Stellar Sci-Fi Tale With Great Humanity

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2011)

Sci-Fi movies with absolutely as much humanity written in are somewhat rare. "Source Code" uses a very "out-there" sci-fi framework to tell such a tale.
A heroic helicopter pilot who died in Afghanistan saving lives in the balance is kept "brain-alive" so he can be used in an experimental program where he is dropped in to the last conscious 8-minute memory of a passenger in a commuter train targeted by a terrorist. His mission is to reveal the terrorist's name and subsequently allow authorities to stop a subsequent attack that would kill millions with a so-called "dirty bomb" in metro Chicago. The whole scenario can be repeated an infinite number of times only limited to the time in between the initial attack and the suspected larger one that is to follow. Whew! Jake Gyllenhaal superbly plays the protagonist who is dropped into the train passenger who is experiencing a budding romance with a regular passenger played by Michelle Monaghan. The fact that his last memory is his latest mission in Afghanistan bewilders him and in eight minutes of consciousness on the train he suffers the fate of his fellow passengers when the terrorist's bomb kills all aboard. His next memory is in some sort of "pod" type capsule where he is being reluctantly debriefed regarding if he was able to identify the terrorist. This all occurs in the first fifteen minutes of "Source Code", so much for a set-up! As Captain Coulter Stevens attempts to extract what the heck is happening so we, as viewers, are brought up to speed as to what exactly is going on. We learn than "source code" is an experimental project dealing with the final retrievable memories a person has before, and actually during death. The premise is that these memories can be used to thwart anything that may be follow subsequently. Well, this is a very good sci-fi premise and I have to say this movie doesn't "drop the ball" as it unfolds.
So, where's the humanity? Captain Stevens (Gyllenhaal) has another side that paints a very humanistic palate to hang the story on. He immediately feels a love connection with his beautiful passenger who we learn he has been sharing a common commute for a short time. He also figures out that he has been declared a deceased hero and his unrequited reconciliation with his father. This plays a big role in his decision to keep returning to the eight minutes through multiple "scenario resets". In a nutshell; this is where the story adds a great dimension.
"Source Code" delivers a fast paced fine sci-fi tale made imminently more engrossing by the "human factors" of love and light comedy. There really isn't a miss-step along the way even if the ending is, perhaps, a bit of "feel-good" open ended one. This movie offers the rare combination of an excellent story, perfect fit characters played well, and fantastic cinematographyHighly recommended.