Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
It’s always a little disorientating, waking up on a train, but particularly so if you wake up in a different country. And month. And body. Such is the case for Jake Gyllenhaal’s Captain Colter Stevens, whose last memory was flying a mission over Afghanistan. He now appears to be inhabiting the body of a teacher, Sean Fentress on a routine Chicago commute, talking with a prospective love interest, Michelle Monaghan’s Christina Warren, but before he can get his bearings, the train blows up.
It’s always a little disorientating, waking up in a cockpit after being blown up on a train in a different country and month and body, etc, etc. This time a suitably confused and agitated Stevens is talked down by Vera Farmiga’s Captain Colleen Goodwin, whose briefing tells him that he’s in a strange, continually vaguely defined experimental technology called the Source Code, which is basically inserting him into the last eight minutes of Sean Fentress’ life. Whoever is behind that bombing is believed to have been on the train, and has an even greater threat in the planning.
So, Goodwin and the project’s truculent creator, Jeffrey Wright’s Dr. Rutledge send Stevens back into the time loop, again and again, not to stop the train exploding, but to identify the terrorist and report back. You see, even though it seems very much like an alternate timeline is being created every time Stevens is cycled through the Source Code, it isn’t because, well, because Rutledge says so. So there. Stevens doesn’t quite believe him, perhaps motivated by finding out what really happened on his last mission in Afghanistan, and not wanting that state of affairs to continue.
I liked this a lot a decade ago, and it stands up pretty well today in terms of being a fun ride. Director Duncan Jones keeps things moving along at enough of a breakneck clip that you won’t be stopping to think about it too hard, which is pretty much key to enjoying the endeavour. It’s helped along by a strong turn from Gyllenhaal, who proves a sympathetic lead as he’s pulled from pillar to post and back again at aforementioned breakneck speed, and bounces well off Farmiga, Wright and the somewhat underserved Michelle Monaghan.
I’m not completely sure repeat viewing is Source Code‘s friend – there’s such an entirely understandable woolliness to all of the time travel shenanigans that simply can’t be defined, either in relation to our quotidian reality, or to the film’s own internal logic, or that would stop the film’s happy ending from happening. Which is something I can give a pass to when viewing this as a fun, vaguely sci-fi flavoured thriller, but if you prefer your science fiction more on the science than fiction side this will very much not be your jam.
It’s a touch sad that Duncan Jones’ first feature, Moon, remains his best by a decent margin, but Source Code is by no means the disgrace to his name that Mute was, and I hold out some hope for his involvement in the hopefully still upcoming 2000AD adaptations. Indeed, Source Code makes for an entertaining morsel to hold you over until that arrives.