Source Code (2011)

Plot Summary for Source Code (2011)

olter Stevens, a US Army helicopter pilot whose last memory is flying in Afghanistan, wakes up on a commuter train. However, he discovers that he has assumed the identity of another man. 8 minutes later, the train explodes and Stevens finds himself in some kind of pod. He then talks to someone named Goodwin, who tells him he has to go back and find out who the bomber is. He is sent back to go through the whole thing again and attempts to find who the bomber is but fails. The bomb goes off and Stevens finds himself in the pod again. He is sent back another time, yet still cannot find out anything. When he returns, he asks what is going on. Goodwin and Rutledge, the scientist in charge, tell him that he is part of a project that can put someone in another person's consciousness during the last 8 minutes of their life. Stevens then asks why he cannot just stop the bomb. He is told that he is not going back in time but placed in the moment so he can find out who the bomber is and if there are any other targets. On the side, Stevens finds himself falling for the woman traveling with him while he is still in the other man's consciousness.

Army Captain Colter Stevens finds himself working on a special program where his consciousness can be inserted into another human being. The only catch is can only be there for 8 minutes at any given time. That morning, a bomb exploded on a commuter train just outside Chicago. He occupies the body of teacher going to work on that train and is confused as to what he is doing or why he is there as his last memory is of flying his helicopter on a combat mission in Afghanistan. Those in charge of the program explain to him that there is a bomb on the train that must locate it. More importantly, he must identify the bomber as another bombing is expected later that day. He is also told however that he cannot change the past and can only gather information. As he develops a liking for his traveling companion Christina, he sets out to test that theory. The US Army helicopter pilot Captain Colter Stevens awakes in a commuter train to Chicago in the body of a professor named Sean Fentress, and his last memory is flying in Afghanistan. A woman named Christina Warren talks to him; there are minor incidents in the wagon and eight minutes later, the train blows-up. Captain Stevens wakes up in a coffined in a sort of trunk and is contacted by the military Lieutenant Colleen Goodwin. He learns that he had died in a helicopter crash and now he is inserted in a computer program called Source Code, developed by Dr. Rutledge, which transfers him to the body of a deceased person for the last eight minutes of his life using his after images. He is advised that he can not change the past, since Source Code is not a time machine, but he can reassign time and change the future. He is assigned to return to the train and find who the bomber is to avoid his next terrorist attack in Chicago downtown. Captain Stevens is sent back several times and he and Christina fall in love with each other. He decides to save the train from the explosion despite Dr. Rutledge tells him that that is effort is worthless.

Synopsis for Source Code (2011) A man (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a train sitting across from a woman named Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan). The woman seems to know him by the name Sean Fentress, but he doesn't seem to know her and appears uncertain of his own identity. After eight minutes, a bomb goes off on the train, and the man awakens to find himself strapped inside a small geodesic dome. There, Air Force Capt. Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) explains to him through a computer screen that he is actually Colter Stevens, a decorated army helicopter pilot, now on a mission to locate the maker of a bomb which destroyed a train headed into Chicago. This is to be accomplished using the Source Code, a time loop program that allows him to take over someone's body in a reenactment of their last eight minutes of life. Stevens has no memory of how he became involved in the Source Code project; his last memory is of flying in a recent mission in Afghanistan while taking on enemy gunfire. Stevens' mission in the Source Code is to assume the identity of Fentress, one of the train's passengers, locate the bomb, discover who detonated it, and report back to Goodwin to prevent the bomber from detonating a larger dirty nuclear device in downtown Chicago, which could cause the deaths of millions of people. Goodwin and the Source Code's creator, Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright), tell him that the Source Code is not a simulation, but a visit into the past in the form of an alternate reality. He's told that he cannot truly alter the past to save any of the passengers, but that he must gather intel that can be used to alter the future and prevent a future attack. Goodwin assures Stevens that "everything will be OK." Stevens is sent into the Source Code repeatedly, and each time a series of events repeat, with variations due to Stevens' acts. Meanwhile, he goes on searching for the terrorist and getting to know Christina, until the bomb that destroys the train goes off and Fentress dies, sending Stevens back to the chamber. Even though Rutledge and Goodwin constantly direct him to focus on finding the bomber, each time around he learns more, both about the terrorist attack and his real life personal situation. Stevens resolves to complete his mission, now with the added personal goal of saving Christina and the people on the train if at all possible. Using a cellphone while on the train, Stevens eventually discovers that he supposedly died two months ago. He confronts Goodwin with this information, and learns from Goodwin and Rutledge that he had been shot down during the war, and his mutilated body was appropriated by the Air Force and used by Rutledge to operate the Source Code. Stevens then asks Rutledge and Goodwin to let him die, which they promise they will do once the mission is finished.

He eventually discovers that the bomber is a disturbed American young man named Derek Frost (Michael Arden), which allows authorities to apprehend Frost and save Chicago before the second bomb is detonated. With the mission accomplished, and despite their promise, Rutledge orders Stevens' memory to be erased and stored for reuse in further missions. However, Stevens persuades Goodwin to send him in one more time and give him one last chance to avert the train disaster. Goodwin agrees that he deserves to be allowed to die in peace afterwards instead of being held alive as a military brain in a vat. With the information he has uncovered from previous trips into the Source Code, Stevens is able to defuse the bomb and immobilize Frost before he can destroy the train. Stevens and Christina kiss in the last seconds before the eight-minute mark. In that instant, Goodwin turns off his life support per his request, but to Stevens' surprise, his mind remains in Sean Fentress' body. He is then able to safely leave the train with Christina, also saving the rest of the passengers. Now in the alternate universe, an alternate version of Goodwin receives an email from Stevens explaining what has happened and that the Source Code can alter the target alternate reality. The movie ends with Stevens taking Fentress' place, and asking Goodwin to help Captain Colter Stevens and tell him that "everything will be OK.", which Goodwin had told Stevens earlier in the film.