Well made and fast paced, but a little been there done that and a little too improbable

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2011)

Source Code (2011)
It's easy to say this could have been a great movie, because it has some great elements, but it's also easy to notice how derivative the basic ideas are, too. And so this is a decent thriller with lots of issues left hanging. I think some people will totally love it, especially if they haven't seen, or maybe if they have, the inspirations for it.
That is, the structure of the film is a series of variations on a single set of events, returned to over and over with twists and alternatives explored, many of them imaginative. A very differently styled predecessor is "Run Lola Run" but I think "Source Code" is a more direct echo of recent American films like "Momento" or "Vantage Point." It's a little like "Inception" meets "Groundhog Day," actually, and that's not all bad.
The main character who is reliving (or seeming to) the main event, the blowing up of a Chicago commuter train, is a war veteran played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He's good, very good, if not astonishing (you might consider Bruce Willis in "Twelve Monkeys" for a definition close to astonishing, believe it or not). The talking head (mostly seen on a video screen) that helps him through his various incarnations is Vera Farmiga, always a trustworthy presence on screen. Everyone else, from the terrific scientist in the background (Jeffrey Wright) to the bland but serviceable girl and would be girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan) are support to the main pair, or even just to Gyllenhaal, who carries the show.
The rest of the movie is eye popping effects, high tension whodunnit terrorism, and interior soul searching in a sci-fi kind of superficial way. It's fine, but it's been done better before. And there are some logic bending requirements that you can go along with most of the time, but reluctantly. By the last few minutes, when there is one ridiculous last twist, it's just a matter of saying, loudly, "Whatever."
This is almost the definition of a summer blockbuster--well made, fast, undemanding, interesting, fleeting. And it's a month early, so maybe there are more decent things to come.