That was a major plothole that ruined the movie.
Colter physically exists in the same universe / time as Goodwin and others. He is connected to a computer that simulates a world based on some parameters (the last 8 minutes of the deceased guy's memory) and translates that information in a format that Colter can comprehend. If Colter is separated from the computer, or if the computer is shot down, Colter cannot explore the simulated world.
Even if the computer didn't simulate a world, but instead bridged to a parallel universe, and Colter magically found a way to pass his conscience from the universe he exists physically to the other universe (which already is a very weak and lazy explanation), he would need to replace the computer and decode the information by itself to a format he could understand. If you don't get it: there are no geometric figures or music in the PC, but strings of data. Some graphical and io libraries are needed in order to understand what the computer is "saying". We know for sure that people in the movies cannot percieve other dimensions and, if their explanation is really that the computer bridged to other universe, then the whole reason Colter is able to percieve the other universe is because the computer translates it to him, to a format he can understand.
The core idea is good, but they didn't work too much on it. The movie could have been a lot better if they said that the guy Colter controls was the best option because he was the least damaged, or compatible with Colter (or any other reason) and the "whole picture" represents fragments of what they could retrive from a bunch of people. Of course, this way he couldn't find the bomb, or the vehicle so easily and the movie would have actually been interesting because he had to put the pieces together. Or he could have controlled one person at a time, gather information from each one's perspective and assemble the whole picture.
Another thing: why did they even need Colter?
How I took the ending: at the freeze kiss Colter died. What we see afterwards happened in his imagination. It was a necessary scene because it put a closure to protagonists' story, but it wasn't very well done*.
*read Mircea Eliade's novel, "With the gypsy girls" - that's how you do such a scene.
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stabiljka (39)
3 years ago
Sorry but what you wrote seems to make little sense.
The first four sentences are ok, except that "computer simulation" might refer only to a part where he is in a capsule and is communicating with Goodwin (he is shown to have legs, feeling cold and trying to repair heating system of the capsule, while in reality he is only a torso with half a head). Then you wrote:
"Even if the computer didn't simulate a world, but instead bridged to a parallel universe, and Colter magically found a way to pass his conscience from the universe he exists physically to the other universe (which already is a very weak and lazy explanation), he would need to replace the computer and decode the information by itself to a format he could understand."
Well the "source code" is apparently computer program which records the last eight minutes of a person before they die and successfully transfers that information into another brain in the future, and thus creates a new reality for that person (Colter).
So the difference between the simulation and bridging to a parallel universe is irrelevant. Either way, Colter is sent back in space-time to the same point to a body of one of the victims of the train.
They also did tell him that there was a reason why particularly this person, their body and age were the most compatible with Colter's.
And finally, Colter didn't die after kiss, because the movie is like a FPS, if you remember in the beginning when Colter looks at mirror, and there is some other face in the reflection (Sean). So if he died at the kiss, the movie would either end or we would see Sean kissing Christine.
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