Source Code (2011)

Source Code is an entertaining science-fiction thriller that remembers to get its appeal from the fiction side. The science aspect is preposterous, but it serves as a gateway into a tense and thought-provoking story. Source Code not only raises the pulse, but raises issues similar to those raised by Inception and The Adjustment Bureau. It’s the sort of sharp little mind bender that once bore the Rod Serling stamp.

The movie begins with a man (Jake Gyllenhaal) awakening from a nap on a commuter train to Chicago. This is unsettling to him, since he believed he was serving a tour in Afghanistan. He is sure his name is Captain Colter Stevens. So why does the cute woman across from him (Michelle Monaghan) keep calling him Sean? As he tries to get to the bottom of this, the train is the victim of a bombing, and the man dies.

And comes to in a small, military-looking compartment. On a screen before him is a woman in uniform called Godwin (Vera Farmiga), who does in fact address him as Capt. Stevens. It turns out that the train is an invented reality, cobbled together from the memories of actual train passengers, who actually died in an actual bombing. Stevens has been chosen to enter into this reality in the place of a passenger and locate the bomber, who has threatened to strike again. If Stevens can find the bomber, this future attack can be averted. The invented reality, called the Source Code, comprises the last eight minutes of the train’s run. Eight minutes is apparently all you get—but once you’re sucking memories out of dead people’s brains and inserting soldiers into them, I suppose one number is as good as another.

What follows is something like an action-film version of Groundhog Day, with Stevens reliving the same eight minutes over and over until he can ferret out the bomber. Along the way he also tries to figure out how exactly he got into that compartment—and begins to develop feelings for the people on the train. If he finds the bomber, he can save them, can’t he? No, Goodwin explains – the Source Code is just a recreation; it’s in the past. But if Stevens can himself change that recreation (prevent the train bombing), how past is it, really?

Source Code’s director is Duncan Jones, whose first film, Moon, also featured a man trying to work out the kinks of an implausible reality. Both Jones and writer Ben Ripley are smart enough to tread lightly over the scientific background of the Source Code and focus on its emotional impact. The movie operates in the fine old sci-fi tradition of “What if?” What if you could try again and again to get things right? What if possibilities exist in something more than the abstract, and what if your choices mean a lot more than you think at the time? And isn’t it worth doing something a little illogical if you can make a real difference, even to yourself? The questions matter here more than the science that props them up. Source Code, like many a mind-bending film, is more emotionally than logically satisfying. I found it more meaningful afterwards to talk about what the movie explored than to talk about its plot.

This is Gyllenhaal’s movie to carry, and he does so ably. The actor’s natural likability serves him well as he takes Stevens through the steps from befuddled everyman to fate-fighter on a mission, and he is believable as both victim of circumstance and hero. Monaghan likewise contributes an effortless appeal. Her character may not be given much depth, but we see why Stevens would want to save her. Farmiga creates a more human version of the Military Suit than is often seen in these situations. The always dependable Jeffrey Wright also is on hand as the resident scientist, who explains the quantum mumbo-jumbo around the Source Code with enough conviction to help suspend disbelief (at least for a while).

There isn’t much filler to Source Code. It gets into the story, tells it, and takes it to its end with little fluff or fanfare. The repeated situations are not allowed to become too tiresome (sometimes we just see Stevens reporting on an attempt), and what drama there is arises from what we already know. The film probably wants to be more profound than it actually is, but in some ways that just ups the emotional ante. Source Code is a competently-made thriller with a little bit of thought behind it. Given some of the lackluster fare common in the action market these days, there are many more frustrating ways to spend a little time. Just ask Colter Stevens…