Source Code is a sci-fi film directed by Duncan Jones (who was also behind Moon) and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Russell Peters and Jeffrey Wright. This movie explorers the possibility of experiencing the last 8 minutes of a person life before death within an alternate timeline. You can interact with people, observe things taking the place of the person who’s place you are taking in the timeline.

The movie follows the life of a seriously injured Army helicopter pilot, Captain Colter Stevens, who was on duty in Afghanistan when he injured. The remains of his body lies in a experimental machine known as the Source Code in a military facility and his still active brain is hooked up to the facilities computers. Using the interface, Air Force Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) & the device creator Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) give Captain Stevens his instructions – a train heading to Chicago was destroyed by a bomb killing all the passengers on it. The train explosion was just a warning by the bomber and a much bigger dirty nuclear bomb is expected to be detonated elsewhere in the city. Stevens is to find out the identity of the bomber if possible and relay it back to Goodwin & Rutledge. To do so he is sent into the last 8 minutes before the train detonates, taking the place of a Sean Fentress, a school teacher who is traveling with Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan).

Stevens is sent in several times and he checks up passengers who he thinks could be possible suspects. He is also falling for the lovely Christina. Finally he identifies the bomber as a young man who gets down at the previous stop and apprehends him in that reality. When he gets back to his own timeline, Stevens is able to give the man’s name and the location of the bigger bomb. Successfully debuting the Source Code and stopping a potentially disastrous outcome of the bomb exploding, Goodwin is initially ecstatic and reports the findings to Rutledge and the others. However Rutledge decides to go back on his promise to Stevens – when Stevens is informed that he is now an invalid, comatose and severely mutilated he wants them to end his life at the precise moment of the last 8 minute mission. Rutledge believes that it is difficult to get a compatible replacement and wants to continue using Stevens in future missions after wiping his memory clean.

In talking to a sympathetic Goodwin, Stevens realizes that the promise has been violated, and convinces Goodwin to let him return to Source Code once more after which she will disable his life support against Rutledge’s orders. Once back aboard the train, Stevens disarms Frost, and then handcuffs Frost to a railing and calls authorities informing them where to find the bomber. Stevens takes Warren aside and begins to kiss her as his eight minutes run out. As promised, at this exact moment, Goodwin disables his life-support. Time freezes, and Stevens is surprised to finish the kiss, still aboard the train with Christina, well beyond the eight minutes. In a flash of understanding, Stevens realizes he remains in the alternate timeline of the un-bombed train (having handcuffed Frost in the alternate reality). The train arrives safely in Chicago, and he and Warren ditch work to walk together and discuss their future.

Russell Peters appears in a small role as a comedian with a sour & sarcastic attitude. Stevens bets the comedian to make the people in the train laugh at the end of the movie which he does. Good sci-fi plot and well acted; however I found the movie lacking in capturing my fascination and imagination. I’ll give it a 7 outta 10!