Director: Duncan Jones Writer: Ben Ripley
SF is a dying genre. As modern day Science Fiction films consist mostly of blowing things up, the hard stuff gets swept under the wave of mediocrity. Source Code does something quite clever. It is a SF film masquerading as an action thriller. It is a film that ties together the explosions with a string of high concept ideas and themes. The second feature film from David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, Source Code is the big budget, blockbuster big brother to the low budget independent masterpiece Moon.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Captain Colter Stevens, a military man serving in Afghanistan. This is why he finds it strange when he awakens on board a train heading towards Chicago, in mid-conversation with a woman he’s never met, Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan). He rejects her familiar banter, leaving to seek answers. He finds it stranger that when he looks into the mirror, another man’s face looks back. At the crescendo of his panic, he stumbles out of the bathroom, only to be engulfed by the sudden fires of a massive explosion, emanating from an undisclosed source onboard the train, and spreading to another train passing in the opposite direction.
Colter Stevens wakes up with a start, this time strapped into a mysterious machine, and being asked a string of questions by a military woman Colleen Goodwin. Despite Colter’s objections, it is slowly revealed that he is an agent, inside a program devised from the recorded data of a brains last eight minutes, sent to uncover the identity of a terrorist whose bomb planted on the train killed everyone onboard, and is threatening to unleash more devastation upon the city. So Jake Gyllenhaal is subjected to reliving the last eight minutes before the explosion Groundhog Day style. Each time he learns more and more about the events and the people, even forming a connection with Christina after experiencing the tragedy of her recurring death. This repetition of sequences provides comfort for the audience. They can foresee the exact outcome each time, yet every viewing brings a new experience. The ratio between risk and reward is carefully balanced throughout.
Source Code is a film that works “just because”. Don’t think about the science behind it. The film doesn’t want you to. In fact, the film doesn’t give you a chance to. The undoubtedly genius Doctor Rutledge begins to explain, but is quickly cut off as the film races off again, faster than the train it is based on.
The film really does seem like the bigger, blockbuster version of 2009’s Moon, this time trading the science fiction setting of the titular location with a more accessible and identifiable location and incident. Both feature a likeable, multi-levelled protagonist, trapped within his circumstances – a self-contained prison. His rebellion against the exterior forces attempting to dominate him becomes futile, as there is seemingly no favourable solution in sight. Through his insurgence, he slowly discovers that everything is not as it seems, and his entire raison d’être is thrown into chaos. The lead characters manage to capture the humanity within the technological confines, ensnaring an emotional connection, carrying us on a journey that inevitably ends with the character in someplace completely different, changed to the very core.
The final twist however only manages to leave a bitter aftertaste. Throwing a few more spanners into the science generator, the finale pretends to defy logic and reason, but is taken a few steps too far. The film definitely would have benefited from a more direct and ambiguous ending.
Filled with enough edge-of-your-seat action to keep your blood pumping, yet retaining the much needed soul, the film manages to inject the SF genre with a fresh dose of life, sowing the seeds for future incarnations. With his second film under his belt, Source Code confirms Duncan Jones as an intelligent and talented Director.
4 / 5
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