Review: Source Code

Jake Gyllenhaal is an Air Force captain who wakes up on a train in Chicago and greeted by a sweet-faced young woman (Michelle Monaghan) who seems to know him and claims he’s a teacher. When he goes to the bathroom and looks in the mirror, he sees someone else’s face instead of his own! Then a bomb goes off, blowing up the train and everyone on board! He wakes up again in some kind of capsule, monitored by Vera Farmiga and scientist Jeffrey Wright who (after much insistence from Gyllenhaal) inform him that he is taking part in an experiment called the Source Code project. This top-secret, probably dubious project involves technology that allows him to take on the body and mind of one of the dead passengers to relive the last 8 minutes on board the train in order to track down the identity of the bomber. Not an easy task in 8 minutes on a large and busy train. It’s not exactly time travel, either. Apparently after someone dies, there’s a small eight minute window that can be opened up and manipulated by someone else. The train blew up earlier in the day and there is evidence to suggest that the bomber has planted explosives elsewhere in the city. So any information Gyllenhaal can come up with to help with catching the nutter ASAP is vital. Gyllenhaal decides to try and save Monaghan and others whilst searching for the bomber, despite being told by Farmiga and Wright that such a thing is impossible and he should stay on task. However, Gyllenhaal starts to experience things that don’t seem to gel with the science Intel he’s getting from Farmiga and Wright. And besides, Monaghan is awfully cute.

 

This 2011 sci-fi whodunit from director Duncan Jones (AKA Zowie Bowie, and director of the interesting “Moon”) didn’t always make sense to me, but that might be more my intellectual failings than anything else. Besides, the more this film explained itself and tried to be as realistic as possible, the more ridiculous it would likely appear. The film will already divide audiences between just going with the flow or picking up on every implausibility. I went along with it. It’s a good, smart yarn at any rate, with the underrated Jake Gyllenhaal perfectly cast, as is the offbeat Jeffrey Wright (not an easy actor to cast, nor rein in his eccentric tendencies) as the scientist who may or may not be as smart as he probably thinks he is. Hell, even Michelle Monaghan’s role suits her one asset- a girl next door appeal.

 

The one weak link in the cast is unsurprisingly the horrendously overrated Vera Farmiga. She doesn’t mug for the camera like in most of her overwrought performances but she’s still the only actress I can think of who can be both stiff and histrionic at the same time. Both monotonous and overwrought in the same scene. You’d swear Jones had given her one direction in the entire film: Act hesitant. And by God, that’s what she’s going to do. At every moment. In every one of her scenes. It was amusing, though, to see her shove her face into the camera at one point to distort it because I think her face naturally appears as though it has entered a hall of mirrors. Bizarre-looking woman.

 

Although it’s essentially sci-fi, the film reminds me of Hitchcock a lot, especially “The Lady Vanishes” which was another film involving a mystery on a train. In fact, the film could perhaps best be described as Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” meets “Flightplan” meets “Groundhog Day” meets “Déjà Vu”. Even though I found the film confusing at times, I was never frustrated by its holding back on information. It’s a tricky thing to do, but this film does that well. Less impressive is the film’s big twist or most vital piece of information, which only a fool wouldn’t pick from a mile away. Also, for a film with such elaborate and intelligent trappings, the terrorist turns out to be so wimpy you almost wish screenwriter Ben Ripley (“Species III” if you can believe it) relied on the old Arab Terrorist standby instead. It’d be racist and abhorrent, sure, but this minor league twerp’s motives just don’t seem to suffice given everything else in the film. It ends the film on a downer, after such an enjoyable ride.

 

A good (if overrated) film, but a different choice of terrorist with more interesting motives would’ve made it even better. Still, there’s plenty of fascinating concepts and issues for a post-film debate.

Rating: B-