If you can get past the difficulties of the premise...

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2011)

...this sophomore (though not at all sophomoric) outing from Duncan "Moon" Jones shows great promise of his becoming as fine a director as his father is/was a musician/actor. It also proves that screenwriter Ben "Species III" Ripley has come a long way. Basically a clever riff on "Groundhog's Day" by way of "The Matrix" and various other alternate-reality stories, "Source Code" limns the efforts of its hero to avert a catastrophic terror attack by way of placing his consciousness within the (somehow) reconstituted/recovered/restored eight minutes of memory of a victim of a preliminary incident on a train. How all this came to pass must be accepted as a given, but if the viewer is willing to do this, a very engaging tale awaits being enjoyed. Although rooted in an interesting intellectual plot line, "Source Code" is, at heart, a very human story involving questions of identity, purpose, and responsibility.
Story aside, the film's success rests primarily on the shoulders of Jake "Donnie Darko" Gyllenhaal, whose performance is appropriately involved and involving; he's really turned into a fine actor. The support work is equally of a piece, no complaints there; Michelle "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" Monaghan, Vera "Orphan" Farmiga, and Jeffrey "The Ides of March" Wright all turn in excellent performances. Jones appears to really know how to get the best out of his cast (not to mention the rest of his production team), and I look forward to his next project, whatever it may be. Recommended to all fans of quality science fantasy, not to mention well-crafted film.