Not as good as his debut, but very impressive

Rating: 8/10 (8 April 2011)

Captain Colter Stevens wakes up on board a train heading to Chicago, in a body he does not recognise and with no knowledge of what is going on. The train explodes and he finds himself in an unknown place, being told by a woman calling herself Goodwin that he is going back and doing the whole thing again, in order to find the bomber, and that he has an eight minute window in which to do so. So begins a dual-challenge for Stevens: to complete the mission, and to understand why he is there in the first place and what is going on.
Duncan Jones is treading a slightly different path to his father, but is proving to have inherited the gene for creativity; I adored his debut "Moon", and although perhaps not quite as good a movie (it would have taken another masterpiece to have stood up to such an impressive first film), his follow-up feature is still very enjoyable and exciting. "Source Code" is not written by Jones, only directed, and is far more a balls-out thriller, but interestingly it still explores some similar themes and questions as "Moon". The slightly higher budget has been put to good use, although Jones is a director who proves that big explosions and incredible CGI effects are nothing without a brain, and that good filmmaking is more fundamental than those things; even in today's hi-tech, fast-moving world, a film still needs to do more than look pretty.
Just like its predecessor, "Source Code" sets you up with ideas you have seen explored elsewhere; where you could find the roots of "Moon" in "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Solaris", "Source Code" has closer kin in the likes of "Speed" and "Inception". In the case of both of his movies, though, what marks them out as great is what he then does with those ideas and how much heart the films have. Granted, "Source Code" is not quite as surprising as "Moon", but it still proves to be an intelligent, challenging piece. Another thing I like about his films is the science of them; they do not skip over explanations, and he works hard to lay what some might consider complex ground work for his audience, ala Christopher Nolan.
Despite some small quibbles with the movie, such as the fact Clint Mansell would have scored it better (I mention this because I know it was only timing and circumstance that prevented Jones working with him again), and the film actually having room for a bit more development in the central location (it is rare for me to say I feel a movie would have benefit from being longer), I still very much enjoyed myself and recommend it as a cinema trip! Jake Gyllenhaal continues to prove himself to be a terrific lead actor who can carry a film, and do not assume that the "Groundhog Day" idea of the same eight minutes replaying time and time again gets boring; just as you get to a point where you feel it might get stale, the film changes things up; those who have seen "Moon" will know just how surprising Jones is. The drip-feeding of information keeps you hooked, and just as interested as Captain Stevens in finding out what is happening.
If Duncan Jones just keeps doing what he is doing, staying ambitious and not becoming lazy, I see good things ahead for him, and I see myself being a big fan!