Movie Review: SOURCE CODE Starring Jake Gyllenhaal

My turn to pick the movie again this Saturday night and the lady friend agreed with me that Soure Code sounded like a good option, not quite the response I thought I would get but as I had no other DVD worth watching and there was no better options on TV, we thought we'd give this a go.

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright

The Plot

Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a USAF helicopter pilot who's last memory is flying in Afghanistan.  Stevens wakes up on a commuter train heading for Chicago opposite Christina (Michelle Monaghan) a woman he has never met, she however knows him very well.  8 Minutes into the train journey it blows up and Stevens awakens again, only this time to find himself in a pod where he has access to a TV monitor enabling him to talk to Collen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) who drip feeds information to Stevens as to what he is supposed to be doing.  We come to learn that Stevens is part of a new government programme called "Source Code" which allows them to send you (theres a catch) into someones consciousness for the last 8 minutes of their lives.  His mission is to run the 8 minute scenario over and over until he figures who the bomber is and where he has placed the bomb. 

The Verdict

I have been waiting a little while to write this one, not because I thought the movie was bad I just didn't think it was as good as some other people had made out.  I'm trying to think of a movie where they have a similar scenario space wise.  Phonebooth for instance, where he can't leave the booth but then Colter Stevens is free to move around on the train and get off the train if he so wishes whilst he is in the Source Code.  I then thought of Innerspace starring Dennis Quaid it's similar I suppose he's inside of someone and able to talk to them (control their mind), in Innerspace Quaid is also free to move around all be it inside the body of someone else but he's only small and that movie is no where near as cool as this one.

Don't be put off by the comparisons, I mean they aren't bad ones.  Phonebooth is a great movies considering where it was set and I haven't seen Innerspace since well, I can't remember but I do remember it was quite a good movie.  Source Code is a lot more stylish than both of those movies and that is only helped by a 5 star performance for Gyllenhaal and a quality backing cast both on the train and back in the Army command centre.

This is director Duncan Jones first action movie and unlike many others there is nothing loud or brash about it.  It's a very good story with an equally clever plot that gives nothing away.  Ok so I know that the thought of people being put into another persons body for the last eight minutes of their life may well be a little hard to believe but in this movie you do have to take that and put it into the back of your mind whilst you marvel in everything else this movie has to offer, which is a great story, great acting and a great outcome that I won't give away now.  My advice to you if you like a clever well put together action, mystery thriller would be to watch this movie.

Would I watch it again?

I would watch this movie again, no doubt about it.  Maybe not on DVD but if it's on TV ad there is not much else happening, then it will assure you a couple of hours good entertainment.

Rating: MMM

No soundtrack information to give you on this movie as it doesn't have one, I will mention that if this is the kind of movie that you like then along with Source Code I would get my hands on Vantage Point.  Another good shout would be to see Moon by the same director Duncan Jones, I haven't seen it myself but will get round to it when I can.