Movie Review: “Source Code”

Source Code comes within touching distance of being great. Frustratingly, it doesn’t reach that mark – just because of a few flaws.

But I am getting ahead of myself. What you need to know is that Duncan Jones’ follow-up to the awesome Moon is good, a smart & entertaining film that can be successfully billed under the Thriller genre as well as the Science-Fiction one.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Colter Stevens, an Army helicopter pilot who’s in a train but has no memory of how he got there. He’s chatted up by Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), who behaves as if she knows him. A little later, he finds out why: he’s inside the body of a schoolteacher named Sean Fentress. Just as he’s coming to terms with his bizarre situation, the train blows up and he wakes up inside a pod. As Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) informs him, he’s part of a program called “Source Code”, in which he gets to inhabit the body of another human being for the last 8 minutes of that person’s life. His job is to find out who blew up the train. Why he has to do that, what happened to him, what is “Source Code” exactly… all these questions are answered in the film’s 93min runtime.

93min may not seem like much, but it actually feels like the film carries on for 10min too long. Let me explain: Source Code has a beautiful ending. It’s a touching moment that almost perfectly wraps up the film’s plot, themes and the characters’ arcs. It’s a moving final image, aided by a haunting line from Vera Farmiga. But the problem is… the film doesn’t stop there. It carries on for a little longer, and whatever happens afterwards brings the film a couple of notches down for me. It’s a conventional “happy ending”, but the film would’ve been better off had it followed the adage “Quit while you’re ahead.” I don’t know who to blame for this: the studio executives, Duncan Jones or Ben Ripley (the writer).

However, I will certainly blame Ben Ripley for some problems with the script. Any plot wherein the protagonist keeps on reliving a certain scenario until he gets what he wants has a fundamental problem: Lack of urgency. It’s not a fatal roadblock if Colter fails once, twice or twenty times because he can go back and do it all again. This issue is addressed by the threat of a bigger bomb going off at some later time in the day, but the film is so vague about the details (there’s no clear indication of time) that there’s little cause for tension, no matter how bombastic the score or how harried Vera Farmiga looks.

But none of what I pointed out is a deal-breaker, and a big reason behind that is the acting. Jake Gyllenhaal helped develop the character of Colter Stevens, and it shows. A fully fleshed-out, relatable & likable lead can help a film overcome many hurdles, and Source Code certainly benefits from that. Even though the mystery behind Colter’s fate can be seen from space (and his “father issues” arc certainly isn’t novel), Gyllenhaal sells it all. Michelle Monaghan has a particularly hard job here. She has to subtly convey different emotions in each iteration (depending on Colter’s behavior), but she also has to come back to square one umpteen times – and look convincing doing so. Monaghan does all this and more effectively, even though she makes it look effortless. There’s no “weak link” in the cast, but that’s not so shocking when you consider that the ensemble is populated by people like Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright.

Duncan Jones’ work is first-rate, proving that Moon was no fluke. He brings us into the premise easily, makes a believable environment just out of the train coach and handles everything – from small character moments to the action – with a sure footing. The other technical aspects are top-notch too, with Don Burgess’ cinematography worthy of a special mention. The film is shot beautifully, from the idyllic surroundings of the train to the dour pod which Colter retires to after each iteration. I would love to know how Clint Mansell would have scored this film, because Chris P. Bacon’s score is solid, but generic. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I liked the booming music that played as the film ended.

I liked Source Code quite a lot. I’ll certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a good time. But I wish it had made a few alterations, in which case I would’ve also recommended it to people looking for a great time.

(3/4)

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Photo Credit: Summit Entertainment