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10 Movies to See Instead of "The Artist" -
On DVD: "Myth of the American Sleepover" -
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Review: "The Forgiveness of Blood"
Interview: Joshua Marston
100 Years of "Titanic" Exploitations
Review: "Pina"
Review: "Titanic" 3D Preview
Review: "The Raid"
Review: "Sound of My Voice"
Review: "The Hunter"Decoding "Source Code": What's Your Interpretation of the Ending?
It may not share too many things with "Inception" outside of a slight similarity in means of quantum teleportation, but "Source Code" does have an ending that's worthy of interpretation, much like Christopher Nolan's (much weaker) hit from last year. In fact, some of the same theories applied to "Inception" could work for Duncan Jones' new "director-for-hire" follow-up to "Moon." I'll wait until after the jump to go into details, since obviously this discussion will include spoilers. But while I do believe Jones (and maybe to a lesser degree the original screenwriter, Ben Ripley) sets up a precise idea of what happens at the end, I've already encountered people with different thoughts on it.
So if you haven't seen the movie yet, do so, and then check if your interpretation matches mine below.
Here is the literal ending: Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has repeatedly been leaping into the body of a man riding a commuter train 8 minutes away from total destruction, completes his mission and saves Chicago from a dirty bomb. He then asks Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) to send him back to the 8 minute "loop" one last time so that he can also save the people on the train -- a feat deemed impossible by "source code" inventor Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) -- and then at the end of the 8 minutes Goodwin is to pull the plug on the physical, comatose body of Stevens laying in the lab, thereby killing him. She fulfills both requests.
At the end of the 8 minutes, Stevens (in the body of Sean) kisses the girl (Michelle Monaghan) and time seems to freeze. Then it picks back up again and the couple goes out for their coffee and a visit to Cloud Gate in Chicago's AT&T Plaza and live happily ever after. Then, a kind of epilogue shows Goodwin arriving to work earlier that morning and receiving a text message from Stevens explaining that he has changed the course of the future by saving the passengers and that the comatose soldier in the lab will eventually go on to a different "first" "source code" mission one day. Hopefully that's as clear as the events can be laid out, though you also hopefully have seen the film so know what I'm talking about.
Firstly, here's the incorrect explanations that I've heard: Stevens is now split into two separate places at the same time,* because his consciousness is inside the body of Sean, like a "Quantum Leap" or "Being John Malkovich" kind of way, forever, whether he has control over the body or not (I guess because we see Gyllenhaal and only view Sean in mirrors, more like "Quantum Leap," Stevens is in control). And it is also inside the comatose, half-soldier laying in the lab awaiting his first mission. And none of this is a parodox in any way, because as the film acknowledges, the "source code" science may just be creating multiple alternate timelines/dimensions.
Or, all is the same but the Stevens spending time with the girl (her name is Christina) and the Stevens in the lab are in two separate timelines, because the text message created its own alternate reality. Or, all is the same but it is a paradox, because if the disaster was averted then no "source code" mission took place meaning nobody averted the disaster, etc.
But here's my explanation, which isn't too much different in terms of their possibly being multiple timelines, but I think it works even within a single reality, albeit a somewhat paradoxical one: Stevens returns to the train for its final 8 minutes and he succeeds in averting the disaster by handcuffing the terrorist and reporting his van full of explosives. However, when the 8 minutes is up, and the time appears to freeze, this is when Stevens would leap out of Sean's body and return to his own body.
Yet at that very same moment, Goodwin has terminated Stevens' body so instead of returning to the present he enters the afterlife. His afterlife looks exactly like the last moment of his consciousness, because this is what he wanted it to be. He held onto his perception of that last image and world and brought it with him to use it as a projection in his post-death consciousness, which is kind of like a dream. Actually, it's not much different from the projected surroundings he experienced in the present, the hatch and pilot garb he felt safe in while suspended in the limbo of the coma (or whatever state his mind was living in), and the explanation of that is where he got the idea that he could do the same in death, provided consciousness still exists after our body dies.
So the entire sequence of events from the moment that time on the train unfreezes up through to the Cloud Gate (and beyond, after the film ends) is like Stevens' heaven, as weird as it may be for him to still see someone else's face in the mirror, and all the other people are a part of his imagination. As I said, this sort of afterlife is like a dream, and so the other people, including Christina, are just subconscious projections and not the real deal. I'll admit, this is how I expect the afterlife to be, like an eternal sleep/dream.
Meanwhile, somewhere, the real Sean is alive, and maybe is even having coffee with the real Christina, but there is no Stevens inside his head. And the epilogue is in the same world as that real Sean and Christina wandering around either together or apart. Whether it is a paradox or an alternate timeline from the original one in which Goodwin sent Stevens back and then ultimately terminated him is not that important. Unless you want to assume that Stevens isn't dead and is currently dreaming his date with Christina while laying in the lab, and that moment of time freezing merely rebooted him back into the lab anew. Regardless, he's not in two places at once.*
And hopefully all that makes sense, whether you agree with it or not. As always, these time travel movies and their quantum-based explanations are tricky and will likely require some further thought and repeat reading and viewing. For now, though, let's try to work out other thoughts down below.
* Because of the confusion, I must note that by "two places at once" I mean within the same dimension/reality/timeline and didn't intend to dismiss the parallel worlds idea. But even with that said, I might have been confusing myself. He could technically be in two places at the same time the way there are simultaneously two Martys in 1955 in "Back to the Future," due to time travel. I just mean his consciousness itself could not be split in half. Anyway, I'm giving myself another headache.
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354 Comments
Katniss Everdeen | May 13, 2013 12:51 AM
Now this movie opened my mind to completely endless possibilities. HAHA
have faith in GOD. and stop over-thinking.
Kelly | April 8, 2013 11:14 AM
This could be very real like somebody I know that is mysterious from your friend Kelly
Brian | March 9, 2013 11:35 PM
Rubbish. The movie and this review (though the review suffers mostly because the movie was so bad). First, he's not going back in time, he's reliving the last 8 minutes of memories from a dead guy. They were very clear about that. One of the train-bombing victim's brain was harvested and the last 8 minutes of his memories were loaded into the Source Code program so the Capt. could review them for clues as to who the bomber is/was. I really wish they hadn't been that detailed in the description of how this works, because from there nothing, and I mean nothing about the rest of the movie makes sense. First, Sean's memories would not have included the location of the bomb. Period. The capt. shouldn't have been able to see anything Sean hadn't when he lived through it, including the location of the bomb. But the biggest issue comes from the fact that he's not traveling through time, his consciousness has been loaded into a simulation, a computer program IN THE PRESENT. So, never having gone back in time, he absolutely cannot impact the future. The 8 minutes he was repeating were being relived in the present. He may as well have sent his text from inside Halo or World of Warcraft. The in-movie explanation of the "science" behind Source Code is completely inadequate to allow for any "alternate timelines" or "alternate dimensions". So it all hinges on the line, "You've created something more that you thought". Nice out... it feels like a total afterthought. While this was a fun movie if you don't actually think about it, at all, it fails except for the most liberal application of suspension of disbelief.
Muhammed | February 23, 2013 6:10 PM
there is something amazing i noticed, at the start of the film good win was asking him to remember her name as she knew that he know her name, that mean that have received the email from him right before the movie even started
Bob Terry | February 15, 2013 11:09 PM
Let me just remind you all that when Goodwin got the text at the end of the movie, that was in the Source Code Dimension. They had Steven's body in the support machine and they were just waiting for a disaster to happen. You hear that the bomb attempt had been thwarted as Goodwin walks into the boss's office. The two dimensions were not connected; the text was sent to the Goodwin who showed up for work at the Nellis base, but she knew she was awaiting a disaster to use the Source Code to find the killer for. The only connection between the dimensions was Steven's memory of the original dimension.
Caroline | February 9, 2013 4:30 PM
Totally don't agree with your interpretation ... you forgot to mention the very long text message. A long text message like that would cost like 5 text messages. And, is there um, texting from Heaven now ?
Scott Bakula | February 5, 2013 8:57 AM
Duncan Jones on twitter - âSo for those who got thrown by the ending... you have to remember that Colter keeps arguing he is in a parallel realityâ Also - âSo if Colter now in parallel reality, that must mean in NEW reality, there are two Colterâs.. one in Sean, and one in... the box!â Cheers!
Bertie | February 5, 2013 7:44 AM
Funny how this film mirrors, Donnie Darko. Travel back in time, Frank also a dead guy sent back in time because of a quantum parralax, Dead Guy Saves the world.
Does not matter how you see it, everything is based on one perspective and everyone has a different perspective,
Chris | February 3, 2013 6:36 PM
Heres my interpretation, God loved him and gave him more life, he selflessly acted and so God rewarded him for it. You see if you put God in there, it all makes sense, Sean Ventress ended up in heaven, and Cpt Coulter-Stevens was given the life that his service in the military denied him. (Do you believe in fate?).
So | February 2, 2013 12:56 PM
What I don't get is the idea of Goodwin getting the text that the people on the train was saved. Is it that her dimension went "back into time" and the bombing didn't happen? If so, I believe the source code machine turns back time. How else would Captain Stevens be in the source code machine?
duke | February 1, 2013 3:50 PM
I'm sorry, but the ending is pretty clear. He is in a different dimension created by the source code. This isn't a heaven he's dreaming off. He is living in a different dimension, hence the email he sent to goodwing at the end saying that there is more to the source code than they were aware of.
SAM | January 22, 2013 8:39 PM
I think the movie should have ended with the freeze-frame kiss. This is what the whole story was building towards. Think about it: from his cell, the only thing he wants to do is call his dad and tell him he was sorry. In this ending he does. As Sean, he continually asks, "If you only had one minute to live, what would you do?" He dies doing what he wanted -- kissing the girl. And it gave Colter something he was denied by the military -- a dignified death; this is something Goodwin wanted him to have. And finally, is a weird sci-fi way, he gives the people a chance to die happy; with a smile on their faces. I wish the movie would have faded to black during that frozen frame. That would have been my perfect ending.
Karen | January 16, 2013 8:55 PM
I have it set to play every time it comes on satellite (no matter what channel) - so far, would guestimate have viewed about 30 times at least...each time I see it, there are "things I missed" or changed my interpretation ... (yes, I 'have a life' outside of Source Code, but I really love this film!...there are others, Unstoppable, DejaVu, Frequency, Lake House -- you may notice a certain "pattern"...) ... anyway, he changes history so to speak, wish I could "go back and do that" about some things -- and he "gets the girl"... my most favorite moments, when he busts D.Frost and when Goodwin gets the email in the changed history early monday a.m. (on the lighter side, how about a Source Code 2, he's in another 'situation' and meets Sean :)
jaret paynter | January 11, 2013 8:01 PM
This might be a little late but whatever, here's my theory. Let us forget the failed attempts and instead only remember the last one where time seems to freeze as he is kissing Christina and also remember the real world that is now saved from dirty bombs. The real world is Universe A and the source code world is Universe B. In Universe A everyone is safe and we see Captain Steven taken off of that life support system and Chicago is saved. End of story for Universe A. However is Universe B Captain Steven (in Sean's body) is seen kissing Christina as the comedian makes everyone laugh. Sadly, this world is terminated because in Universe A Goodwin "killed" him. What we see after Universe B is paused (from it being turned off) is Captain Steven's afterlife/Heaven. As that is where he most wanted to be when he died. So now Captain Steven (still in Sean's body) is living his afterlife with Universe B as his Heaven. All in all a very good movie and I wished they would go ahead and make a show out of it.
manny | January 6, 2013 6:35 AM
YASASA | JUNE 27, 2012 1:59 AM
this one made the most sence to me read it up
Rishi Kumar | December 26, 2012 3:04 AM
I want to assume the universe/ timeframe where the film is taking place is Universe/Timeframe A. The captain was sent to that 8 min cycle many times which means he was sent to other universe/ timeframes, No need to label those universes. At last Captain Steven's was sent to another time frame/ Universe by goodwin on behalf of Captain's wish. This could be labelled as Universe/Timeframe B. Now in Timeframe B the following events happen
1->Captain's consciousness in Sean's body sent message to goodwin in that universe/time frame (whatever you call). In this time frame also Steven is dead already in Afghanistan plane crash.
2->After calling his dad from sean's body, challenging comedian etc., He kisses christina. Time freezes.
3-> The time freezes after that 8 mins.
Now in Timeframe A on captain's wish, goodwin unplugged Captain's life support, Captain's program is terminated. Now captains emotion is satisfied, to end his life and conscious while happy (kissing christina). Goodwin faces the justice.
The scene resumes in Timeframe B. The scenes resume after time freeze. Captain's conscious left Sean's body. Now it's Sean's conscious in Sean's body. We were shown Captain steven walking with christina in order to fulfill viewer's emotions. Here in timeframe B, where the disaster has been averted, Goodwin receives the message from sean (which was sent by Captain steven's conscious while in Sean's body).
Conclusion :
1)Captain Steven is dead in both the timeframes.
2)Sean's conscious resumes in Sean's body after time freeze in Timeframe B.
3)Captain's source code project is terminated in Timeframe A while it is yet to make it's debut in Timeframe B.
AS SIMPLE AS THAT. Ur views are welcomed. Have a Great day.
Martin | December 24, 2012 10:43 PM
I think he needs to send himself back in 8 minute blocks of times back until he reaches the time that he got injured almost died in the war to prevent that from happening and so he never had to be put in the source code and thus preventing him to stop that event... I am getting confused!
Acacia | December 23, 2012 6:35 AM
I still don't understand. If he really did die, then who sent the text message prior to the mission?
this is how i see it | December 6, 2012 8:45 AM
There are many different timelines running and in each timeline the same exact events either have happened, will happen, or are happening (up until 'source code' was used). Each time Stevens was sent back into the assumed memory of Sean, his mind was being sent to a different timeline (a different Sean) in which the events have not yet taken place. Stevens' mind is essentially taking place of Sean's and whenever sean dies, Stevens' mind is sent back with the help of source code to his own timeline. When Stevens plugged is pulled in his timeline, while his mind is stuck in seams body, he is being removed from source code and is forever assumes the body of Sean in the last timeline he was sent to. Therefore, yes there are two different stevens', one in a machine waiting to be sent to another timeline for a different mission and one in the mind of Sean. Hope it came out the way it was in my head.
raju | November 16, 2012 1:37 PM
Christopher...mate sorry to say that you got it wrong...tomson explanations seems to be valid.....
Thomas | November 11, 2012 7:46 AM
Hi there!
My theory is just parallel universes, alternate reality, or a second dimension (and third, fourth and so on). And no Time Travel. Every time he goes in to Source Code, he enters a new dimension or a new alternate reality, that they BELIVE cant be changed, because nothing really changes about what happens in the first dimension. They are only using it to get information to prevent further things to happen, if they get the information in time.
First dimension: everyone at the train dies, they get the INFORMATION through Source Code from another dimension to stop the next explosion. Thats all they can achieve in the first dimension, and also repeated through the whole film. Then Goodwin let's Stevens die.
Last dimension: After Stevens through Source Code have delivered his information to the first dimension, he is sent back in one last time by Goodwin. He saves the girl and the world, calls he's dad like he never got the chance to in the first dimension before he died, and also sends the message to Goodwin in that same dimension that same day (not to the first dimension). Telling her all about that Source Code is really working in a way they never would have expected and that she is gonna tell Steves that "everything's going to be all right" instead of what he was told in his dimension, about being dead and so on. So everything in that last part is really happening in another dimension where everyone was saved.
And in that dimension Source Code is just going prove it self in another "project". Because like it says in the message from Stevens (Sean) and the information we get in that scene, everything is prevented that day.
And that image of the metal thing on the plaza that flashes every time he goes into Source Code, that we see in the end. Where he also asks "Do you believe in destiny?" Could point to that in this dimension or alternate reality , this was meant to happen by the choices that where made in this reality and therefore he also had the flashes/memory about this when he was going in and out of new realties. So now he will just continue to live Sean's destiny in this dimension.
Of course there could be a lot of holes in my theory, but just thought i'd share it with you :)
Anyway, an awesome movie!
Thomas
Pruthvi Kaveti | November 9, 2012 5:00 AM
I absolutely agree with the above explanation. It is the most reasonable and logical inference possible and even satisfying as far as my understanding goes....
Scotty | November 5, 2012 8:22 AM
Watch the making of the film if you can - It hightlights the main theme and ideas of different parallel universes! Sorry to those who thinks the film should have ended at the kiss or it was his heaven...but your wrong! Thanks.
Phil I. Steen | October 28, 2012 12:41 AM
The one thing no one talks about is the march of time between the train explosion and the dirty bomb discovery/arrest. Stevens goes back to the memory he inhabits, it seems, dozens of times. So, we can assume that at least a couple of hours have passed from the initial, or "real," train explosion and Stevens' discovery of the bomber. Why is the bomber still on the road? He has had at least a couple of hours to get to his destination and to detonate the dirty bomb, but no he seems to be apprehended in reality just after leaving the train station after the Stevens discovers him in the delayed memory trip.
blacksworn | October 25, 2012 5:09 AM
The Movie Source Code Can be Interpreted is many ways but the Only Logical Interpretation is Time Travel and Alternate Reality.
So Let us Dissect the Source Code? what is Source Code?
Did the inventor Dr. Rutledge is aware of the Capability of his Inventions and an alternate Reality ? Yes
When Captain Colter Stevens tell Dr. Rutledge that he talk to him from a cell phone while in the Train Dr. Rutledge replied something like that's not me that's a different me.
Dr. Rutledge is aware of the Possibility of an alternate Reality, after all he is the Inventor.
when Captain Colter Stevens talks to Goodwin and Dr. Rutledge about the Possibility of saving the People on the Train, They replied the people on the Train are already dead but he says he saves a girl and goodwin look up on the computer and tells him she is shown as dead in the Explosion. so Literally everyone on the train is already dead and there is No savings going to happen in this reality. They send him in there to catch the Bomber?????? and to prevent another Explosion. ( Nuclear Explosion) How????????
How did the source code Retrieve last eight minutes of another man's consciousness?
Could they extract the Brain of the man from the explosion, it was probably a nuclear Explosion? thats Impossible.
The Source code is a type of Time Travel Machine. Capt. Stevens is wired to the Machine and is Uploaded into another man body the source code helps to cross over into another manâs identity. So stevens went into the Past just 8 minutes before explosions and so after many attempts identified the Bomber and avoided the future explosions from happening.
if the Movie ended there nobody would talk about it.
Stevens decided to saves the people on the Train, because he experience the alternate reality is real enough for him, the people on the train are real enough and the girl is worth saving even though they are all dead in a different reality.
Stevens says: ''If you're reading this email, then Source Code works even better than you and Dr. Rutledge imagined. He thought you were creating eight minutes of a past event. But you're not. You have created a whole new world'
So when he goes back and stop the explosion from happening he Created a new Reality. If goodwin did'nt terminate him. He would be brought back after the 8 minutes lapse and still be hooked up to the source code/life support system. But since Goodwin killed him on his request. he stayed back in the second alternate reality.
Summary:
1.In the First reality Goodwin will face Military Court martial and Capt. Steven is dead.
2.In the Second Reality Dr. Rutledge is still waiting for his Big day for a situation to use Capt. Stevens and his Invention the source code because the explosion never happens.
3.In the second Reality Capt. Steven is like a Ghost Possessing the Body of sean and sean is still alive but his mind got replace by stevens, how he is going to explain to the girl is a different matter.
Inconclusion:
Capt. Steven is send back to the past just 8 minutes before the Explosion and since he stop the explosion from happening thereby creating a new alternate timeline different from the first reality.
But the questions remain, there are two different Capt. stevens.
one still hooked up to the source code /life support system and the other in possession of another man body. What happens when Steven is terminated in the source code in the second reality, will seans come back into his own body ? where is seans mind now? did the alternate reality created two stevens, with two independent mind???? Am i Confused or is the author of the source code missing something there????
Laura | October 21, 2012 4:45 PM
This is the ending explanation to Source Code that I was looking for to satisfy me. Thanks!
AJTM82 | October 14, 2012 10:11 AM
I have just read several of the comments in addition to Christopher's taken on the ending and can't help but notice everyone (from the comments I have read a least) seems to be skipping the part that in the end when we see the epilogue of sorts, Goodwin has received an e-mail from the '8 minutes as Sean' Stevens from the past and is reading it while she overhears Dr. Rutledge say that a crisis will arise which will allow Source Code to prove its worth. Which means the attack on the train which served as the need to send Stevens into Sean's mind has not happened (and will not because the culprit is handcuffed in the train) at all!
This is a grade-A mind-$&@! for me!
John | October 12, 2012 6:04 AM
I've read most of these.. And to save most of you time--the June 27th comment by yasasa is pretty interesting. Hard to follow but think hard and it makes sense!
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Kyle | September 18, 2012 8:42 PM
The OP thinks this movie was better than Inception? I liked this movie, but it definitely isn't on the level of Inception really in any regard. Writing, plot, character arc, photography, ending. As far as the ending goes for this movie, I think it is a little to open for interpretation due to the lack of explanation for the premise itself. I believe they were trying to hint at multiple universes, as well as somehow tying in the memories of Sean (and a "fated" future) with the flashbacks the Captain was having when being sent back in to the source code, but I don't think the movie does a very good job at even bringing the viewer to the end in a way that they can even begin to create an interpretation that makes sense. Unlike Inception, that despite it's ambiguity at the end, throughout the journey Christopher Nolan provided us with the means to create multiple interpretations for what we think actually took place, and how it ended.
Abhi WT | September 13, 2012 8:16 PM
Making the most sense out of this movie and as per my own little research and theories, every person lives his life jumping from one universe to the next every .3 millionth of a second. Take the parallel universes as fixed frames of a moment, and you'd agree that the universe we know is so big that it might contain endless exactly similar universes (still frames) within... and as we jump from one to another... we feel the passage of time. In fact, if you divide a sec into the least known quantity of time ( i.e. 1/.3million sec - cause speed of light is the base for time calculation) the number you get is the universes you'll pass in a sec. Thus its very safe to assume that our life is like an energy beam passing through infinite parallel placed similar universes frames, exciting each frame as that particular moment of our life passes by. Then if you are "Adam" here in this moment (or universe) there are infinitely many exact "Adams" for each moment up to the time you are supposed to live ( say 80 yr)!! Now you can imagine why this Universe we see is so endless and flat!
Now to top it all... as i said, our life is an energy beam, similar to light. As light has frequency, so does our life. That means the energy beam keeps on falling on a single universe frame one wave behind the other ( i.e. jumping) till its exhausted ( our lifespan). Thus just a moment behind us is our nearest exact copy. I have passed this moment as such, he might pass it with a slight difference, and so will the next one ( cause of constant planar motion of our universes). Thus on a long enough timeline, my nearest exact copy a moment behind me, will accumulate enough differences from me (due to varying decisions- conscious or sub-conscious) to lead a different life. Now think of the exact copy of mine 2 hour behind me, he'll be leading a very different life, but still he'd exactly me with the same parents and all.
So, we say- A single decision can change our life. Its completely true up to the base.
I guess any person with enough understanding will get answers about everything from this stuff i have written ( along with the movie core). For the others who got bored with my thesis, read again or can't help it!
Thanks
M Riyan Andrianus | September 7, 2012 5:51 AM
It's the most perfect explanation. So, when the source code is unplugged by Goodwin, the Colter in real world died but... the unpredictable is.. the new timeline begins, and his brain still stuck in Sean's body because it's the new timeline. the present doesnt exist anymore. and why it created new timeline? and why it didnt stop in 8 minutes? because Sean didnt die. His brain just replaced by Colter from old timeline.
and more important, I think this new timeline, replaced the old timeline. so this movie doesnt show parallel world etc but it's like time paradox. the final is just one world. no real world and no source code world. it's just one world with new timeline. it's make the email was sent by Colter to Goodwin make sense. they are in same world. But with different alternate timeline. in new timeline, the source code never used anymore because the bomb never exists. so in the end, there are two Colter. The one in Sean's body (and IDK and it doesnt matter what would happen with him and Christina, his entire life, etc), and Another one in Lab waiting for First Souce Code project. (because only Goodwin the one who knows actually the sorce code have been used since received the email from old timeline Colter).
and yeah, this is actually a great movie if u understand.
I'm Riyan.
Dan I think I've got it | August 30, 2012 8:03 PM
Totally agree with the writer of this article. My opinion/trouble is the last line of the film said by Captain Stevens: "Goodwin, if I'm right, you have a Captain Colter Stevens waiting to send on a mission, promise me you'll help him, and when you do, do me a favour - tell him everything is going to be ok!" The only iffy bit of this line is the "If I'm right" bit. Leaving possiblity that he's wrong and dead/lucid dream/afterlife blah. Think about this: (brought to my attention by my clever lady friend) If Captain Stevens is living in Sean's body... where is Sean? It can't happen. My only conclusion is this... The director fucked up. Or... Captain Stevens is living as Sean, (he wouldn't choose his afterlife as someone else now, would he?!) until he gets called up again from Source code as it clearly states through the film that his father always knew that Captain Stevens, his son, wanted to save people. So, Captain Stevens will work for Source Code again because he wants to help people that might need him. What do you think? I welcome your suggestions... I'll smash 'em away with a source code bat! BOOM!!!
Amy | August 9, 2012 4:45 AM
RH - Since when do you have dreams of stuff that has yet to happen...and then does. Have a re-think!!
Tip Hat | August 7, 2012 5:20 AM
Duncan Jones needs to do more movies!!
RH | August 6, 2012 1:15 AM
You folks DO realize this was a science-FICTION movie, right? While I loved the premise and it was well done, it's only a movie.
You can argue all day about the characters and if they were in heaven or parallel universes or quantum dimensions or inside "source code", there is no explaining it other that it should have stopped at the freeze frame shot of the kiss. However, I'm sure the test audiences wanted a happy ending, so they wrote it in, as Hollywood so often does. Personally, I prefer endings that make sense, even if unhappy.
wait wuh | August 5, 2012 6:47 AM
Okay I just remmembered that on the last scene of the movie, the silver cloud art gives off reflections. And if my memory is correct (i dnt have the movie) the reflection of Captian colter is of sean. In the source code "simulation", the reflection of captain colter is also sean (wen he looked in the mirror in the bathroom train.) So this means that Colter is in a "simulation". And this "simulation" as we all know could be more then a simulation but something that transcends parallel universe's. So in the end, wen goodwin pulled the plug, it did not matter because Captain colter was in a different parallel universe. Goodwin just cut off colter from the original universe. And the best part of this is that Captain Colters universe is his "heaven" (not literally heaven). That second universe was somewhere where people were happy and nothing went wrong. And that last text was also in the second universe. The text said something like "everything is going to be okay" which means that Colter knows he landed in a universe where it is like heaven. U get wat I mean??? I just went on a ramble so this might no make sense but this is how i see it.
Jackson | August 3, 2012 11:13 AM
But you seem to have missed the part in the end where Steven and Christina arriving to the plaza to the huge medal ball, which was an image that was constantly flashed everytime he was shocked into his 8mins missions. That would suggest that he was seeing a vision of something that was nowhere in history. That vision appeared only after the "killing" happened and he went into his "afterlife", yet he saw flashes of it before all that happened. So it seems like the source code transcends both time and alternate worlds.
Captain_007 | July 23, 2012 2:04 PM
No you guys didn't get it. The most interesting part is its ending.
As you may know, there is no availability for a source code to figure out who is the suspect, the whole story looks like a trash. But the ending put this rational: it's the agent Goodwin's brain on an invisible lab desk.
Because source code doesn't accept signal from external, the only reason for Goodwin to get Captain's message is she is actually in "source code" --- or say, her brain is on the desk. It's Goodwin rather than Captain in the experiment. That made the whole story rational.
Justin Huntingdon | July 22, 2012 5:18 PM
I think the ending was tacked on to provide a happy ending. Have you seen 'The Player'? I think the original screenplay finished with the frozen shot of the train's passengers laughing at the comedian...
SIMON | July 20, 2012 8:13 PM
firstly, can i make it clear that i love this film, i think though that i would have loved it even more, if it had been 10 minutes shorter, if the film had actually ended with the freeze frame of the kiss, but maybe a freeze frame of sean kissing christina, not colter. i think that ending would allow people to create their own questions and answers to what happens next, and not have the questions fed to us by what happens next.
i like the idea of alternative and paralell universes, that when a decision is made, reality forks into different directions and each are played out. I think i would like the ending more if we actually see the actor playing sean, in the last few minutes and not jake gyllenhall. during the last 8 minutes when colter has hijacked seans body he has created a reality in which sean and christina have got together. i think it would make more sense (to me) because the love story from christinas point of view was with sean. although it would then pose the question of how would sean account for the last 8 minutes that he had missed?? and i personally would find it easier to accept that death means death to colter, no matter what reality it is in. and the message to goodwin, unnecessarily confusing. just my opinion for what its worth! simon.
Bex | July 18, 2012 8:22 PM
I still don't get why Goodwin (in dimension 2) knows the name of the bomber (Derek Frost). The name isn't mentioned in the e-mail. If it was an other dimension, she wouldn't remember that name. But she does. Head hurts from all the thinking. Haha!
jayjay | July 13, 2012 2:07 PM
Heres my "interpretation" i guess. the colter in the source code is pretty much a digital projection. the real colter is lying in the pod with no limbs. Only a certain part of his brain is active by computers. Now when they send his mind back into the past on the train, how do they decide who's body he goes in? How is it even possible to make exactly what happened in the real life into a computer simulation? Wouldn't they have to be on the train and record everyones actions and personalities? My guess is that when he's on the train, its just a digital simulation of what happened. Basically its a made up dimension. So how does he send a text or email from a simulation to the real world? Also when Goodwin shuts down his mind, wouldn't it be Sean's mind back in his hody and having that date with Christina in the simulation world? My guess is that a dimension is created with the source code but its a digitally programmed one thats fabricated in the real world. I really just dont get how he sent Goodwin the email from the fake world to real world. Then how she knew Derek Frost's name already. It feels like the source code dimension and the real world dimension shouldnt be affected by eachother.
justme | July 11, 2012 1:40 PM
Thank you, everyone, for posting on here. Watched this movie for the first time on Saturday and am still thinking about it.
I'm leaning toward the "alternate universe" theory. Colter does say a whole new world was created. Agreeing with what someone else posted, there is so much we don't know about science and physics that I feel anything is possible. I also find it hard to believe that "Chicago alone" could be his "afterlife...." unless he eventually goes off to explore the things that were important in his "real, Colter life."
A sequel would be amazing and, in my humble opinion, would include maybe Colter explaining the situation to Christina, going back to wherever he is from....(Shaking my head that I have sat here wondering where a fiction character is from, but I have since watching lol....I've decided he's from a southern state in my humble opinion due to the polite "m'aams" he has said lol)
Questions I have had...If he is now Sean, he doesn't know how to teach, where he lives, etc., unless those Sean things are still there in the brain, somewhere. He could re-enlist in the military as Sean and somewhat "pick up" life where he left it as Colter, if he wished.
It would be nice to see him visit his Dad and people he was close to before the helicopter crash. I got the impression that his Dad was also a military man based on the description of his "funeral." He could probably explain Sean is indeed himself to his Dad, and with "knowing things that only he would know," it could be determined that he was indeed Colter.
I would be afraid though that the "mad scientist" Rutledge/the military program would find out he is "alive" and able to "give away the secrets of Sourcecode" and he would be killed.
Maybe that's why Goodwin didn't tell Rutledge about the text she received from Colter.
Amazing movie. Love stuff that makes me think.
Thanks again, everyone. I asked my boyfriend his interpretation and his answer was basically, "Goodwin went to tell the doctor about the bombing but he already knew." Not really a debater type, so am thankful for this thread!
robert heend | July 7, 2012 2:24 AM
I would debate on the ending of movie....It would of made more logical sense to have it been not a fantasy BS alternate sequence, meaning when Sean pulled the second cell phone off the bomb, he should of vanished and woke up in the confined pod with no memory of any train bombing which they should of just rolled the credits after being tasked by goodwin to find the failed train bomber(aka Derrick frost) who just destroyed the city. Of course noone would know his name because the train bombing never happen for goodwin to even bother to send coulter on that prior mission.
ahfjhfj | June 29, 2012 9:20 PM
I think..and i don't know any fancy terms for alternate universes or anything. But I think in the real world we first see Stevens is dead/hooked up in that room and just makes up the capsule to deal with it all. We know this. When he asks Goodwin to send him back a last time and she agrees he prevents the disaster from ever happening because he handcuffs whatshisname to the train. This explains why when Goodwin gets the message the disaster never happened. Reality has changed from the one we saw at the beginning of the movie because Stevens had not figured out what to do. Stevens was dead in the first reality because she turned him off and this allowed him to stay in the source code whole alternate thingy. So i see it as a kind of parallel universe: where Stevens has been through the movie as we saw it; knows he has been turned off, and can live with Christina. But in the real world none of it has happened. So Stevens hasn't been turned off because Stevens changed everything so there was no train explosion, no turning him off. So he can be sent off again. Then it could happen again with a different disaster and he could ask to be turned off and there could be dozens of Stevens all living alternate lives, if Stevens asked to be turned off and was obeyed each time and managed to figure out each disaster to prevent them from happening. So there is Sean and Christina happy in real world, Stevens hooked up to machine. But in source code parallel universe Stevens in Sean's body is with Christina. Here i get stuck. Because where is Sean in source code parallel universe? I think i see him as ceasing to exist because in this parallel universe Stevens is in his body and when he is turned off he stays in it. Yeah. I have no idea how id explain the text reaching Goodwin. But i love this movie.
Yasasa | June 27, 2012 1:59 AM
This is what I think. The Source code allows transport or allows memories to travel through different dimensions. Lets take the dimension where Stevens is used as the Source code subject as D1. The one where Stevens lives as Sean, or lives in the mind of Sean is D2. In D1, Sean is dead, because of the bomb, but Stevens is alive. In D2, Sean and Stevens both aren't dead. So what happens is, the memories of Stevens in D1 is transported to the head of Sean in D2. Stevens from D1 then manages to stop the death of Sean in D2. Goodwin in D1 then terminates the life of Stevens in D1, but as the memories of the Stevens in D1 are in the head of Sean in D2, Steven in D1 dies, but his memories remain in D2, making him still live in a different body, BUT still having enough memories to know what happened to his original body. Even though Stevens in D1 dies, the Stevens in D2 is still alive in his original body. So Steven D1 in Sean D2's body sends a message to Goodwin D2's cellphone. Then, the body of Steven in the lab with Goodwin in D2 is Steven D2, not Steven D1. So that means Steven D1 can visit Steven D2, but it will be Steven D1 in Sean D2's body that will be visiting Steven D2. So it will look like Sean is visiting Steven D2, not Steven D1. Only Steven D1's memories remain, remember? So this means,
*In the first dimension or D1, Steven is dead, Sean is dead, but the White Van guy is arrested using Stevens' help, and the Source code's help.
*In D2 or the second dimension, Sean isn't dead, Steven isn't dead, and the White Van guy is arrested, never having to use the Source code, but is arrested using the memories of Stevens from D1.
*So this means that Stevens from the first dimension and the Stevens from the second dimension both now live inside the second dimension, although one of them lives inside a different body.
Did everyone understand that? That's what I think, anyway. OH MY GOD my head hurts from thinking so much. Ughhhhhh. I wanted to say a lot more about my perception, but I think this is enough for anyone to get an idea about my view at the ending. It's also enough to tell myself that I did my best to make people understand another angle of looking at it. So cheers!
Christine | June 20, 2012 3:48 AM
I don't buy 'its his Heaven' when his life support is turned off. The source code allows him to almost exist digitally. So its safe to say he carried on existing digitally. Heaven for him should mean him reunited with family and loved ones...not carry in in someone elses body. It's messy that.
mattyh | June 16, 2012 2:41 PM
Why do you boggle your mind and waste your time with these thoughts?
Not even the director put as much thought into these theories as you just did!
The simple explanation is, his brain/consciousness is living on in what is his own manifestation. A manifestation of what his brain conjured up in order to live a happy life.
It is so blissful because he thinks it is real, however, the viewers know it is his heaven.
Hugh | June 11, 2012 9:25 AM
'Regardless he not in two places at once' - Only if you had a double 'or mirror image' of exactly the same moment of someones life, in the same world, would it be a problem. A young and old anyone could exist in the same world for example....their body's makeup is still different down to the milli nano nano second.
Chan | June 11, 2012 8:53 AM
This summed it up for me, there needs to be a second movie! - At the military base in the new timeline, Goodwin receives the text and reads the memory lines she programmed into Stevens. She is shocked and reads on to discover that they create new timelines when they activate Source Code. He tells her that one day, sheâll be forced to activate him and on that day she will need to help him. The scene ends with Goodwin looking over the body of the new timelineâs Colter Stevens awaiting activation for the next catastrophe.
Shane | June 11, 2012 8:37 AM
There is a new alternate universe! The source code is able to tap into these...and you see flashes of crossovers (Stevens seeing the future without realizing till the end - all he says is 'do you believe in fate') So the guy who made it doesn't realize this. Stevens does!. I would love a sequel where Stevens (inside Sean) comes back to the lab and sees himself on life support....thumbs up!
TOM | June 11, 2012 8:30 AM
@Hey - Hats off mate ha. I do have another version of what happens....will post it another time. Cheers. Great movie and hope there is a second.
Mackay | June 11, 2012 8:22 AM
Instead of him dying when his life support is shut off, the Source code actually allows Stevens to become part of the system. This is why he gets visions of the future within the second time line ( where he saves everyone - only inside the code) prior to him completing his mission. In real life the train crashed for real, but he dies prevent the second bombing. In the source code he is able to save everyone, and then go on with Christine after. The only weird thing for me is that she will always see him as Sean. Maybe this is a point for a sequal...because its kind of weird and i would like Stevens to come back into the story.
Hey | June 11, 2012 8:08 AM
Clearly stevens is floating around inside the sorce code. No after glow (heaven) or new unicerse. After his life support gets terminated....instead of it all going 'black'...it freezes. He then becomes part of the sorce code and is floating around inside. Tom is right, Anthony is a prick.
TOM | June 11, 2012 8:06 AM
Anthony, Your a pr.ick. Do one. Who give a crap what you think you smug twat. You clearly dont have a brain so no point me trying to enlighten you.
Rhen | June 8, 2012 1:18 PM
This movie is really highly recommend to any1 . I cant believe there is a movie like this uniquueee
Anthony | June 8, 2012 12:03 AM
Tom, you're an idiot. Do u have an opinion of your own? Did u even realize that the only point u made that the text message couldn't happen I also said? So u come on and say I don't agree with someone and then your only point is something I said then you say nothing of your own. Your crap, your writing ability is crapier than a 3rd grader and since u roam the Internet for things to complain about I'm guessing your life is crap. Enjoy all your crap crapper. It's a computer program u crap crapper. Oh yeah. U got some crap in your pants little baby. I'll put it even simpler for u.. U did poopies in you tighty whities. Get some boxers u wound too tight guy. Probably from all the poop and over loaded sack from not getting any. Not with that attitude u don't, or with poop in your pants.
Tom | June 7, 2012 5:56 AM
Below is total crap. Long and pointless read. If hes deas hes dead...no afterglow and also no text message can be sent out of the source code.
Anthony | June 6, 2012 2:01 AM
Your are all suckers!! There is no alternate realities, there are no parallel universes or dimensions. They say from the beginning that. All source code is, is a memory from someone that died on the train they were able to hack into. It's like a dream u have, there are a bunch of different things in the dream but you can only remember a few details, if you are lucky!! When the computer program hacks Sean's memory, it can capture every detail that was seen in the course of events that person experienced. Now they hook up Stevens to that memory that he has the ability to navigate through the entire memory as Sean's brain recorded it. It's like they say, we only use a few percent of our brains ability. The computer makes it so Stevens can access 100% of the experience he had even though he wouldn't remember 99% of what the computer is showing. The source code takes short term memories and displays them for the navigator (Stevens) to be able to experience 100% of that short term memory. Think of it as a video game that has a 360 degree world you play in like call of duty. U don't remember or see all the things going on but they are there. And the source code allows the person viewing this memory access to every detail as long as he explores it. There is no time travel involved or ability to take over someone else's life like some are suggesting Stevens did to Sean. And since there is no time travel there is no way Stevens ever stopped the first attack!!! The entire ending was his death dream (just like when people die for a few minutes and come back to life -ie the white light theory). He wanted to make everyone smile and when he realized he was dead, or going to die he then could picture or control how he wanted his last memory like when you fall
Asleep watching a movie and dream about something related to the movie. The just was consciously creating his last dream because he knew e was going to die and made peace with it this was his choice of how he wanted to remember life or his version of how he wanted life to be. His half of a body was still in the lab, and in reality after he gave them the plate and name of the non ratially profiled white college kid, (and why is a white college kid so upset? Go play beer pong and have a threesome like a normal person!! Whata doosh. Anyway, the real reality is that he navigated through the source code getting the info needed to stop the 2nd attack and everything else was his dream before he died. You can see the screen stop on the train. That symbolizes him dying and he then had 8 minutes to dream what he wanted including him visualizing that he saved everyone from the train bomb. If it was possible to save those people, which it's not since this movie is not about time travel, the girlfriend wouldn't have been dead after he pulled her off the train when following the "racial profiled" guy into the bathroom. They looked her up after he pulled her off and she was still dead. So why would it work for all passengers and not just one?! Also, he was in the helicopter accident months before the bombing so he couldn't have survived later. Even in the matrix when in the system u couldnt pull anything in the matrix out into real life! This was a computer program that allowed a memory to be navigated not a time machine that creates alternate universes that allows communication between both universes. If it did create a different universe he wouldn't be able to text the other universe/timeline. Like in backup the future Marty ran into himself in TE same timeline because the movie followed the space time continuium theory. If the bomb never went off he wouldn't have been able to go back. Also called the butterfly theory. One thing changed changes everything. If the first bomb never took place he wouldn't have been able to go back and stop it. And where would seans "soul" go? How and why would Sean not exist anymore? Personally I thought the concept was ok but don't think the writers came up with a deep enough set of rules to follow for their theory hence why there is no concrete answer just logic based on events that took place. Ok idea not enough thought into how to follow out the theory. But when you have jake gylehall (or however he spells that mess) you don't have to have rules for your story!! Lmfao. God bless if you are still reading this post, if you are then I'm thinking you have to agree or why read this whole thing. Bottom line, it was a computer program that allows a perpsn to experience and navigate everything in it and extract info. No alternate universe or time travel and what we see at the end it a last dream / hallucination of a person conscious and at peace with dying. In his mind he said goodbye to his dad, saved the world or shy town and got laid. Not a bad way to go out. Even the text message and dr saying one day we will
Show what we can do is steven picturing that that happened because he believed he could change the events, which he mentioned quite a few times throughout the movie. Damn I'm smart. Hope I cleared up this dopey movie. Now
Going to bed and dreaming I'm banging Carmen Electra from 13 years ago. And if I die in my sleep that dream will go on for a while.
somone | June 2, 2012 12:38 PM
OK i finally figured it out. This is for the people who are confused about the txt message part to Goodwin. This is how it goes, after Colter texts Goodwin, then woot he saves the day (in World B *simulation). Once the 8 minutes ended, in World A, Goodwin terminates Colter in the lab since that was his request. Time freezes on the train once she does so, now Colter is in his "afterlife" if u want to call it that. Now the text message at the end DOES NOT go to World A it stays in World B. As in the end, since Colter saved the train, they did not have to use the Sorce code. If u listen in the end when Goodwin walks in as the guy in the chair said that "the bombing was 'aborted' and the suspect was Frost , THAT he was handcuffed to a pole in the train". That sentence shows that that is in World B* which is the afterlife place. The Dr. also said that they will use the Code when a crisis begins , which was not that day BCUZ Colter (in Sean's body) saved the ppl and the train. And thats it about that.... hehe
anonymous | May 29, 2012 1:32 AM
steven's mind is now in both bodies because if u recall, he told goodwin what if there are two of u and now he is in sean's body and in the captains body
Food | May 28, 2012 5:59 AM
So acording to you his idea of Heaven is existing in a body of some over bloke....screwing some chick with some one elses cock? Yeah right. What happend to unfinished work in his own past?? All forgotten i suppose...given up! Hes a war hero for goodness sake...his life proir to this you make out to be a non starter. All seems a bit far fetched to me that this would be his 'afterglow' or 'heaven'....and what the hell happens to Sean? Poor mofo? of to heaven i suppose? Your trying to tie up ends to the film your self and smooth over gaps....that should have been thought through better from the start. These things we can discuss for things they tie up in the sequel.
Bayman | May 28, 2012 4:29 AM
Yours is incorrect. He creates a second parallel universe...and sends a text at the end which gets sent within the same new world, but earlier on. The world he saves before, the disaster is averted....in the new world it never happens. The weird thing is what STEVEN says...that Seans character is the only looser. One minute he is there...the next he isn't. Jakes character even weirdly is happy with chick actually loving Seans face body ect...and he just carries on in a new body...with someones else's cock.
Laura | May 28, 2012 12:43 AM
BRUCE: I agree!!
Jose | May 27, 2012 6:14 PM
To go off what everyone has been saying I would just add that when his last 8 minutes are up he dies and the rest of his life passes before his eyes.
Ian | May 27, 2012 12:25 AM
Mind fuck....