Source Code

It's hard to know what to write about a movie like Source Code, a 2011 film directed by Duncan Jones (who made the much more interesting Moon). It hits the target, but it doesn't aim very high, settling for reliable but mild suspense in a thriller touched with sci-fi elements.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a guy who wakes up on a train not knowing how he got there. A woman across the seat from him (Michelle Monaghan) refers to him by an unknown name. After a few minutes of complete disorientation (eight minutes, to be precise) there is an explosion, and he finds himself in some sort of capsule. He learns that he's on a mission--he's been inserted into the memory of a man who died on the train, with the purpose of finding out who the bomber is.

The film then has him relive those eight minutes, over and over, until he accomplishes what he has been set out to do. His contact through computer is Vera Farmiga, who has one of those "sitting at a console" performances, though she's a good enough actress to be somewhat compelling. As the film goes along we find out more about Gyllenhaal's situation as he pieces together who the bomber is.

Source Code isn't a great film by any means, but it hangs together fairly well. The performances by the principles (including Jeffrey Wright as the scientist behind the whole thing) are solid. The film's ending does counter everything about the explained science, but this is to satisfy the Hollywood insistence on a romantic ending.