script? If so, what did you think of the ending in the screenplay? I didn't mind the ending but it felt like it was trying a bit too hard to have a happy ending and wrap everything up nicely. I'd hate to think they've gone even further in an attempt to make it a'feel good' ending.

Cheers,
Tim.

I saw the movie too and really enjoyed it. I don't however see how they broke any of their own rules to allow for the ending.

SPOILER: they break there own rules because Source Code, as they stated previously, is just a re-enactment of the past, and no matter what you do you'll come back after 8 minutes. At the end, not only does he save everyone on the train, he leaves the train and survives past 8 minutes. Now I can buy the theory that its just a alternate reality in his brain, but that doesn't work because the General gets his text message.

SPOILER......................................





No, I am pretty sure that was the first line of BS among many they told him to make him stop asking questions. Later they revealed to him that he couldn't change anything in THEIR timeline but he could in an alternate one. There was also a bunch of scientific jargon I don't remember all of but it was my assumption the 8 minute constraint was all they could generate or maintain. When he died while in that alternate universe he was able to stay since he was freed from his universe or reality. Some of those rules I hear people talking about were the lies they were telling him.

Again, Possible Spoilers
IDK, they kept feeding him the entire movie that he wasn't able to save anyone, and that trying was futile. Now, I guess him being "teriminated" somehow correlates with him saving everyone, but that just bugs me. Plus, if its an alternate reality, how did Sofia Vergara get the text message?

SPOILERS.....


He sent it from that reality. You also have to remember he isn't really himself in that new reality, he hijacked that poor saps body. His real self in that reality is still in the box being kept alive awaiting a live run of the program.

Trojan,

Sorry, I should clarify.  I didn't read the script separately.  I'm just commenting on the script as it appeared in the finished film.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

They definitely had no idea of how the machine "actually worked" (I have to put it in quotations because I'm so enormously displeased by the ending of the film).  Look how surprised Vera Farmiga was when she got the text.  Look how unapologetically insistent she is, even when she's agreed to send him in, that he'll only be alive for eight minutes.  

He can't have just hijacked the guy's body.  That raises WAY more questions than it answers.  And he definitely couldn't send an inter-dimensional text message.  In my mind, the only rules that make sense are the ones that were established: source code is source code, and those people are already dead.  Him living on in his own reality in the source code, I can buy.  I was really hoping they'd just end with the kiss, or even end with them at the Cloud Gate.  It completely makes sense that something going on only in his own reality, or in his head if you like, could last longer than eight minutes.  

Otherwise it's just a story about a guy that time travels into the past to stop a disaster, and that's stupid and disappointing.

Spoilers
This is what it would have to be. Two separate reality's, one that we watched most of the film under, the train blows up, they catch the bomber and his life support is terminated. The other reality would have to be where the train doesn't blow up, they catch Frost, and he lives past 8 minutes. Then, even that doesn't make much sense because Sofia Vergara is aware of both realities, because she knew Frosts name before she was told it. Unless, because it's in Colters brain, he made her aware of both realities.
Also, I kinda feel like they just wrote the script and then decided to throw in the fact that he was dead to add a twist. Don't like that.

SPOILER

Man, and people pissed and moaned about Inception having too many holes?!  It's clear from the cleverly shot credit sequence that they're going for an alternate reality conclusion but tell me, how the HELL is that possible if it's all taking place inside a mind that is hot-wired to a computer program?

This is a taut little thriller. It handled an interesting idea with the right balance of suspense and emotion. The ending will be contentious but that is to the film's advantage. Assuming the conclusion is the one most likely from what we see, it's actually a nasty message to see Sean as the only loser. That would be the main flaw of the film - it didn't give enough capital for a number of different interpretations.

The terrorist handled his work well and the film felt a little North by Northwest as well. Jeffry Wright was excellent. The deviousness and ambition above all else angle worked well for him. The article on Scriptshadow discussing the script v film differences is interesting. I'm yet to read the script but do like its inventiveness.

This kept to the spirit of the original script and I thought it turned out better. The set up for the ending was in the quantum mechanics mumbo jumbo from Rutledge.

Quoted from cloroxmartini This kept to the spirit of the original script and I thought it turned out better. The set up for the ending was in the quantum mechanics mumbo jumbo from Rutledge.

Thank you, Clorox. People, (Great Spirits) like yourself, are what I live for. I'm reading this script
again before I see it on the big screen.

G-d bless,

Sandra

Quoted from Trojan Heretic, I've read the script and thought it was great. Is the ending in the film different from the script? If so, what did you think of the ending in the screenplay? I didn't mind the ending but it felt like it was trying a bit too hard to have a happy ending and wrap everything up nicely. I'd hate to think they've gone even further in an attempt to make it a'feel good' ending. Cheers, Tim.

I was fortunate enough to be able to read the script before it was tinkered with. Some of what they changed is good in my opinion, and some is not.

In the script for instance, the character of Goodwin is a male. I think it was a good decision to make the character female.

The character changes they made with Christina, however, I was not happy with. However, I think they did this to add dimension to the film. The fact that they brought in Russel Peters as the comedian is EXCELLENT! Because I love Russel Peters, however: Boo to not being able to actually hear any of his good jokes at the end. Too fast and too little there.

I'll be watching Source Code again, making some comparisons, and then maybe I'll post some more.

Oh, and I need to read through this thread, which shall be fun.

Sandra