Source Code (2011)

Talk about a rampant case of the Déjà-vus. In Duncan Jones anticipated follow-up to his critically lauded Moon he has been awarded a $35 million production budget and a script that been traversing the studios for what seems like a good few years, with the mostly successful film Source Code he has reinforced his status as an interesting talent to watch with a potential classic in his future. After that terribly derivative trailer I was expecting a tiresome slice of Hollywood whimsy in the mould of Vantage Point or Phone Booth, a tightly constructed yet homogenous thriller with a gossamer thread of narrative experimentation, it’s nice to be somewhat corrected as the film is far more pleasing and intriguing than I anticipated but these claims out of it being the film of the year are misplaced, all those five-star reviews that are  floating around are quite frankly ludicrous. Source Code is a modest carriage of SF whimsy with a few queries buried in its antiquated core, for throwaway weekend night viewing the film successfully reaches its perplexing destination.

 Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) awakes in schizophrenic confusion on a Chicago bound commuter train, on the plus side his travelling companion is the enchanting Christina Waren (Michelle Monaghan), on the negative side he has exactly eight minutes to woo her before a concealed bomb is detonated that kills everyone on board, an opening salvo in a terrorist scheme to bring the faltering American empire to its quivering knees. After his initial sortie fails the blast signals a second awakening, this time Colter awakes to find himself rigged into some mechanical apparatus where it transpires that he is a member of the Source Code project, a military experiment to insert him the body of another human through some mystical quantum physics nonsense, in this case being forced to revisit the same segment of time for those precious eight minutes in order to divulge the identity of the culprits, disarm the weapon and ensure that their nefarious schemes are thwarted. To assist him on this frantic quest his mission control is manned by the sympathetic Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), a senior military attaché and civilian boffin Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) whom is the intellectual driving force behind the projects futuristic technology, on a chronological countdown Colter must prevail before the real-time plot reaches its radioactive termination.

The premise initially throws up some intriguing questions – how is this technology possible? Where is Colter’s ‘real-time’ body? If the scenario can be repeatedly revisited then where is the threat? – all of which are answered during the films perilous journey with explanations that verge from the sublime to the ridiculous. Yes it’s an obvious comparison but who am I to argue, Source Code is essentially Groundhog Day crossed with Quantum Leap with a touch of La Jette thrown in for good measure, Gyllenhaal is perfectly serviceable as the resourceful marine trapped in this paranoid repetition, Vera Farmiga is certainly easier on the eye than Dean Stockwell whose Al alike is efficiently deployed but Jeffrey Wright is somewhat wasted in an underwritten role as the suspect scientist who rejects any moral concerns to stall his ambitions for his quantum programme. The romance just about works to give the film its emotional momentum, thankfully these elements don’t obfuscate the central SF ideals which whilst cluttered and confusing at points (including a throughly unnecessary coda that wraps everything up) Source Code does transmit some musings on parallel dimensions, on different strands of existence activated by certain choices and it neatly sidesteps an obvious twist that I was expecting from the trailer,  at least that’s how I remembered it….

The filmmakers evidently have a sense of humor by casting Scott Bakula as Colter’s mourning father in a further nod to the films small screen inspiration and there are a half-dozen or so skillfully rendered SFX shots but I did find the final stretch of the film somewhat flat and uninspired, the films momentum decelerating to a chugging pause when it should have been powering ahead to an exhausting apogee. I hope it’s a hit as its worth a look even as it fails to comprehensively explore its horological premise, it’s certainly got the critical fraternity on board with glowing reviews from the likes of Ebert and Bradshaw. I suspect the back room discussions around the film production were akin to the Wachowskis courting of the studios back in the late Nineties, they had to prove their worth before Fox shelled the $100+ million for the first Matrix movie, the studio insisting that the débutantes prove their skills by directing the low-budget Bound which was something of a critical and financial hit, yeah I realise that Jones had already provided his calling card in the form of Moon but remember that was produced in the UK, an ocean away from the money mens oversight and executive meddling. So maybe in a whisper we’ll see the previously announced Mute finally get off the ground, Jones has already rejected claims that he is in negotiations surrounding those loathsome sounding Blade Runner franchise projects (which I’m sure was pure fan-boy speculation), here’s the first few minutes of the film which may whet your whistle;

April 2, 2011 | Categories: Film | Tags: Cinema, Film, Movies, SF, Source Code | Leave a comment