Source Code - Film Review

The second film from acclaimed director and Bowie's son Duncan Jones, and boasting a script from Ben Ripley that could be seen as a high tech hybrid of 12 Monkeys and Groundhog Day, Source Code was one of this year's blockbuster releases that, for all intensive purposes, refuses to park itself in the money making shed.

Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a helicopter pilot for the US Military, awakens to find himself on a train sat across from a young woman, Cristina (Michelle Monaghan), who appears to know him. He has no idea where is, or how he got there. Worse still, he is is apparently in the skin of someone else, and nobody seems to understand his confusion and panic. Then after eight minutes, the train explodes.

Stevens wakes up in a chopper ejection canopy, encased in some sort of evac capsule, receiving orders via video link from mysterious army officer Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). His huge list of questions are swatted aside, with Goodwin more interested in the details of the blast. Having established that his task is to find the bomb, Stevens is sent in again. The same eight minutes, the same explosion, another reset. Through multiple exhausting attempts, Stevens slowly starts to glean more information about the bombing, discovering the location of the device, developing suspicions and eliminating suspects within the ill-fated carriage. However, his desperation to understand his bizzare, unreal mission grows. The recurring appearances of a suit wearing man (Jeffrey Wright) who would appear to be in charge, heighten his concerns.

Eventually Stevens learns that he is not simply being put through a simulation, he is re-experiencing the final memories of one of the bomb's very real victims through a miraculous piece of technology, and general deus ex machina, known as the source code. The realisation that he cannot prevent the loss of all those on board, in particular Cristina who he is becoming growingly enamoured to, is offset when more home truths lead him to question his own existence in the scheme of things, leading to a better understanding of how the machine can work. Already beset by threats on all sides, there is also an added element of time: the bomber will strike again unless Stevens can work out his identity.

Break neck paced by it's nature, due to the thriller aspect and short running time, Source Code faces down and squashes the potential problem of limited possibilities posed by it's plot design. After all, it's the same train carriage and series of events over and over, each time with only eight minutes in which to get things done. True to it's material, we see a coffee spilt on Stevens' shoe on each attempt, the mid-conversation entrance remains consistent, and the behaviour and travel habits of those around remains. Only Stevens effects these things, adding an oddly exciting element of interruption with every move he takes, like jumping into the film yourself.

And, not suprisingly, one of the greatest thrills throughout the story comes from joining Stevens' investigation, picking out those around him as favourites to be the villain, making theories in your head which will later be dashed. It's not just the story that does this, but the direction of Jones, who once again proves his supreme abilities at characterisation after his sensational debut Moon. In the hands of a lesser, more glitzy, gross chasing director in the Michael Bay or McG mould, a well thought out character piece could have become a mind-numbing big bang, small credibility action fiasco on wheels.

It helps, of course, casting creditable actors in the roles. Skipping action men of the genre, instead picked is Jake Gyllenhaal, building in confidence with every role he takes on. His portrayal of Stevens is both authentic, never once is it questionable he's a military man, but also deeply sympathetic. He is the perfect stranded hero for this, displaying plenty of nous, but able to express a great deal of likeability and vulnerability with little visible effort or attempts at face putty projection. It takes little time for you to root for Stevens both inside and outside of the source code, as he faces very different battles on either sides of his reality. The revelation of his existence on the exterior is devastating, giving the remainder of the film an almost tragic, deeply sombre and emotional significance.

He's not alone in this. Michelle Monaghan, an actress who occasionally seems out of place in her films (Gone Baby Gone immediately springs to mind) brings a genuinely rounded portrayal as Cristina, a slightly lost young woman high on charm, wit and warmth who becomes one of Stevens' main motivations in his efforts to break history. Her actions are never out of character, even in such a high concept, highly active piece. Vera Farmiga, seemingly finding the big roles coming later in her career then they should have been, has an equally level and consistent quality as Goodwin, walking the tight rope between hard nosed professional officer and real human being with distinction. Although she slowly grows to care about Stevens, and feel sorry for his plight, it is not an emotional weakness. It's the view of anybody watching the film. Jeffrey Wright chews the scenery slightly, but it's a pleasingly off-beat performance that is quite neccessary if a little hard to swallow initially.

The two main problems that Source Code suffers, ironically, involve time, albeit in different contexts. At a threadbare hour and a half, it undoubtedly completes it's own objectives, and does enough on the side to make it more than standard sci-fi action fare, but such is the intelligence of the writing, direction and performances that it makes you long for more. Imagining the same film, only padded out with more character moments, avenues of investigation and perhaps even a couple of twists and turns thrown in, is frankly mouth watering. Little does a film cry out for a Director's Cut in quite this way. The second, egg shells springing to mind, comes from the finale. Without wishing to spoil anything for the viewer, the film makes the mistake of carrying on for a few extra minutes and creating a scientific headache once the natural conclusion has been reached, pushing the film down a mark for me and really bringing attention to the frankly unfeasible plot device of it's own surroundings. In other words, it very nearly gets away with it, then speaks in English to the German guard right at the end (Great Escape analogies notwithstanding).

A high octane, thrilling ride with the sort of intelligent presentation that most summer action fodder would die for, Source Code proves a film far better than it should be, a high credit for Duncan Jones and his cast. A few flaws aside, a deeply thoughtful but exciting and for the most part satisfying piece that is about far more than just about a bomb on a train or a magic machine.


8/10