Source Code

I reached Escape Cinemas on time for the movie. But my friend who had the ticket was late. Somehow, we have been late to every movie that I have seen with my college friends. Its almost a habit now for everybody to turn up late.

The movie is a sci-fi thriller directed by Duncan Jones, that plays with parallel reality, time travel and multi-dimensional view of life. Source Code is not exactly the type of code that I write daily. Source Code is an American Govt experiment which enables a person to cross over to another man’s identity for eight minutes or something like that. A military man(Jake Gyllenhaal) is used for the experiment. He is sent to locate a bomb in a train, find the guy behind it and prevent another bigger attack happening in the future. He is sent back to the train over and over again, gathering some clues each time, until he could solve the mystery behind who is responsible.

The movie is filled with twists and suspense.  He relives those 8 minutes again and again and again. Essentially the movie is just those 8 minutes thought out in multiple ways. Gyllenhaal does a good job after Prince of Persia but that isn’t sufficient. The character feels incoherent and doesn’t extract sympathy from the audience.

As far as excitement is concerned, it is very limited in the movie. It doesn’t keep you rooted to your seats. It could have been better. The problem with Source Code is the idea of the Source Code. It is totally vague, confusing and nowhere smart when compared to other sci-fi thrillers.

My Review of ‘Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time’

This movie, based on the video game going by the same name, can be termed as a decent adaptation, with some major changes in the story.

The story revolves around an ancient dagger which gives the possessor the ability to travel in time whenever they press a joystick like button on the dagger.

The plot is ridiculously simple unlike the plot of the video game series. The story has nothing more than Prince Dastan joining Princess Tamina to rescue the Dagger and the Sands of Time from his treacherous uncle Nizam.

Gyllenhaal has the looks of a prince and portrays the character well. He surely should have been given more action sequences to prove his mettle. Alfred Molina as the opportunistic ostrich-race organizer is quite impressive. Ben Kingsley as the wicked uncle Nizam is pretty ordinary. Gemma Arterton looks charming and gorgeous.

Considering that this was a high-budget movie, I expected much more impressive action sequences. There is never a flow in all those action sequences and we are never given a chance to see the prince flexing his muscles in an impressive stunt sequence. Even the sword sequence was shown just for a short span of time. Its meant to be an adventure film, but if feels like all the action has been squeezed out of the movie.

My Opinion – Not Awful. It entertains. Could have been better.