By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
Though ads give it a time-travel focus, Source Code is a high-octane mind game best enjoyed by following a key character's advice: "The Source Code is a gift. Don't squander it by thinking."
By Jonathan Wenk, Summit Entertainment
Michelle Monaghan and Jake Gyllenhaal try to stop a terrorist by traveling through time to prevent an attack.
By Jonathan Wenk, Summit Entertainment
Michelle Monaghan and Jake Gyllenhaal try to stop a terrorist by traveling through time to prevent an attack.
Mashing up Groundhog Day with sci-fi thrillers like The Sixth Sense and TV series Quantum Leap, this adrenaline-infused "time reassignment" tale also sprinkles in romance, as well as a touching moment of redemption.
Holes in logic get swept aside by the brisk pace and stimulating tale. And the premise ? a man who has to relive the same eight minutes to avert disaster ? is more engaging than it sounds.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays the much-decorated Capt. Colter Stevens, a helicopter pilot whose last mission was in Afghanistan. He inexplicably wakes up on a commuter train bound for Chicago. Befuddled, he tries to gauge his surroundings while chatty passenger Christina (Michelle Monaghan) refers to him as Sean. His most disorienting moment comes when he looks in a bathroom mirror and sees another man's face staring back at him.
It turns out our man is on a mission to locate a terrorist responsible for the imminent bombing of the train he's on. He receives orders via video from Officer Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), a mysterious but sympathetic military operative. He's able to piece together his current state, thanks to the overbearing exposition provided by Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright), who's in charge of this military experiment.
Essentially, Rutledge's scientific endeavors enable Colter to go back in time and cross over into another man's identity, reliving his final minutes. Colter bounces in and out of both scenarios in an effort to find the bomber and ward off additional attacks. It's explained by some far-fetched pseudo-science about salvaged sensory experiences and human consciousness. Like we said, don't ponder it too much.
Source Code
* * * out of four
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Director: Duncan Jones
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 for some violence, including disturbing images, and for language
Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide
Director Duncan Jones' last film, Moon, which starred Sam Rockwell, was more cerebral, claustrophobic and unnerving. Source Code has a broader action sensibility and a more mainstream hero.
Gyllenhaal conveys a palpable sense of disorientation in the beginning but segues somewhat too soon from confusion into action-hero mode, slightly undermining his character's credibility. In the race against time, he spends several precious minutes indulging in flirtatious repartee with Christina and lightly jokes around as he shuttles between worlds. He's not given to introspection, which is probably a good thing, given the admonition against thinking while in Source Code state.
Monaghan is sweetly cheery, and Farmiga brings depth and compassion to a straightforward role. The film's weakest point is its banal conclusion, though it does raise the intriguing question of how one might choose to spend the last minutes of life.
Jolene Blalock Estella Warren Joanna Krupa Christina Milian Kelly Hu
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