Source Code

Synopsis: Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a US Army pilot, wakes up on a train opposite Christina (Michelle Monaghan) who calls him Sean. Confused, he tries to work out how he got there, and then the train blows up. Then he discovers he’s going to relive those past eight minutes repeatedly until he discovers who the bomber is. He’s now part of a secret government project using quantum mechanics to access parallel realities in order to avert major disasters.

God bless the few, the brave, and the bloody-minded who continue to prove that smart science fiction is still possible. Following up his less successful Moon (an almost brilliant film that epically fumbled its ending with a tonally jarring final line), Duncan Jones continues his love affair with idea-driven, emotionally engaged science fiction. And we’re fortunate for that. Less fortunate is the sense occasionally that he wants to channel Hitchcock, what with the Saul Bass opening credits and the poorly handled score that feels like a distinct homage at times. But those are only niggles in what is a really engaging and interesting story.

Colter Stevens is a great character, confused as to what he’s doing and how he got there, but filled with a sense of duty and an heroic sense of right. He struggles past his confusion to investigate the bombing, eight minutes at a time, while also trying to figure out how he came to be inside the Source Code machine. The revelations are not particularly surprising to anyone who’s read much science fiction, but the way they play out is highly original and launches the character to greater depths of heroism and sympathy. Jake Gyllenhaal does an excellent job of selling us a man who is struggling with his own issues while also being genuinely concerned for the people around him. His growing love for Christina is also lovely to witness.

The videogame nature of the Source Code is also interestingly developed. A device that throws the occupant into a parallel universe where the last eight minutes of a person’s life can be played out repeatedly, it has all the hallmarks of a totally consequenceless environment. Much like a game, if you die you can just start from the previous save point. And Dr Rutledge definitely views it as such. But Stevens’ experience of these parallel worlds has him convinced that it’s real, and that he can affect the world, if not his own then at least a parallel version of it. And the tensions this creates are interesting to say the least. The ethical obligations one might have to a reality not their own is something really meaty to chew on.

All up, Source Code is a sharp science fiction thriller playing with some very big ideas in a neat and original way. This is a definite maturing in the career of Duncan Jones and I’m eager to see what his next project will be.

 

 

Want more about this film?

    

Want something different?