Source Code ****

With the acclaimed Moon, his debut film under his belt, Duncan Jones is fast proving to be a master of sci-fi mystery, a scholar of MacGuffin in his film plots. Source Code is no exception. It toys with its lead character, US Army pilot Colter Stevens, played by Jake Gyllenhaal – no stranger to military fatigues after Jarhead – to the point of insanity. It goads both characters and viewers as to what is reality, right to the very end in a succinct and compelling storyline that feels too unreal not to be real.

Confused? You might be. And you would certainly not be alone. The story follows Stevens who wakes up on a train opposite a woman who claims to know him (Christina, a teacher, played by Michelle Monaghan), but he finds himself in another man’s body – much like an episode of Quantum Leap. Before he has had time to get to grips with his situation, the train he is on blows up on its way into downtown Chicago. Stevens is then rudely awakened to find himself in what looks like the ruins of a spacecraft capsule, in his pilot gear, and being spoken to in confusing but urgent riddles by a female military officer, Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), while being coerced into completing a mission; find the bomber of the train – but he has eight minutes to comply. Each time he fails, he is propelled back into his capsule state, but each time he goes back to the train, he picks up more pieces of the puzzle, and so on. The other story concepts and the end reveal are a treat to mull over. Can Stevens save the day?

As in Moon, there are questions upon unanswered questions, which is the purpose of the Hitchcockian-styled plot. This constant state of limbo is scintillating cerebral frustration for the viewer, as it is for the players. This is Jones’s triumph. In fact the ending is even more powerful but equally challenging, setting off a whole new dimension of the truth. Added to the mystery is a healthy but suitable amount of action that drives Stevens’s determination to fruition.

Gyllenhaal adds intelligence to the action hero role that is infectious, and Monaghan delivers the graceful style of his ‘love interest’ (in the loosest terms, with regards to this). More intriguing is the relationship Stevens has with Goodwin, a beautiful but controlling being that is android-like and initially detached, but like some sci-fi classics, like Bishop and Annalee in the Alien films, begins to learn and feel humility. In this case Goodwin is actually human, but there would be a fair case for thinking otherwise, as who knows what the US military get up to behind closed doors?

What’s it all about is for you to decide and not to reveal here, but Source Code implants the ideas for you to make your own judgments in a well-directed action thriller with a sci-fi twist. Coupled with an engaging cast, Jones offers you another voyage of discovery; so if you like puzzles, check this film out.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer