Source Code

In a genre where many have tried and failed to create a movie that actually captures and holds your attention for the full running time, Source Code is an anomaly. It is not full of star power but it somehow delivers on what it promises…

In a genre where many have tried and failed to create a movie that actually captures and holds your attention for the full running time, Source Code is an anomaly.

It is not full of star power, doesn’t have a powerhouse director and has a writer whose only previous movies were made for TV but it somehow delivers on what it promises.

The plot centres on the ‘Source Code’ – a device that allows a person to take over a person’s body in the last 8 minutes of their life.

When there is a major terrorist attack on a Chicago commuter train Jake Gyllenhaal is sent in as one of the victims to investigate the crime because of the threat of further attacks on the city.

There are some plot holes and some unexplained events but overall the movie is entertaining.

As you can imagine with only 8 minutes at a time to investigate what is going on the same sequence replays over and over as Gyllenhaal edges closer and closer to the truth.

It does become a little bit like Groundhog Day but manages to cover it well through a good sense of frustration of Gyllenhaal’s character about the events inside the source code and the events happening in between each 8 minute mission. It doesn’t ever try too hard though to get too complicated and I think there was some restraint in there shown by the director to ensure that erroneous events and unexplained loose ends did not detract from the actual story.

Gyllenhaal is the main star of the movie but he is adequately backed up with some familiar, if not totally well-known actors.

Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Mission Impossible 3) takes the role of the love interest, Vera Farmiga (The Departed, Up in the Air) is Lt Goodwin the mission controller and Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace) is the creator of Source Code Dr Rutledge.

They all deliver outstanding performances to create a believeable rendition of a fantasy scenario.

I’m not a huge fan of time travel thrillers but I enjoyed this movie. The fact that the ending did not rely on any form of alien intervention to tie up the loose ends (much like other time travel thrillers such as Minority Report) means that this is worth seeing.

It is intelligent enough so that the plot never lags, it is acted well enough that it is believable and entertaining enough to make it worth the price of admission.

By Jeremy White 27 April 2011