Written by: Ben Ripley
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Micheal Arden
Rating: [4/5]
Advances in technology have allowed for a breakthrough in the way we can learn new things in a much more efficient manner. It helps in various fields including engineering, medicine, and other areas helping people en masse. Source Code presents a new technology for the good of the public that certainly raises some major morality questions but makes for quite the story.
Waking up on a train across from a woman who he does not recognize but knows him, Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) fully awakens once the train explodes. He gets informed following an incident he must continue going back. They need him to continue to cycle back through a victim’s memory to find the perpetrator of the bomb in order to stop future attacks from occurring.
The time warp plot made famous by Groundhog Day has made for many great stories where it serves as an integral part of a film’s effectiveness. In this feature, it occurs through a new technological breakthrough meant to bring some good change in the world. The repeats do not occur through some magical element that needs to be discerned but rather a repeated attempt for Stevens to find the bomber only having eight minutes each time before the bomb goes off again. Quite fascinating as a concept and it helps make for an invigorating thriller.
With each repeated attempt in finding the killer, Stevens interacts with a woman named Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), who knows him, or at least the Captain utilizes to see these events. Through each circumstance, she becomes an ally in helping find the bomber, which then inevitably turns a bit romantic between the pair. While a certain sweetness exists between the two as the feature progresses, this element does have some conflict considering none of it really exists in reality. This occurs through the technology here happening in a universe that does not exist in the real world. Stevens essentially begins to fall in love with a woman who has already died and based on his circumstances, does staying within this space make for a life worth living? This certainly raises some questions along with the thrilling elements this feature has to offer.
Finding this bomber becomes a game of trial and error and only having eight minutes to it, Stevens needs to utilize the cumulative attempts to know what he has rendered no helpful information and where he must go next in order to figure it out. With this taking place on a train with many others, it gives the feeling of finding a needle in a haystack. Something the eight minutes does not have the appropriate time to figure out. Reporting back to his superiors each time the train explodes gets them closer to finding this bomber to prevent future attacks that will take place in Chicago and wherever else this individual will seek to detonate.
With this feature, we get another strong performance by Jake Gyllenhall, bringing his typical physique but also the necessary desperation in trying to find the bomber in time. A frustration builds for him in his attempts to figure everything out, especially with the overall confusion about his place in the confines of this technology and why he receives these orders. We go right along with him in this confusion in trying to gather all of the facts and Gyllenhaal serves as a great guide through it all. He turns up the charm whenever necessary but also brings on the violence to get to the root of what occurs here. With the more thrilling elements he certainly delivers, but this feature also presents some emotionally charged ones, especially when he continues to build this connection with Christina and what he can do through this technology that cannot be accomplished in the real world. Gyllenhaal proves a great choice for this feature, as well as Michelle Monaghan, gives texture to a performance deriving from someone who gets limited screen time in those eight-minute increments. She helps form a character who we mourn her loss because we know her fate but know more of what the world has lost with her death.
Well-crafted in its concept and execution, Source Code serves as quite the win for director Duncan Jones in the way he visually captures the scenes on the train and the sequence of events Stevens must repeat in order to get to the bomber. He ensures each scene has a dynamism even with the repeats occurring on each occasion. Also in collaboration with editor Paul Hirsch, he manages to make each sequence very unique in our perspective of it and the manner in which it impacts Steven and this journey he must continue to repeat. Quite the entertaining film and one that works just right for someone looking to take in a fun and innovative film with a larger-than-life concept.
Films with Josh 
