This is Duncan Jones' second outing as a feature film director, his first picture being 2009's one-man sci-fi hit "Moon." He's continuing the trend with another ambitious and brain-bending science fiction, this time from a script written by Ben Ripley. If you were to continue the advertising movement for this particular genre, "Source Code" would be "'Groundhog Day' meets 'Inception'" -- just with less Bill Murray and Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe."
Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal, "Love and Other Drugs") wakes up on a commuter train. He doesn't know how he got there. Sitting opposite him is Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan, "Due Date"), a woman he has never met before. She claims he is schoolteacher Sean Fentress. He has no idea who this is. He goes to the bathroom mirror. But wait, that's not his face. After eight minutes of confusion, the train explodes, and Stevens wakes up strapped to a chair in a metallic chamber.
Transmitted on a screen within the chamber is Capt. Goodwin (Vera Farmiga, "The Departed"), who tells him he is in the Source Code. What is the Source Code? It is a machine that allows the person inside to relive the last eight minutes of a person's life, given free will within the dead person's body in an alternate reality.
There are many questions to be asked. Why has Stevens been put in the Source Code? Because there's a massive nuclear explosion about to occur in Chicago, and the army wants to know who plans to detonate it. How will the Source Code help? Because it will give Stevens control of the body of a man who was on a Chicago commuter train that was bombed by the same terrorist earlier that day. Why Stevens? Because he was a perfect match with Sean‘s body. Why is there oil leaking from the ceiling? Where is the platoon Stevens was with in Afghanistan? Why can't he talk to his father? Where exactly is he? These go unanswered for quite some time.
It is Stevens' mission to locate the bomber of the train before time runs out and Chicago is reduced to a pile of rubble. Thus, he is sent back into the train in Sean's body, given an eight-minute time frame to search, observe and interrogate, this being repeated again and again as Stevens is sent back and forth between the train and the Source Code every 480 seconds.
"Source Code" is pure heart-racing stuff, a true thriller if you will, given more weight by its science fiction premise. Its concept is a unique one with a lot of potential, which is thankfully explored thoroughly by Jones and Ripley, with talk of alternate universes and different timelines, Stevens testing the rules of the simulated reality the Source Code presents.
It's all very new and it's all very exciting as we learn of the Source Code and what it can do. We are learning along with Stevens, told by Goodwin and the program's inventor, Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright, "Quantum of Solace"), of what the Source Code is and what purpose it serves. For all of the film we are just as confused as he is.
Gyllenhaal is real leading man material, a very versatile actor who can juggle a sympathetic role while catering to the requirements of an action-thriller hero. His character is all befuddled about the situation he's in, frustrated at being blown up every eight or so minutes, and is dead set on believing that the Source Code's simulations are a reality instead of memories that take place on a separate timeline -- he’s convinced they are a reality with which the future can be permanently altered.
The film is edited in such a way that it doesn't become a victim of monotony -- reoccurring events that we see happen time and time again actually become quite fun. Spilled coffee, the bitterness of a comedian passenger, an Asian man nervously going to the bathroom, and the phrase "I took your advice" never become tiring. As these incidents are frequently repeated, Stevens searches ventilation shafts, pretends to be a transit cop, breaks into an off-limits room to find a gun and, at one point, hurls himself off the speeding train, tumbling along the platform's concrete and ending up a bloody mess on the side of the train station. Ouch.
"Source Code" also goes for sentimentality without forcing it, there being a hint of a romance between Stevens and Christina, though it is never rammed down our throats. Not only this, there's Stevens' desperation to hear his father's voice, and an ending that's quite sappy, yet sweet (a certain freeze-frame in one of the climactic moments is especially beautiful).
"Source Code" is an exhilarating follow-up to Duncan Jones' "Moon," the British director going a bit more mainstream, but not losing any of his edge in the process. Featuring a wonderful leading performance from Gyllenhaal and a trippy premise that's original and utilised to perfection, "Source Code" is an exciting one-of-a-kind sci-fi train ride that never gets derailed. I know I won't be jumping off a moving vehicle anytime soon.
9/10
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