Apparently, the machines took over a few days ago. I gather this was the day Skynet went live (from the Terminator TV show. The date from the movies is different, and it changes each movie). Appropriately, Evan and I went to see another movie centered around computers - Source Code.
It didn't start off well. Only one preview was on our list (Thor). The rest ranged from forgettable to awful (Real Steel, anyone?) and beyond. Yuck. But movie studios are pushing them hard, I guess to get a huge first weekend audience before word of mouth spreads. Like Patient 0, only for entertainment.
Anyway, the movie opens with a bunch of shots of a train moving through various locales, later identified as parts of
Jake Gyllenhaal wakes up in a seat facing Michelle Monaghan. She tells him she followed his advice, and he's utterly baffled. It's apparent that he's baffled by more than her though. He has no idea what he's doing on a train. He looks around in perplexing terror, finally managing to stumble into a bathroom and look in a mirror. A complete stranger looks back at him (seriously. They get a different actor to stare out of the mirror). He exits the bathroom really, really confused, and then Monaghan tells him that they'll figure out what's wrong, and everything will be alright, except that's the point where the train explodes. Whoops.
Gyllenhaal wakes up again in a chamber of some sort. Again, he's baffled. A woman on a monitor asks him some questions, but he can't answer. He doesn't know. Eventually, the woman reads off two short, weird stories, which triggers something in Gyllenhaal's mind. He's still confused, but he's able to answer her questions. They send him back, and he wakes up on the train. What the hell is going on?
That's the mystery that drives both Gyllenhaal and the movie. And it certainly hooked me. Eventually, he learns what's going on. Apparently, the military is able to sync up with the last 8 minutes of certain people's lives (the people doing the syncing and the targets have to have the same sort of synaptic connections). So Gyllenhaal is able to jump into this one person's life (multiple times) right before the train explodes, and he's supposed to figure out who planted the bomb, because there's another bomb out there, and it might be nuclear.
The major plot hole I thought of was if we're able to jump into other people before they die, we shouldn't be able to move independently. They still have control of their actions, so we'd just be looking through their eyes, and listening through their ears. And of course, if you can do it after they die (they liken it to the afterglow of a light bulb when it's turned off), why not before someone dies? And of course, can you jump into someone who then gets into this machine and jumps into someone else? Mind ... breaking ... ouch!
Actually, these questions get answered by a plot device I thought was a little hackneyed, but I'm sure of which the writers were very proud. Good for you writers. You wrapped up the story by totally overestimating the capabilities of computers. Of course, it's not the first time that's happened, nor will it be the last.
I didn't really notice the music in the movie, except for the music at the end, and that's just because of how out of place it was. The music shouldn't have ended a thriller. It would've been appropriate at the end of something like Good Will Hunting, or Dead Poets Society. Good music for a coming-of-age movie where young people learn what it takes to be a responsible adult. Not music for a movie where trains explode and people jump into and ventriloquise dead people.
I wasn't a fan of the ending either. There was no real climax. Or maybe there was, but it was emotional. Of maybe it was the solving of the mystery, but that took place about a half an hour before the end of the movie. Longest. Denouement. Ever.
There wasn't a lot of action in this movie at all. Almost none, in fact, but I still liked it more than Hanna. The mystery was intriguing, and Gyllenhaal is a good enough actor that he can bring the audience with him as he struggles to figure out what's going on, both on the train and in the military facility. I got hooked early, and stayed hooked for most of it. I liked most of the answers, but not all.
So to sum up, I have to say Blu-Ray movie rating. If Hanna is at the top of the DVD movie list, and Source Code is better, it should be a Blu-Ray. Yes, I'd prefer more action, and yes, I'd prefer a different ending. But the questions, and most answers, were enough for me.
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