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Director: Duncan Jones
Screenwriter: Ben Ripley
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Synopsis
When Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
Review
If Inception did anything for future sci-fi blockbusters, is that a big-budget extravaganza can do more than just boom-bang as it can also have a brain and substance all the way through. Christopher Nolan’s film set a benchmark for up-and-comers and since then we’ve been seeing a number of Inception-ish works such as the Philip K. Dick-based Adjustment Bureau and now Source Code.
Duncan Jones (formerly known as Zowie Bowie, son of David) previously made his debut Moon, an atmospheric throwback to those classic 70s sci-fi films like Silent Running and Soylent Green. In the case of his second feature, if you want to see a Hitchcock-styled thriller with a Dick-like sci-fi plot, then Source Code is for you.
From the writer of the straight-to-video sequels of Species, Ben Ripley’s script is a tightly-constructed sci-fi piece, in which Jake Gyllenhaal’s confused protagonist embodies a train passenger in the last eight minutes of his life in order to find the bomber before the train explodes. If he fails, he goes back to this timeline for another eight minutes. So, to pitch this film in a very simple manner is that it’s “Groundhog Day meets Quantum Leap”.
On the basis of its trailer which gives the film a disservice, there is more to this than just having a mainstream appeal, as the sci-fi aspect goes into sublime territory and might lead to head-scrambling for the simple-minded. However, the heart of the film is the character of Stevens, who Jake Gyllenhaal brilliantly plays as this tortured individual who is put into a situation he has no knowledge of and doesn’t want to be in. During this mission, he develops a relationship with another passenger (played by Michelle Monaghan), which leads him to do an impossible task.
Although there are hints of Tony Scott’s Déjà vu, particularly in the film’s debatable final moments, Duncan Jones succeeds at bringing a Hitchcock sense of suspense as all the action is set within a train. The director keeps the film tightly-paced through its running time and yet there is an emotional core throughout, thanks to his subtle focus on the characters. However, the climax becomes one ending too many and goes into a kind of sentimentality which I found questionable.
While Gyllenhaal is doing a truly heroic performance, Michelle Monaghan is doing the most difficult task in which she replays the same actions and soon alters in response to her co-star’s actions, which she succeeds in a very down-to-earth performance. Both Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright act as the two separate voices supporting Stevens, as Farmiga’s role is stuck between her duty and her positive attempt at helping the tortured soul, while Wright is the menacing pantomime doctor whose is more concerned about the success of his work rather than human loss.
Verdict
Although it lacks the atmosphere of his astonishing debut, Duncan Jones’s second feature offers than just a mainstream aesthetic with his suspenseful direction, its well-constructed sci-fi narrative and a fine performance from Jake Gyllenhaal.
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Source Code - 
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