Film review
Directed by Duncan Jones
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Release date 1 April 2011 (UK/US)

Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) is forced to relive the same eight minutes again and again until he can find out who planted a bomb on a Chicago commuter train. In between jumps Goodwin (Farmiga), a woman on a monitor screen, gradually reveals what’s going on…

After the super-smart sci-fi shenanigans of Moon, Duncan Jones is back with another genre movie that’s all about identity. This time, however, the filmmaker has a much bigger budget at his disposal, and you can’t help but feel he’s dumbed things down for a wider audience (or possibly it’s the result of studio meddling). For despite the high-concept plot, Source Code is a disappointingly straightforward affair.

What we have here is essentially a SF spin on Groundhog Day, with Gyllenhaal’s air force captain trapped in a time loop until he can crack the central mystery. Which would be fine if this wasn’t such a well-worn formula from so many genre TV shows. Supernatural, Painkiller Jane and Medium are just a few of the shows that have built episodes around the concept with varying degrees of success. Hell, the Taye Diggs drama Day Break even based an entire series on the idea (even if no one watched it).

Source Code also draws heavily on two other TV shows: the race against time to thwart a terrorist attack recalls 24 (only with less time to layer twist upon twist), while the idea of leaping into another man’s body to put right what once went wrong obviously harks back to Quantum Leap (watch out for an amusing reference to the latter show).

And that’s the problem really: Source Code’s narrative feels like your standard genre TV episode stretched out to feature length. It’s perfectly enjoyable but surprises are sorely lacking. The plot is too often slowed down by clumsy (if sometimes necessary) info-dumps, while the protracted ending erases any hint of ambiguity. A show like The Outer Limits would have covered this in a tight 50 minutes; Tales of the Unexpected might have managed it in half an hour.

The story isn’t helped by the singular lack of jeopardy (it seems Colter can relive the same eight minutes until he can solve the mystery, so his success is never in much doubt) or the lack of decent baddies – unless you count Jeffrey Wright’s uncharacteristically hammy performance as Goodwin's morally comprised boss, which feels as if it belongs in another film entirely.

Thankfully Source Code doesn’t look like a TV episode. The CGI train explosions might pale in comparison to the dazzling model work of Moon, but the film otherwise confirms Jones’s flair for visuals. The scenes on board the train are defined by strong, vibrant colours, nicely contrasting with the creepy grey hues of the capsule Colter finds himself languishing inside in between jumps, and there’s none of the over-stylised, hyperkinetic editing of too many mainstream genre flicks.

The film’s other strength is its charismatic stars. Gyllenhaal's Colter is a nice mix of action-hero and sensitive romantic lead, and he has a believable chemistry with Monaghan's likeable fellow passenger Christina; together they make the story more engaging than perhaps it really warrants.

What we’re left with is a slick, energetic and entertaining SF-thriller that’s heavy on product placement and light on surprises. It’s never boring, but, to almost quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, this is no Moon. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 6/10
Good-looking and entertaining time loop thriller, but you can help but feel disappointed after Jones’s scorching debut.