Susan Granger’s review of “Source Code” (Summit Entertainment)
Life is pretty confusing for Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal). The last time he was conscious, he was a decorated combat helicopter pilot in Afghanistan – and then he wakes up inhabiting the body of an unknown man named Sean Fentress. Apparently, Capt. Colter has become an integral part of a government mission called ‘Source Code,’ and his objective is to find out who bombed a Chicago commuter train. For that reason, he’s been transplanted back to re-live the final eight minutes of Sean Fentress’ life – over and over again – gathering clues with each subsequent recurrence, so that he can identify the culprit and prevent the next terrorist attack in a metropolitan area. In this so-called “time reassignment” experiment, somewhat sinister Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) seems to be in charge, but Colter’s contact person is Capt. Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), who speaks to him on a video screen while he’s encased in a metallic capsule.
With each repetition, the race-against-time plot becomes more intricate and convoluted. The first time he’s aboard the commuter train as Fentress, he’s seated across from an attractive woman, Christina (Michelle Monaghan), who seems to be his traveling companion, but he hasn’t a clue who she is. With each subsequent encounter, Colter comes up with new observations – about another man’s reflection in the mirror, a spilled cup of coffee and missing wallet – and he learns a bit more both about his fellow passenger and his skeptical, yet empathetic ‘controller.’ But it does get tedious after awhile, even as increasingly paranoid Colter is faced with his own ethical dilemma, fighting against fate.
Written by Ben Ripley (“Species III”), the implausibly contrived situation bears not only a resemblance to “Groundhog Day” but also to “Minority Report.” After well-deserved acclaim for his inventive first feature film, “Moon” (2009), British director Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s real-life son) is obviously comfortable with far-fetched cerebral speculation, set within claustrophobic confines.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Source Code” is a surreal, suspenseful 7, geared to appeal to sci-fi fans.
