The first 90% of the stories in the source code are normal, and can even be said to be good. For the last 10% of this big reversal, it did provide enough narrative and emotional foreshadowing, and it did need an impact on the rhythm-so this ending was within 90 minutes, which was a blameless ending.
But some works can only stay within 90 minutes, and you cannot continue to think about it after the end. It has foreshadowing, foreshadowing, emotional impact, plot momentum, but no logic.
Considering it logically, the true ending of this ending is a particularly terrifying story.
1 Where did Sean go?
Not the male lead, but the person covered by the male lead. Obviously, the male protagonist did not inherit any of his memories, personality and skills, only his body. Basically, it can be said that Sean is dead.
In the old world line, Sean's death is a fait accompli, there is no problem. But in the new world line that the male protagonist said he wanted to save everyone, he stopped the terrorists and saved the entire car, but killed Sean as if he should. (Moreover, because he actively begged to return to the source code this time, he couldn't even give it to the experimenter.)
A scarecrow consequentialist would probably say that Sean would have been killed by a train in eight minutes. But you can't say that a person is dying of illness and will die tomorrow, so it's okay if I kill him today? Moreover, as the male lead showed, eight minutes is enough to do a lot of things. Sean on the train might have to make some phone calls, give something to someone, get off at the next stop, or even he might have reconciled with the hostess Christian (don’t forget, the hostess said wait I have been waiting for that cup of coffee for a few months, and she has always liked Sean). Now Christian is in love with a stranger, and will probably never know the truth for a lifetime.
More importantly, Sean is completely innocent. If the male protagonist thinks it is worthwhile to kill an innocent person and save the whole train of people, then he has no position to oppose the lame scientist Latrech. What they do is just to force an innocent veteran to perform a mission. Saving the people in the city is even more cost-effective on the scale of consequence theory.
(There was a false line at the beginning of the film. The hero suspected that Sean might be a terrorist. He searched his bag and found nothing. If this line is true, then covering Sean would be more morally reasonable. )
The whole film has always portrayed the male protagonist as an idealist, but the winner of life in this true ending is just a selective ignorance of his own blood.
2 What will the hero do next?
The true ending male protagonist saved the world and came together with the female protagonist. From then on, the prince and princess lived happily forever. That's strange.
Now he stole Sean's body and identity, and then? He has no memories of Sean, nor does he know any relatives, friends, or colleagues of Sean. If these people are tough, they might be tied to a mental hospital for treatment. And his original friends thought he was dead, and it was impossible for him to meet other people's bodies. Who can he explain the truth to? No one will believe what the soul wears.
Maybe Sean's relatives weren't so tough and could accept his amnesia. But Sean’s boss could not accept it. He does not have any knowledge and skills as a teacher, so he can only quit his job and make a living. For an ordinary veteran, it is extremely difficult to integrate into society, and now he has no memory of being a soldier, no corresponding physical fitness, no veteran status and policy preferential treatment, no retirement payment, no real family support, maybe With the suspicion of the police (after all, he tied a person on the train inexplicably, he must have left fingerprints at the scene, and there may be witnesses), it is probably 10,000 times more difficult for such a person to integrate into society.
As for how Christian would react when he found out that he didn't remember anything in the past, it was a relatively minor issue.
3 What will happen to Captain Stevens?
This is not the male lead, but the physically mutilated captain lying in the source code project in the male lead's new world line.
Because the train bomb on the New World Line was blocked, the source code project was not put into use, and the captain was still asleep, and would not start until the next crisis. There is no doubt that in the next crisis, the lame Latrech will continue to abuse the captain, and although the female officer Godwin received a text message from the male lead, her status is lower and she may not be able to help a lot. busy. Ideally, that is, the captain enters the source code to save the next crisis, and then Godwin continues to resist his orders to perform euthanasia for him, and probably continues to the military court.
Perhaps the captain of this world line will enter the third world line again in pursuit of the true ending, opening a new cycle, and let the captain of the new world continue to suffer the same fate. The story that could have ended with the death of the hero is now about to "reincarnate" continuously.
However, this cycle is probably not forever.
4 What is the fate of the source code project?
Walk along this cycle, and the deeper you go, you will find that more and more terrorist attacks have disappeared inexplicably. This is of course a good thing. But this also means that in every new world, the source code plan will come in handy, and it will take longer and longer.
The patience of the military is not unlimited. They believe that the source code project is just a replay of the afterimage, so it is impossible to know that it is precisely because of the existence of the source code that these terrorist attacks have been prevented. They will only find that they have been on standby since the source code plan went live.
If the source code can prevent all terrorist attacks, chances are that someone will notice this impossible connection. However, the source code must use dead human brains. In other words, it can only prevent a series of terrorist attacks in Latrech's view, and it must be a corpse that can get the first blow, and the gap between the two blows is long enough. The proportion of such terrorist attacks is not very large, and the military may only think that the slight decrease in the overall terrorist attack rate is due to noise or other projects. (Yes, in principle, the source code can prevent any terrorist attacks from happening in the new world line, but Latrech of the old world line does not know that he has no reason to put the male protagonist in the brains of ordinary terrorist attack victims. , Even if it is connected to his own world line, there is no benefit, only a waste of resources.)
So sooner or later, there will be a world where the source code project has not been applied for a long time and will be closed.
This will end reincarnation, but it also means that future terrorist attacks can no longer be prevented by the source code project.
The source code is extremely painful for the male protagonist. But the lame Latrech said that he could find other soldiers, thinking that it was an honor to escape from the dead and save others' lives. At that time, he said this sentence naturally to scare the male lead, but he did not necessarily lie. Soldiers are more able to accept sacrifices, and it is very likely that many people are really willing to save others while gaining a second life. If they are willing to cooperate, they will not be cleared of memory after each task. In the long run, they may adapt to such a life and perform tasks more efficiently.
But if the male protagonist insists on not cooperating and insists on finding the true ending, then when the source code project is finally closed, not only the terrorist attack can no longer be prevented, but the wishes and lives of other soldiers will also be put into nothingness.
In the final analysis, the biggest mistake of the source code project is to choose a person who does not want to cooperate, but refuses to take the time to slowly convince him. It has been two months since the hero’s death. Latrech and Godwin can use these time to help him slowly accept the reality. Maybe with his feedback, he can improve the simulation, relieve the pain, and make the source code project real. It has become an ethically acceptable and sustainable project that truly saves lives.
Of course, in this case there would be no such movie.
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