'TWELVE MONKEYS' crossed with 'QUANTUM LEAP', eight minutes at a time!

Rating: 8/10 (1 April 2011)

'SOURCE CODE': Four Stars (Out of Five)
Director Duncan Jones follows up his critically acclaimed low budget sci-fi hit 'MOON' with this critically acclaimed low budget sci-fi hit, although the film is more fantasy than science fiction since the science of it is not grounded in reality at all. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, one of my favorite actors, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright. It was written by Ben Ripley (who's only other film writing experience is in direct to video and TV 'B' movie horror films, like two 'SPECIES' films) and was filmed on a budget of just $35 million. The film tells the story of a soldier who travels into the body of a man killed by a terrorist explosion for the last eight minutes of his life, repeatedly, in hopes of finding information that will prevent the terrorist's next attack. It's sort of like a variation on 'TWELVE MONKEYS' or 'QUANTUM LEAP' (Scott Bakula even has a cameo in the film). While the movie is completely over the top and unbelievable it's still a very well made and entertaining film.
Gyllenhaal plays Captain Colter Stevens, a former airman stationed in Afghanistan who, as the movie opens, unexpectedly finds himself in the body of another man sitting on a train. After eight minutes the train blows up and Stevens then comes to in a capsule communicating with another military officer named Carol Goodwin (Farmiga). He discovers he's part of a military program called 'Source Code' and must continue to reenter the man's body for the last eight minutes of his life until he can gather enough information to discover the identity of the terrorist responsible for the explosion and lead authorities to his capture before he strikes again. While doing so he falls in love with another passenger on the train (Monaghan) and becomes obsessed with saving her life even though he's told it's impossible.
The story is far-fetched but the characters are involving and believable. While the concept of the film is kind of routine and unoriginal the script is well written in it's details. The performances bring a lot of heart and emotion to the film, especially Gyllenhaal (like always) and Farmiga, and the directing is top notch. In many ways Duncan's two films are very similar in their core. They both deal with a man who unwittingly finds himself the tortured victim of a science experiment meant to serve a greater good. While this film is not quite as clever or interesting as 'MOON' it does match it's strengths in character development and emotional drama. Duncan is definitely a promising up and coming director and I can't wait to see what he does next.
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