Source Code

Following hot on the heels of Inception, Source Code is the latest big-budget sci-fi flick to prove that you don’t need to treat your audience like lobotomised chimps to produce compelling, exciting cinema. Owing a large debt of gratitude to The Matrix and - more surprisingly - Groundhog Day, Duncan Jones’ movie bundles human drama, cutting edge technology and terrorism into a 93 minute package that seems to whizz by in less than half that time.

Waking suddenly on a moving train, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Captain Colter Stevens is utterly disorientated. He’s opposite a beautiful stranger in clothes he doesn’t recognise and travelling towards Chicago when he ought to be in Afghanistan. Taking stock in the toilets he sees a reflection he doesn’t recognise and finds a card in his wallet which identifies him as a history teacher. And then the train explodes.
Waking in a dark technology-crammed capsule he comes face to face the enigmatically detached Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) whose image is being broadcast onto Colter’s computer screen. Gradually he comes to realise that he has been somehow transported from his previous life in the military to a new and surreal existence, divided between a simulated train wreck and a claustrophobic ‘cockpit’ from which there is seemingly no escape.

Masterminded by Jeffrey Wright’s slimily menacing Rutledge, Colter has become embroiled in a mission to prevent a series of terrorist attacks which begin with the attack on the train. Thanks to ‘source code’ a situation has been developed in which a participant can be transported back into the life of a dead person in order to relive their last eight minute over again. This process can be repeated ad infinitum and it is this situation which Colter finds himself in – ordered to find the train bomber and prevent the subsequent attacks.

Thus begins a series of flashbacks/forwards in which Colter must gather as much information as possible to identify the terrorist. Like the aforementioned Groundhog Day (and to a lesser extent Quantum Leap) he gets given the chance to improve on his previous performance each time he bounces between his two realities. And with a beautiful woman at either end of the journey it’s inevitable that he will fall in love at least once.

Gyllenhaal is excellent in the lead role – a fine combination of doe-eyed innocence and singular muscularity. The supporting cast is equally good – Farmiga’s Goodwin melts gradually as the narrative progresses and Michelle Monaghan is cute and charming as train-based love interest Christina.

It goes without saying that there is far more to Colter’s situation than is initially revealed – and as Goodwin finds it increasingly difficult to remain uninvolved the secrets begin to bubble to the surface. Thankfully Jones’ direction ensures that none of the ensuing emotions become overwrought or overshadow the fast-paced action.

All told, Source Code is intelligent without being complicated and contains enough twists, romance, action and intrigue to ensure that it will hold the interest of all but the most inattentive audiences (like the annoying thirteen year olds sat near me) whilst maintaining a lightness of touch and pace which mean it never becomes bogged down in its multitude of ideas. Great stuff.