YMMV / Source Code

• Complete Monster: Derek Frost is a Mad Bomber who seeks to reduce the world to rubble while wearing a cheerful and disaffected visage. Bombing a Chicago commuter train and killing hundreds, Frost intends to next detonate a dirty bomb in the middle of Chicago and murder millions, with intent to continue his bombings in other locations after. In an Alternate Timeline, when confronted by hero Captain Colter Stevens, Frost smugly murders Colter and Christina Warren with aplomb, proudly boasting of how smart he is and his viewpoint that the world deserves to crumble.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The ending is clearly meant to be happy, with Colter starting a new life in an Alternate Universe where the bombing was averted. But there are two major problems with that scenario:
  • Firstly, the entire movie frames the "Source Code" device as a tool for viewing the memories of the deceased, and we're given flimsy evidence (at best) that the world of Fentress' memories is actually a fully formed universe. Naturally, this has led many people to conclude that Colter is simply dying, having a last fantasy as the firing of neurons slowly fades.
  • Secondly, even if you accept that Colter has found a second chance in a new universe, it doesn't change the fact that he's just been trapped in someone else's body, taking their life, and everyone (including his new love interest) will believe that he's someone he's not, and all of his old friends and family still believe that he's dead. No matter how you slice it, Colter is screwed over by this ending.
• Special Effects Failure: When Colter is rolling on the ground after jumping off the train, it's a little too obvious that it's a CGI stand-in.
  • Deliberately invoked when Colter realizes his body is dead.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Colter asks Christina if anyone came out of the bathroom where the bomb was planted. She says she saw him (Sean) come out of it earlier. Colter replies by saying "Me? No." But what if Sean had been the bomber? Imagine being Colter and discovering that he is inhabiting the body of a terrorist. Granted, it would have made for a much darker film so it is understandable that the filmmakers did not take that route.
• The Woobie: Colter. He's trapped in a dark box, not knowing what is happening to him, and is forced to live his own death and witness countless others over and over again without being allowed to die properly.

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