Source Code

• The Film: Source Code

• The Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan, Jeffrey Wright, etc

• The Dealio: Gyllenhaal plays a soldier, whose last memory is of serving in Afghanistan, awakening on a train, sitting opposite a young lady who is calling him by a name not his own. What's-as we say-the dealio? Within a few - OK, eight- minutes, the entire train, with all its contents, is blown to smithereens. He, Captain Colter Stevens, comes to in a capsule of some sort, strapped down and with a voice purring in his ear. It seems that Stevens has been tapped to be part of an experiment. He is being sent back in time to discover who blew up the train. Seems, that action was just an appetizer. The main course, apparently, is the destruction of Chicago, via another bomb. Only Stevens, being continually sent back into the scenario to do some very rapid-paced sleuthing- stands between that horrendous possibility and derailing (you should pardon the pun) the plot before it can be activated. Think of it as a distinctly unfunny Groundhog Day.

• The Grading Session: 4.63 pengies out of 5. There are some wonderful, heartstrings-tugging parent-child communications which left fingerprints all over my heart. However- why 8 minutes? Why not give the guy a fighting chance? Why not 72 hours? Two weeks? Something someone can do something with (which)? But, I will tell you, straight out, the more time and distance you put between yourself and this movie, the less sense it seems to make. My partner-in-crime at the show kept picking at the loose threads until the story began to unravel. Insanely. That, plus the fact that I was able to suss out the baddie at first sighting. Think you could, too. Still, it was highly enjoyable, fast-paced and filled with interesting, involving characters about whom you learn to care. Hence this grade.

• Lessons Learned: There is always an opportunity to rise to the occasion and exceed what you thought was the possible. Too- there is need for a lot more security on trains. It will be a while before I am comfortable riding in one; my co-riders will be getting some suspicious eyeballing from me, I'll tell you that for nothing! Lastly: just when you think The Fast and The Furious has reached the outer limits of credibility: whammo, along comes another sequel. I'm sorry: this truly had nothing to do with Source Code, but there was a trailer for Fast Five (AKA: the drive-faster, blow-things-up, make improbable escapes and still be runway-ready franchise) just before SC started and I simply can't hold back. Response from the peeps sitting behind us? 'WHOA! Now that's what I call a FAN-tastic movie! I'm so there!' Alrighty then.