Better Than It Should Be Thriller

Rating: 8/10 (4 April 2011)

Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a passenger train. He is confused and disorientated as the woman across from him engages him in conversation. How did he get here? Why can't he remember anything? Why isn't he with his battalion in Afghanistan? These questions abound in his head when an explosion is heard and the train car explodes killing all on board.
After the explosion, Captain Stevens wakes up in some sort of simulation chamber. He is strapped to a chair and a small video screen appears where Mission Controller Carol Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) calmly requests that he recalls the incidents on the train leading up to the explosion. Stevens learns that he is part of a military scientific experiment wherein they can insert a consciousness into another body in the past for a span of 8 minutes. Stevens has assumed the body of a non-descript school teacher and he is continually sent back in time (much to his frustration) with the mission of determining who triggered the bomb so that future lives can be saved.
We then sit back and get a mix of Minority Report meets Memento meets Groundhog Day as Captain Stevens continually travels back and encounters repeated behaviors from the passengers in an attempt to extract clues that will lead present day authorities to the bomber's capture.
Upon his return visits, Captain Stevens is distracted by two involving yet distracting sub-plots. The first involves a budding relationship with Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan) – a fellow passenger on the train. There is little chemistry to be compounded in 8-minute intervals, but Christina's involvement in the investigation will be paramount leading to the eventual climax.
The second diversion comes with the Captain's attempts to determine his own fate. Why is he here? Did he volunteer? Why doesn't he have any recollection of the events leading up to his cooperation in the operation? Is he dead? These questions will impede his focus on the tasks at hand and cause for much confusion and stress between the Captain and the commanders running the operation (code named Beleaguered Castle).
Sharply scripted by Ben Ripley (Species III) and efficiently directed by Duncan Jones (Moon), Source Code is better than it should be thanks to the combined efforts of the believable cast and the tension of a reducing timeframe in order to identify the terrorist.
Dead ends do occur, but they are plausible actions taken in a live game of Clue where one query or investigation may lead to the exclusion of a potential threat. Gyllenhaal steps into a role that would likely have been cast to Harrison Ford circa 1991 and he does his best to help us forget that it's the Prince of Persia himself trying to help solve a case that will save millions of lives.
The final chapters of Source Code are Inception-ish in that the ending can be argued for interpretation. Whether the laws of science and science fiction could be altered in a Twilight Zone finale might leave some groaning in non-acceptance. Add to that a few plot holes (one involving a gun) that just didn't make sense based on the parameters set by the premise, and the movie just fails to meet the mark of 'excellence' and has to settle for 'very good'.
But that shouldn't dissuade anyone from enjoying an enjoyable film that can make rehashed scenes still feel new and exciting. There is some good action intertwined with an intelligent script that doesn't talk down to its audience as he barrels its way down the tracks.
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