Director: Duncan Jones
Screenplay: Ben Ripley
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Country: US
Running Time: 93 minutes
Year: 2011
The world of cinema is a fickle old thing when you consider that Duncan Jones, even after Moon, seems to struggle to find a foothold. It’s frankly criminal that buckets of cash aren’t being thrown at the guy, because whatever project he turns his hand to, the result is accomplished.
Take Source Code, his follow up to Moon, released this month on UHD. A nimble sci-fi action thriller that lives up to each of those genre requirements. And like all his work, it’s human, with a touch of sentimentality that grounds the story. It’s a plot straight out of a pulpy 2000AD Future Shock, but never loses sight of its main characters and imbues them with hope.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Captain Colter Stevens, waking up on a train, confused. Michelle Monaghan is chatting to him, but he’s never seen her before. 8 minutes later, a bomb explodes on the train, instantly killing all on board, including Stevens. Next he wakes up in some sort of isolation tank and Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) explains the Source Code project; the train disaster was in the past. The bomber is threatening another attack. Source Code can repeatedly put Stevens’ psyche into someone on the train for 8 minutes and, while he can’t possibly save the passengers, perhaps he can get enough information to find the bomber.
The opening of the film and the building of tension is immediately reminiscent of a 70s thriller with a Hitchcockian touch. Even the score has a Bernard Herrmann vibe to it. Hitchcock however, said that the secret to suspense was in the bomb not exploding. In Source Code, the bomb explodes, a lot. Every 8 minutes in plot time at least, so it’s impressive that Jones maintains a drive to understand what’s going on while finding inventive ways to look for the bomb, find the bomb, fail to diffuse the bomb, etc, and so on.
The key is that human element. Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent as the twitchy and exasperated Captain, trying to find ways to diffuse the bomb, and find a way to contact his family. Meanwhile, Monaghan’s cheery Christina, ever ignorant of the imminent danger, worms her way into his affections despite Goodwin insisting Christina is already dead. His desire to remember who he really is meanwhile, is cutting through Goodwin’s own cynicism.
Source Code is almost Quantum Leap via North By Northwest and all the better for it. A cool, tense, nihilistic story, backed up by solid science theories, nevertheless with characters we care about, that really just want to go home.
Meanwhile, Jones’ is reportedly at work on an adaptation of 2000AD’s Rogue Trooper and I have my fingers firmly crossed that this is the one that cements his deserved reputation. We need more like Duncan Jones.
VIDEO
While restricted to a couple of locations, the image can be inconsistent, especially back in the Source Code tank. This may be down to the source though and it’s largely excellent. At its best, it has a true film quality and depth and any reservations can only come from efforts in the production to mix up the effect. Colours and texture are bold both interior and exterior. Skin tone is sympathetic and detail strong.
EXTRA FEATURES
The extra features betray a lacklustre release, with the material clearly ported from an earlier release.
There’s interesting insights into the science theories but it’s largely out of context. Some features were probably supposed to be embedded in the film; a visual select scene commentary, perhaps. Here though, you have to navigate them yourself. The audio commentary remains the best value.
- Audio commentary with Duncan Jones, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Ripley
- 5 Crazy things you might have missed
- Cast and crew insights
- Source Code: Focal points
- Expert Intel – The Science Behind Source Code
- Interview with Jake Gyllenhaal
- Interview with Duncan Jones
- Theatrical Trailer
- Trailer 2024
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