Genre
Sci-Fi / Action
Written By
Ben Ripley
Logline
When he wakes up in the body of another man, a U.S. soldier discovers that he's now the key player in an operation to prevent a terrorist attack.
Why break it down?
Boy, was this one a blast. A
few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of understanding three-act structure as a prerequisite to disregarding it. And the question I've been asked the most since then:
"Is there a film you enjoy that violates three-act structure?"
Why, of course there is! I encourage understanding three-act structure in much the same way Cormac McCarthy might encourage understanding syntax; If you take the time to learn it up and down, you'll naturally begin to understand how to defy it in a way that properly services your story. And what better example of this theory than Ben Ripley's
'Source Code,' an under-the-radar masterpiece that - even after a summer of surprisingly good films - still stands as my undisputed favorite of 2011 (so far).
If you haven't seen this movie yet, stop reading immediately and go watch it. I'll wait. Okay, are you done? WASN'T IT AWESOME?!
'SOURCE CODE' IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE "GROUNDHOG DAY" FORMULA, which is a type of structure in which the same event is repeated over and over again with different information (and different consequences) being presented each time.
IT CAN ALSO TEACH US HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF OUR INDIVIDUAL SCENES;
'Source Code' contains less than half the number of scenes that most movies do, meaning each one has to be carefully crafted to drive the story forward without wasting any precious time.
This movie is structured a bit differently, so read up, keep an eye out for the beats, and we'll look at the film's structure after the jump. (Click the
[+] button for a summary of each scene.)
PART 1
00:00 - 02:00 (2.00 pages) [+]OPENING CREDITS MONTAGE
Aerial shots of Chicago, following a commuter train as it speeds across the landscape.
02:00 - 06:30 (4.50 pages) [+]INT. TRAIN - DAY
COLTER STEVENS (Jake Gyllenhall) jolts awake. He looks around to find he's inside a moving train. The only problem…he has no idea how he got there.
The Opening Scene
He immediately notices a bunch of little things
(herein called THE LITTLE THINGS): • A HUNGRY GUY opens up a can of soda.
• A MESSY WOMAN spills coffee on his shoe, walking past.
• An ANGRY MAN stares impatiently at his watch.
• A GUY WITH GLASSES gets up and goes to the bathroom.
• A TRAIN CONDUCTOR asks him for his ticket.
• A COMEDIAN complains about the train's slow speed.
Colter is sitting across from a woman named CHRISTINA (Michelle Monaghan), who talks to him like they already know each other.
He feels sick. The train stops, and he goes outside for some air. On his way to the door, he notices several more things:
• A BUSINESS WOMAN drops her papers on the ground.
• A BAG (marked "WALTER REED HOSPITAL" ) sits next to a seat upstairs.
• A RED-HEADED GUY chases someone out the door, returning his lost wallet.
Colter asks the Red-Headed Guy a question:
Colter goes back inside the train and sits down with Christina. Looking out the window, he catches his reflection in the glass…and it doesn't look like him at all. He freaks out and runs to the bathroom, where he looks in the mirror and realizes:
"My reflection isn't me..."
He leaves the bathroom, and suddenly THE WHOLE TRAIN EXPLODES AND FLIES OFF THE TRACK.
On that, we CUT TO...
| THE TRAIN EXPLODES
06:30 - 10:45 (4.25 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT
A small, dark flight capsule, where Coulter is strapped tightly into a chair. There's tons of machinery in front of him. And a woman named GOODWIN (Vera Farmiga) is talking to him on a computer screen.
Lights flash, the screen goes pixellated, and Colter is suddenly transported back to…
| "YOU NEED TO FIND THE BOMB..."
10:45 - 17:00 (6.25 pages) [+]INT. TRAIN - DAY
Colter opens his eyes to find he's back inside the train. Like before, Christina talks to him as if they already know each other. He looks around and notices
The Little Things happening, just like they did last time:
• THE HUNGRY GUY opens up a can of soda.
• THE MESSY WOMAN spills coffee on his shoe, walking past.
Colter gazes around, fascinated. He thinks he's inside a simulation. He walks around the train, marveling at how realistic everything seems. More of
The Little Things happen around him:
• THE BUSINESS WOMAN drops her papers on the ground.
• THE RED-HEADED GUY chases someone out the door, returning his wallet.
Colter watches it all happen, realizing that if he doesn't act quickly, a bomb will go off and destroy the train. He runs to the bathroom, where he finds the bomb inside an air vent. He leaves it, hurrying back to where the passengers all are.
Not knowing what to do, Colter asks everyone to turn off their computers and cell phones. But before anyone can comply, THE WHOLE TRAIN EXPLODES, JUST LIKE BEFORE.
| "I FOUND THE BOMB!"
PART 2
17:00 - 20:45 (3.75 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT / AIR FORCE BASE - DAY
Colter opens his eyes; he's back inside the dark capsule (from 06:30 - 10:45). And he's pissed. Goodwin (the woman from earlier, on the computer screen) sits in her office, talking to him. She explains to Colter what's going on:
She asks him about what he's seen so far, and together, they analyze
THE CLUES:
• The bomb (which Colter found in 10:45 - 17:00) was attached to a cell phone.
• There were 52 phone calls in Chicago the moment that bomb went off.
• One of those calls, then, had to be made by the bomber.
Also…
• A SECOND train passed by just as the bomb exploded.
• So, the attack was designed to blow up BOTH trains.
• The bomber must have been able to SEE the trains when he made the call.
So now, Colter has an objective:
THE MISSION EXPLAINED
20:45 - 28:15 (7.50 pages) [+]INT. / EXT. TRAIN - DAY
Colter wakes up inside the train. For the first time, he knows what he's here to do. He flirts with Christina (the girl sitting across from him).
They examine the other passengers, analyzing them one by one. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, until…
THE GUY WITH GLASSES (from The Little Things, 02:00 - 06:30) comes out of the bathroom. And remember, there's a bomb inside that bathroom, so Colter thinks this guy might have planted it.
Colter tries to convince Christina to get off the train with him. She doesn't want to go, so he does the only thing he can think of…he kisses her. Dumbstruck, she agrees to get off the train, and they leave.
As Colter and Christina step outside, Colter sees The Guy With Glasses walking into the train station.
Colter confronts the Guy With Glasses and they get in a fight. But in the middle of their tussle, THE TRAIN BLOWS UP ANYWAY, meaning the Guy With Glasses couldn't have been the one who set it off. Colter gets pushed onto the train tracks and gets hit by a train, killing him and sending him back to…
| ROMANCE #1
28:15 - 36:00 (7.75 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT / AIR FORCE BASE - DAY
Colter wakes up inside the dark capsule, but there's nobody on the computer screen this time. And to make matters worse, it's freezing cold. He unfastens himself from his chair and tries to fix the capsule.
Meanwhile, Goodwin watches Colter's vitals on her computer screen, panicking. She informs her boss, Dr. RUTLEDGE (Jeffrey Wright), that Colter is dying. They struggle to get back into contact with him.
Meawhile, Colter manages to fix his capsule, and his computer turns back on. He chats with Goodwin and Rutledge (Goodwin's boss):
Colter doesn't understand, so they explain what the Source Code is: Basically, it allows Colter to go back in time before someone died, and re-live the last eight minutes of that person's life. But it's not (supposedly) REAL; he's only experiencing the
creations of that person's mind during those last eight minutes.
So essentially, there's another bomb getting ready to hit Chicago. And if Colter can use the Source Code to figure out who the bomber is…they can stop this next attack from happening. Goodwin and Rutledge get ready to send Colter back in, and Goodwin leaves him with one last piece of advice:
She hits the magic button, and Colter goes back into the Source Code…
| THE SOURCE CODE EXPLAINED
36:00 - 39:30 (3.50 pages) [+]INT. TRAIN - DAY
Colter wakes up inside the train. Christina talks to him like always, but gets a little freaked out when he starts predicting The Little Things (02:00 - 06:30) before they even happen. Colter gets up and hurries to the second floor of the train.
He finds the gun (that Goodwin told him about in the previous scene), but gets caught by security. They chain him to a rail, and Christina sits with him, trying to calm him down.
ROMANCE #2
PART 3
39:30 - 41:15 (1.75 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT / AIR FORCE BASE - DAY
Colter paces back and forth inside the dark capsule. He tells Goodwin to contact his father and tell him he loves him. He notices a military uniform by his chair, taking note of the
strange logo on its sleeve.
⇡
41:15 - 47:15 (6.00 pages) [+]INT. TRAIN - DAY
Colter wakes up inside the train. He asks Christina for a favor:
Colter confronts a few passengers, digging through their luggage. He gets a phone and looks up the strange logo (from the jacket in the previous scene), learning that it's connected to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. He gets ready to call the base, but Christina interrupts with some terrible news:
As Colter exits the Source Code, we see a QUICK MONTAGE of his past:
• A soldier looks into the camera: "Hey, this guy's alive!"
• Various soldiers lie inside a hospital ward, hooked up to respirators.
• An airplane shoots at a city down below (night vision).
⇡ COLTER LOSES
47:15 - 52:15 (5.00 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT / AIR FORCE BASE - DAY
Colter wakes up in the dark capsule. He asks Goodwin if he's actually dead, and she gives him the hard truth:
Rutledge (Goodwin's boss) tells Colter to get his shit together and find the bomber. They get into an argument, but Colter is sent back into the Source Code before they can fight any longer.
| ⇣ HIS MOTIVATION
52:15 - 53:00 (0.75 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT
A 30-second montage, as Colter gets sent into the Source Code over and over again. He becomes more and more exhausted each time. FADE TO BLACK.
|
⇣
53:00 - 54:15 (1.25 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT / AIR FORCE BASE - LATER
Rutledge plays an audio recording of Colter's father, talking about how proud he is of Colter. It does the trick, and Colter asks to be sent back into the Source Code.
| ...AND GETS HIS MOTIVATION BACK
54:15 - 62:45 (8.50 pages) [+]INT. TRAIN - DAY
This time, Colter wastes no time getting the gun, finding the bomb, and disarming it. From the bomb, he unplugs the cell phone detonator and calls it, finally learning who the bomber is…
…the guy from The Little Things (02:00 - 06:30), who dropped his wallet! Like always, the Red-Headed guy brings the wallet back to him, and Colter jumps out of the speeding train to follow him. Turns out, the guy's name is DERRICK FROST, and he was purposely trying to leave his wallet at the scene of the blast so everyone would think he was dead.
Colter confronts Frost and finds the next bomb (it's in Derrick's truck), but not before Frost shoots him in the chest. Christina shows up and Frost shoots her, too. Explaining his evil plan, he drives away, leaving Colter and Christina to stare at each other, dying in the street.
But just before Colter dies, we learn that ANOTHER cell phone is attached to the bomb. Frost calls it, and the train explodes like it always has. Colter failed again, but this time he got the bomber...
|
COLTER FINDS THE BOMBER (Midpoint Reversal)
PART 4
62:45 - 69:15 (6.50 pages) [+]INT. ISOLATION UNIT / AIR FORCE BASE - DAY
Colter wakes up inside the dark capsule and tells his supervisors the good news:
Rutledge relieves Colter of duty - meaning now, he will let Colter die - but before that happens, Colter has one final request:
Out in the real world, the bomber is caught and arrested. Everyone celebrates. While Rutledge is talking with someone in the other room, Colter begs Goodwin to let him back into the Source Code, and it's revealed that this entire time, she's been talking to him through a computer screen…
Colter convinces Goodwin to send him back in for eight final minutes. They get ready, and she presses the magic button.
| "SEND ME BACK INSIDE…"
69:15 - 83:00 (13.7 pages) [+]The following scenes in THE TRAIN and THE AIR FORCE BASE run simultaneously, which is why they're grouped together.
THE TRAIN
Colter wakes up inside the train and immediately asks Christina out for coffee. She says yes, and that she's been waiting for him to ask for weeks. Colter gets up, goes to the bathroom, and disarms the bomb. Meanwhile…
THE AIR FORCE BASE
Rutledge tells Goodwin to erase Colter's memory, and get him ready for the next Source Code operation. She feels conflicted about it. Meanwhile…
THE TRAIN
Colter finds Derrick Frost (the bomber) and handcuffs him to a rail. He calls the cops, and tells Frost he's a disgusting human being. Then, he sends a text message to Goodwin, proving that they did actually stop the bomb together. Meanwhile…
THE AIR FORCE BASE
Goodwin gets ready to cut Colter's life support and kill him. It's against her orders, but she knows it's the right thing to do…
THE TRAIN
Colter calls his dad on the phone, and talks to him one last time. It's a sad moment. He returns to his seat to be with Christina. Meanwhile…
THE AIR FORCE BASE
Rutledge finds out what Goodwin is about to do. He screams at Goodwin to stop, but she locks the door, keeping him out. Meanwhile…
THE TRAIN
Colter convinces the passengers on the train to laugh and enjoy life. He kisses Christina, and the whole world freezes --
THE AIR FORCE BASE
-- as time runs out, and Goodwin cuts Colter's life support.
THE TRAIN
But miraculously, the world starts moving again! Colter has successfully saved the train; he looks into Christina's eyes, amazed...
| COLTER SAVES THE DAY (Climax)
83:00 - 84:15 (1.25 pages) [+]EXT. CHICAGO - DAY
The world goes on as if nothing ever happened.
Colter and Christina walk through the park, holding hands. Colter marvels at the possibility of parallel universes, and Christina asks him a question:
⇡
84:15 - 85:15 (1.00 pages) [+]INT. AIR FORCE BASE - DAY
Goodwin arrives at work and checks her cell phone. She has a text message from Colter:
"At some point today you are going to hear about a failed terrorist attack. You and I kept that bomb from going off..."
Goodwin glances at Colter, comatose and on life support. She can't believe her eyes…
| ⇡ RESOLUTION
Analysis
It's clear from the outset that
'Source Code' is anything but a traditionally structured film. But as I'm sure writer Ben Ripley would tell you, that doesn't mean his story has no structure. In fact,
'Source Code' is perhaps one of the most perfect nonlinear films I've ever seen, and it doesn't take long to recognize why: Ripley, for all his risky story techniques, knows exactly what information to unveil and how/when to unveil it.
In this breakdown, we're going to look at
'Source Code' as two parts of a larger whole, with the story divided between the following types of scene:
• INSIDE THE SOURCE CODE (Blue)
• OUTSIDE THE SOURCE CODE (Orange)
Hopefully, you'll begin to notice that despite the "jumping back and forth" rhythm of the story, each part is completely linear when looked at by itself. Meaning that while
'Source Code' isn't structured in a traditional sense, it still goes through a very rational, easy-to-follow progression that makes perfect sense if broken down.
Additionally, you'll notice a small portion of the film that contains both types of scene, which we'll call
THE TRANSITIONS (Red). So without further ado, let's take a look at the pieces of this puzzle and briefly discuss what information is presented in each:
PART 1
The Introduction
1. The Train Explodes [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 02:00 - 06:30
Right away, 'Source Code' skips over any perceptible First Act, choosing to instead start us off with a Flash-Bang Open that more or less drops us into the middle of everything. We meet Colter (our main character) and his love interest. We find out Colter is in another person's body. We see The Little Things (to find out what those are, take a look at the scene description above⇡). And finally, the train blows up. What's important to remember about this scene is that its purpose is to establish QUESTIONS, which will be answered one-by-one as the film moves forward.
2. "You Need To Find The Bomb…" [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 06:30 - 10:45
Here, we have our introduction to Goodwin (the secondary protagonist) and Colter's first glimpse of the "real world." There are two objectives to this scene: Raise a few more questions (Where are we? What happened to Colter's crew?), and GIVE THE PROTAGONIST A GOAL: Find the terrorist who bombed the train. Naturally, Colter's first step toward doing this would be to find the actual bomb, which is exactly what Goodwin orders him to do (Colter finds it in the very next scene).
3. "I Found The Bomb!" [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 10:45 - 17:00
While one might assume this would happen halfway through the film, Ripley keeps us on our toes by having Colter find the bomb the very next time he enters the Source Code. This is because Colter's goal isn't actually to find the bomb; rather, it's to catch the terrorist, meaning that this scene is his first step toward accomplishing that.
PART 2
Exposition / Romance
1. The Mission Explained [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 17:00 - 20:45
Now that we've oriented ourselves, Goodwin explains Colter's mission to him. Specifically, she tells him two important things: What he has to do, and why he has to do it. This scene is Part 1 of the exposition phase; next time Colter comes back to the "real world," Goodwin and Rutledge will explain the rest of the essential information to him (what the Source Code is, how it works, etc).
2. Romance #1 [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 20:45 - 28:15
In this scene, Colter confronts a suspect, gets in a fight, and discovers that he was chasing after the wrong person the entire time. But here's the neat thing…none of it actually matters. The real purpose of this scene is to spark up a working chemistry between Colter and Christina, and the whole "chase after a suspect" part is more or less an exciting way of making that happen.*
The other piece of information that gets delivered in this scene is that the world of the Source Code continues to exist after eight minutes are up. Just before Colter dies, he sees the commuter train explode in the distance…yet somehow, time keeps ticking on. This means that Colter is in fact experiencing a parallel universe, rather than a digitally-recreated "shadow" of someone else's memory.
* One could argue that this isn't actually the case - that Colter is taking a step toward finding the bomber by eliminating possible suspects from his mind - but if you take a look at his progression toward catching the bad guy, this scene actually has nothing to do with it; Colter finds Fisher (the bomber) by calling the cell phone that he found on the bomb, which is in no way a result of his run-in with The Guy With Glasses.
3. The Source Code Explained [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 28:15 - 36:00
In Part 2 of the exposition phase, Goodwin and Rutledge explain what the Source Code is, how it works, and why it's important that Colter follow their orders. Goodwin tells him where to find a gun, and they send him back inside.
4. Romance #2 [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 36:00 - 39:00
This is one of my favorite scenes of the film. Last time we were on the train, Colter established his "crush" on Christina, and this time, he shares his first intimate moment with her. Handcuffed to a rail, he tells her about his father, a monologue that both brings him closer to Christina and sets us up for the Climax, during which he will speak with his father one last time and save Christina from the terrorist attack.
PART 3
The Roll Downhill
1. Colter Loses His Motivation [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 39:30 - 53:00
In this collection of scenes, two important things happen:
• Colter finds out he's actually "dead," and
• Colter becomes exhausted after hours of getting blown up.
This part of the story is important because Colter will eventually be motivated by
his father to keep on trying, which is both an important part of his character arc AND a setup for the Climax (during which he'll finally get closure on the whole father/son relationship).
2. …And Gets His Motivation Back [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 53:00 - 54:15
Just when all hope seems lost, Colter hears an audio recording of his father talking about just how proud Colter has made him. Naturally, this motivates him to go back inside the Source Code and find the bomber, which will happen in the very next scene.
3. Colter Finds The Bomber [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 54:15 - 62:45
The first thing this scene does is reveal the story's McGuffin; Colter finds the bomber - which is a major success for him - yet the scene still plays like a failure, because both Colter and Christina are killed in the process. What's important to notice, though, is that this is actually the Midpoint Reversal; Colter has accomplished his "goal," yet we're only sixty minutes into the film…meaning that somehow, his goal has to change in this very moment. And change it certainly does; From here on out, Colter no longer cares about finding the bomber, as his real objective is to save the people on the train (namely Christina) and patch things up with his dad.
PART 4
The Day Is Saved
1. "Send Me Back Inside…" [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 62:45 - 69:15
From here on out, we're in familiar territory. In this scene, Colter decides to go back into the Source Code and save the passengers on the train - a decision that marks Plot Point #2 (for another example of this, see
'The Matrix').
2. Colter Saves The Day [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 69:15 - 83:00
Colter goes back inside the Source Code, disarms the bomb, has the bad guy arrested, gets the girl, patches things up with his dad, and successfully avoids his own death by staying in the new parallel universe.
3. Resolution [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 83:00 - 85:15
Colter and Christina walk through the city holding hands. Goodwin gets a text message from Colter, proving that the Source Code works. Josh cries like a baby because he doesn't want the movie to be over. Roll credits.
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