Exactly what you'd expect from someone whose Dad once sang about spiders from Mars

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2011)

For a guy whose Dad used to sing about spiders from Mars, it's probably apt that he turned out to be a sci-fi whiz kid. Duncan Jones burst onto the scene with his 2009 sci-fi drama 'Moon', starring the great but underrated Sam Rockwell. He made an impression with that film and makes an even bigger one with his sophomore film.
The first time I saw 'Source Code' I dismissed it as mere escapist folly. A (much recommended) second viewing confirmed the film is clever, full of ideas, original and, most importantly, hugely entertaining. It's like a song you dismiss upon your first hearing but grow to love. I had precisely the same experience with Wes Anderson's 'The life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'; now it's one of my favourites of the last 10 years.
'Source Code' opens with alternating, swooping tracking shots of a moving train against a wonderfully modern, almost futuristic, Chicago. The Hitchcockian music presages the relentlessly fast pace of the film. Don't reach for popcorn, or make notes like I had to; you'll miss a vital plot point.
Jake Gyllenhaal awakens on this train and finds himself sitting opposite Christina (Michelle Monaghan). She refers to him as 'Sean' but he insists he's Captain Colter Stevens, a US soldier who flies planes in Afghanistan. He's acutely aware of his surroundings, all of his senses are heightened.
Then the train blows up. He is zapped from the train to a desolate, blackened capsule, with only a computer screen for company. A face emerges on it. It's the pretty face of Vera Farmiga's character, Goodwin. She administers a quick mental test to ensure he is compos mentis. He passes. 'Welcome back, Captain', Goodwin reassures him.
He obtains as much information as he can about his situation. The company he is part of is called Beleaguered Castle. He's on a mission to find out who bombed the train. He will keep being zapped back to the train until he finds the bomber. How this is all possible, he finds out later, is due to 'Source Code'.
'Source Code', the theory goes, allows access to a parallel reality. This reality is opened when a person's circuit memory remains active for eight minutes after their death. These eight minutes can then be re-lived by someone whose profile (DNA?) resembles the deceased's. Stevens' profile matches one of the train's commuters – Sean Fentress, a teacher.
Now things start to make sense and the action can be enjoyed without having to stop and think too much. Events fall into place more or less how we envisage them. There's a nice twist as to who the bomber is, but anyone who calls themselves a buff will guess correctly based on classic rules of audience deception.
Apart from 'Donnie Darko', Gyllenhall has scored big with performances in Jim Sheridan's 'Brothers' and Jim Madden's 'Proof'. He brings an appealing physicality to this role. He assumes the nuances of each scene skilfully and seamlessly. Like only some of Hollywood's hunks, he is valued both as a serious actor and as a bit of eye candy. My only gripe is that he's still a tad too young to pull off this kind of demanding role. Every role requiring him to be experienced and worldly, have him come off as boyish and unpersuasive.
A flaw here is that Gyllenahaal plays Stevens as relatively sanguine. Surely a person in his position would be the epitome of furious, if not in state of permanent disbelief or apoplexy. I'd wager that it would have benefited the story's subterfuge if Sam Rockwell had played him.
It's not a point that's been dwelled upon but there are four big twists. Containing them in 93 minutes, and doing so engrossingly, shows Jones's talent. Never is the film geeky or inaccessible. That's not to say it's not intellectual – it is, and Jones manages to reconcile some clever and complex ideas. The film raises an ethical question: Should such a device as Source Code, if it existed, be used in the fight in the 'war on terror'?
Much of the success of 'Source Code' is down to the Editor, Paul Hirsch, whose precise timing in cutting back and forth between the train and capsule keep you hooked. Credit also to the SFX staff: the explosions look charmingly fake.
I would have liked Ben Ripley's script to develop the Source Code theory a bit more – because it's fascinating and the film wouldn't have lost anything by dropping a few of the near-duplicated mission scenes. One or two sentences by Jeffrey Wright explaining Source Code aren't quite satisfactory, neither is Gyllenhaal saying 'Yeah, I know, quantum physics and parabolic calculus'.
Jeffrey Wright is believable, like he normally is, as Dr Rutledge, the patriotic zealot responsible for creating Source Code. Vera Farmiga is spot on as Rutledge's dedicated but compassionate co-worker, though her role is easy. The comedian Russell Peters features quite extensively as an obnoxious passenger on the train, though I'm not sure his appearance is necessary.
The characters remain sedentary for most of the film. The few kinetic sequences were just enough to break the monotony. The end scene is played out in real time, where we get to see a full episode of Source Code, i.e. a whole eight-minute scene, which is as heart-wrenching as it is cathartic. I won't spoil it by asking why Stevens' Dad doesn't recognise his own son's voice?
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