Source Code: Version 1.2

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9.9 (14)
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Source Code: Version 1.2
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2011
Original Running Time:
93
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
87
Time Cut:
6
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
The original 'Source Code' is a good film, but is let down by a shallow and poorly executed twist ending. "Version 1.2" removes the last minute "life" theme and shifts the emphasis to Captain Colter Stevens receiving dignity and closure before embracing his fate. A handful of other small changes have also been made (see cutlist). [UPDATED to "Version 1.3" on June 2023]
Intention:
I initially went in with the sole aim of ending the movie 5 minutes earlier, so as to rid it of the awful "Love Conquers Plot Holes" ending. But after trying it, it just felt too abrupt. Therefore I decided to take a new approach and alter the narrative during the phone call scene in order to use that footage and provide some finality to the closing shots. This also meant that I had to re-score parts of these scenes in order to cover up some unwanted sound effects (no clean center channel).
Additional Notes:
- As of June 2023, this has been given a third and (hopefully) final update. Details in cutlist.
Other Sources:
Source Code OST
Special Thanks:
- To everyone who provided feedback and encouragement (and a particular shout out to Sinbad, who also suggested the title)
- To my sister, for designing poster art
- To my OTHER sister, for bringing my attention to the memory flashes
- To ThrowgnCpr for technical assistance and advice on colour correction
- To my brother, whose idea it was to utilise the phone call scene
- To anyone else I’ve forgotten…
Release Information:
Digital
Special Features
- Subtitles
- Audio Commentary

For the audio commentary, I have taken the original track featuring director Duncan Jones, writer Ben Ripley, and actor Jake Gyllenhaal, and re-synced it to fit with my edit. I have also re-arranged the order of some parts of the discussion and I drop in with my voice to give context on a couple of occasions. Here is a broad cutlist:

- 0:00 - Brief introduction by The Scribbling Man
- 0:20 - original commentary track begins
- General trims to "umms" and "ahhs" and some crossover of laughter in order to ensure track remains synced as much as possible without losing information from the commentary.
- 0:42-43 - trimmed Jake repeating himself when talking about the props team. This was necessary to ensure that the audio was synced for their reaction to the pen scene
- 1:10:00 - The Scribbling Man gives brief context for a cut
- 1:10:14 - cut them reacting to "I knew he was a keeper" since that line is not in this cut. Added movie audio to cover gap
- 1:15:52 - cut discussion about the call scene and moved it to 1:19:36-ish
- 1:21:36 - The Scribbling Man gives content for the discussion that takes place over the credits
- 1:22:11 - Discussion that originally took place over the theatrical ending (now cut) takes place during the credits, and develops into a discussion about the ethical quandary the original ending brings (now resolved in my edit).
Editing Details:
THE GIST:

- Applied minor colour balance filter (*colour grade has been completely revisited in Version 1.3 as of June 2023)
- Removed “Love Conquers Plot Holes” Ending.
- Rearranged scenes to create new ending narrative.
- Shifted the emphasis from “life” to giving Stevens dignity and closure.
- A handful of other, minor cuts
Cuts and Additions:
UPDATE (JUNE 2023): A third and final update, which I am dubbing "Version 1.3". Lots of small changes, and a couple of big ones. Details below:

- Upgraded from stereo to 5.1 surround (lossless FLAC and lossy AAC available)
- Higher bitrate render
- Added English subtitle track
- Added Commentary track
- Updated my branding during the titles
- Tweaked presentation of FE logo
- Improved presentation of custom title
- New colour grade (previously there was a global colour balance filter applied, whereas now I have addressed scenes individually).
- Whereas all "future flashes" were cut previously, leaving only kaleidoscopic visuals, the flashes now foreshadow Stevens' war memory that occurs later in the film.
- In my original version, two shots had been slowed down. I have now used AI to improve the motion of these shots and added a layer of film grain to give the impression of normal filmic movement
- The ending reverse-swoop into the frozen kiss has been tweaked. A handful of frames where the actors moved have been cut, and we now crossfade into the shot of Stevens lying peacefully, instead of hard cutting.
- We pause a little longer on the shot of Stevens "sleeping" peacefully before fading out. We also pause a little longer with a slightly extended music cue before the credits show up. This had always bothered me as I never felt like i had quite nailed the pacing of the end in the HD rework as well as I had in my SD version.
- The final line "you take care, Mr Stevens" was previously interrupted by a quiet, stray heartbeat sound. I couldn't get rid of it at the time, but I have now removed it. The old score was also bleeding through. It was well hidden in stereo, but ldoesn't hold up quite as well in surround, so that has now been mostly scrubbed clean.
- Due to the new surround sound presentation, the final sequence had to be redone and so the scoring does differ slightly from the original version.


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UPDATE (JUNE 2018):

Since version 2 (HD Rework), the following has been changed:

- Cut "I've been having dreams of you... Really vivid" (It occurred to me that this was referencing the "future memories" that Stevens has which do not exist in this edit; therefore the conversation holds no relevance.)
- Slight variation in scoring, due to the HD version being done from scratch

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Original cutlist (Jan 2018):

- Applied colour balance filter to whole film, reducing overly dominant colours and increasing brightness slightly
- Added fanedit.org templates
- Added Scribbling Man logo
- Added custom title
- Tightened first train explosion, also:
- Removed poor CG shot of train crashing
- Tightened second train explosion
- Trimmed second post-explosion blackout
- Edited all flashes to exclude any "future" memories (and, in one case, created a new one)
- Trimmed Stevens getting hit by train
- Removed memory flash completely (I.e. Train hits - Stevens Jolts awake)
- Removed "Bing" product placement when Stevens is using the woman's phone
- Cut “I knew he was a keeper”
- Re-edited and rescored phonecall scene. It’s now ambiguous who Stevens calls, and whether he gets through.
- Cut some of Goodwin's more bizarre expressions when looking at Stevens's body.
- Trimmed Max’s joke so we hear as little of it as possible without it being jarring. It’s a bad joke.
- Cut “Look” “What?” “All this life…” – somewhat poorly placed alongside Max’s sex joke.
- Re-edited and rescored film during when everyone freezes to include Stevens's phonecall to his dad as a partial voiceover. Changed closing shots to the infinite kiss followed by Stevens looking peaceful.
- Rescored end credits.

User reviews

14 reviews
 
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1-3 stars
 
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Overall rating
 
9.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.8(14)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(14)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(14)
Narrative
 
9.7(14)
Enjoyment
 
9.9(14)
View all user reviews View most helpful
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
What can I say? This was a fanstastic edit that I absolutely prefer over the original. First, I should point out why I even looked for this edit. In general, I have always enjoyed the concept of alternate realities and time travel in TV shows and movies with one notable exception that I consider a cardinal sin - never use alternate realities/dimensions/universes and/or time travel to save the life of a character. I find this to be nothing more than a cheap get out of jail free card to avoid the death of a likeable character.

The original ending was okay, but really did not connect with me. I also found it unethical that Stevens effectively takes over the body of that poor math teacher. Is he not entitled to his own life and body in the different reality? This edited ending was much more powerful and the editor really nailed it. I felt powerful emotions as I saw the alternating shots of Stevens dying, the frozen kiss, and the phone call to his dad. Now that is how you give a movie an A+ ending. It was much better than I was expecting, and I knew it would be better.

The audio and visual editing appeared to be spot on and seamless. In terms of the color grading, the movie appeared aesthetically pleasing. With that said, I am unable to note if this was an improvement absent a side by side shot comparison.

Overall, this edit is one I absolutely will watch again on numerous occasions because the dying with dignity theme strongly connects with me, and I suspect it would for others as well. It also makes the movie more relevant for the general public because none of us can escape death, and this resonates deeply.

I want to thank the editor for sharing the edit with me, and strongly recommend others to watch this because it gave me great joy, and I think it will do the same for others.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I liked Source Code well enough when it came out, but Edge of Tomorrow kind of dominated the space it had established when it came out, and thereafter. This recut is interesting, and feels like a purer science fiction approach, but I think more extensive cutting would be helpful to remove even the suggestion that the loops Gyllenhaal is living through could in fact be parallel dimensions, as the ultimate conclusion (beautifully handled visually) doesn't jive with those suggestions at all.

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
So watched this over the last couple of days and it's really well done. Editing is great, quality holds up still really nicely and the new ending did fit really well. It really left me feeling sad of course unlike the original, but I like the darker ending, while still being a kind of nice send off for the character. Always thought this film was great, and nice to give it some new life.

Thanks so much for your work!

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched?
Blu-Ray
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(Updated: February 05, 2023)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I've enjoyed the original Source Code so was very interested in this edit and it did not disappoint. This is the definitive version and will be my go-to moving forward. The new ending is edited seamlessly and felt emotionally weighty which I did not expect but strongly welcomed! Amazing work.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 2 0
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I've watched both the original and this fanedit just a few days ago. And even went as far to rewatch the last half an hour of both. Yet my tired brain likes to make things difficult for me. So this review isn't as detailed as I'd have liked for.

From a technical point of view there is nothing to be said except perfect. The sound and video fit together perfectly and seamlessly.

From a narrative and enjoyment point of view I have to say I actually still prefer the original.
While the original has in my opinion a minor plot hole (ie: for it to work they couldn't have unplugged him) I do prefer having present the scifi aspect of parallel universes and the raising of the philosophical question of an accurate simulation being as valid as reality.
Meanwhile this edit removes those elements in order to focus on the human dignity aspect of the movie and present us with a poignant ending.
While I prefer the original I still enjoyed this one very much. And it's great we can enjoy two versions of the same story.

So you might be wondering then why the 10 stars for the enjoyment aspect if I prefer the original?
Well I happened to watch it with my girlfriend and she said she actually preferred the fanedit. So there you go. Take her vote instead :)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply February 12, 2022

Thanks for the generous review and honest feedback. It's appreciated :)

N
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