Movie Review: Action fantasy 'Source Code' worth the watch

“Source Code”
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Arden, Cas Anvar, Russell Peters, Frédérick De Grandpré
Rated: PG-13

Every great movie has at least one line of dialogue that everyone remembers - a quote that distills the essence of the tale succinctly.

The line could be as simple as, “I'll be back,” from “The Terminator” or as eloquent as Bogart's farewell speech to Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca.”

You'll never forget, “I'll make him an offer he can't refuse,” or “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” from “The Godfather.” How about: “Go ahead, make my day,” from “Sudden Impact.” A personal favorite of mine is from “Cool Hand Luke.” “What we've got here is a failure to communicate.”

There's a line in “Source Code,” the Duncan Jones-directed fantasy thriller, that was so good, I called my answering machine right after the movie and quoted it for the fear that I would forget.

The bad guy explains to the good guy the reason he is wreaking havoc by saying, “This world is hell. We can rebuild on the rubble. But first, there has to be rubble.”

“Source Code” is an interesting film. Some critics have described it as a cross between “Groundhog Day” and “The Matrix,” which is an apt description. It's similar to “Groundhog Day” in the fact that the characters keep repeating the same scenes over and over (and over), and it's like “The Matrix” inasmuch as the action, the very world the characters are living in, exists solely in the mind of the main character.  

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Capt. Colter Stevens, a helicopter pilot who is back in the states after flying combat missions in Afghanistan.

He wakes up on a commuter train whizzing along on a track in Chicago. Opposite him is a pretty girl, Christina (Michelle Monaghan), who calls him “Sean.” She wonders what is wrong with him. She's “Sean's” girlfriend and is concerned that her lover is acting so strange and claiming to be Capt. Colter Stevens. Sean/Colter goes into the restroom to freshen up and clear his head. While we have seen him - thus far - as actor Jake Gyllenhaal, when he looks in the mirror, he sees a completely different face. It's that of actor Frédérick De Grandpré, who makes brief appearances as Sean, the man Christina believes is her boyfriend and traveling companion.

We then witness the first in a series of segments that are repeats - with variances - of an eight-minute time frame that all end with the train being blown up by a terrorist bomb.
 
Spoiler alert
If you don't like “spoilers” in reviews, I'd suggest you stop reading this now and take my word that “Source Code” is a great action and fantasy film. In order to explain it in greater detail, I have to give a few things away.

Capt. Coulter is indeed a helicopter pilot who served time in Afghanistan. But he was shot down and is now a mere shell of his former self being kept alive by a secret government agency running an experiment wherein they can take the “source code” of another person and implant it into someone else's brain. That source code, in this case, comes from Sean. He was indeed on the train. He was killed, but his brain was harvested in time and his genetics were a close match to those of Coulter's. So now, there are eight minutes - the final eight - of Sean's life imprinted in Coulter's brain.

Monitoring all of this and guiding Coulter through the bizarre journey is the matter-of- fact doctor, Colleen Goodwin. Vera Farmiga (from “Up In the Air”) gives a great performance. She is hauntingly beautiful, nearly ghostly. She is cold and clinical but gradually shows a tender side.

We eventually find out what's going on. The agency is causing Sean's source code re-live - via Coulter's brain - those last eight minutes and having him search the train for the bomb and the bomber. They know they can't prevent the train from exploding because it already happened. As one character explains, “This isn't time travel; it's time rearrangement.” The goal is to find the bomb - which was triggered by a cell phone - and try to determine who engineered the whole thing. Intelligence suggests this same terrorist is planning to set off a nuclear bomb and the powers that be want to find him before that happens.

Like all fantasies, one must suspend disbelief when watching “Source Code.” It gets confusing at times and befuddling at others, and the whole re-living the eight minutes really doesn't make sense because different things always happen. But director Duncan Jones and writer Ben Ripley manage to keep things accessible and engaging.

It's one of those films you don't want to spend too much time trying to make sense of. Just enjoy the ride.
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