Australian Penthouse

Source Code

Director: Duncan Jones
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Paramount Pictures

Arguably, the best forms of science fiction are those that complement science fact. When the term ‘sci-fi’ isn’t synonymous with spaceships, lightsabers and the distant future of humanity, the subject matter tends to add a layer of believability and accessibility that removes the ‘geeks only need apply’ tag from the film poster.

Source Code is director Duncan Jones’ first film after his extraordinary feature filmdebut, Moon (2009). While Moon slotted more into the aforementioned ‘distant future of humanity’ category of sci-fi, Source Code utilises pseudo-science to ground the film in the budget-friendly setting of the contemporary world.

US Army helicopter pilot, Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal),  wakes up on a Chicago train, disoriented. Christina Warren (Monaghan), the pretty girl seated across from him, speaks to him as though they’re friends. Confused, Colter stumbles into a public toilet on the commuter train. When he looks into the mirror, he does not recognise the man reflected back.

Before Colter can find an answer, he is vaporised in an explosion. He comes to in a pod-like capsule, equally disoriented. A computer monitor set into the pod wall features a live-cam-feed with Colleen Goodwin’s (Farmiga). The military liaison attempts to orient and calm  Colter by issuing specific phrases to trigger subliminal response. As it turns out, Colter is part of a simulation that allows his consciousness to be transferred to another person. The catch: the consciousness exists for the final eight minutes of the surrogate’s life. The man behind the technology, Dr Rutledge (Wright), explains that Colter is not experiencing time travel but is, instead, travelling to an alternate dimension, or timeline.

As the dimensions are not so alternate that information can’t be gathered and made use of in the ‘real-world’, Colter is tasked to return to the simulation multiple times in order to discover which passenger is responsible for planting the bomb on the train. Naturally, the clock is ticking, and Colter needs to find the bomber to prevent another dirty bomb being set off somewhere in the city of Chicago. Sent back in multiple times, each time Colter gets a little closer to determining who the mystery bomber is.  To raise the stakes—or perhaps to appeal to the female demographic—Colter begins falling for Christina, despite the fact that Monaghan delivers a bland and mostly forgettable performance.

Gyllenhaal does a solid job of injecting necessary humanity into the highly stressed Colter Stevens, Wright is skin-crawlingly sinister as Dr Rutledge, and the always-interesting Farmiga delivers a believable and empathetic performance as Goodwin. The intrigue and action are solid and the pacing keeps interest high, but the star of the movie is the pseudo-science that drives the plot; if you think too hard  or try to understand the specifics of it, you’ll go cross-eyed. Accepting the tiny revelations that help shape the narrative allows for plenty of theorising about the possibilities behind a gobsmacking and satisfying ending.

Unfortunately, Source Code falls into a Return of the Kings trap where it presents too many endings—when the “satisfying ending” occurs the film persist for another 10 minutes to deliver somewhat confusing and ultimately unnecessary “wrap it up with sunshine” nonsense. Despite this hiccup, Source Code presents a fresh idea in an original concept, and will keep fans of Duncan Jones interested to see what the man will come up with next.

SOURCE CODE screens nationally from May 5.

Review: Nathan Lawrence

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