'Source Code' directed by Duncan Jones

This is a challenging film with plenty to offer. It opens with a bomb exploding on a train bound for Chicago. Jake Gyllenhaal then wakes with no memory of who he is, opposite Michelle Monaghan, who seems to believe he is a man she has just started dating.

Needless to say, Gyllenhaal's character, Colter Stevens, soon finds out that his actions are being directed by 'the man' who in this story is p
ersonified by an army unit that is using a machine called 'Source Code' to send him back in time to relive the eight minutes before the bomb explodes. He is made to repeat this experience until he finds the bomber.

Gyllenhaal is excellent here, reprising the fine take on confusion that he gave in Donnie Darko. Even though this role demands a lot of running and shouting like most male leads in action films, he pulls it off with more than a touch of humour. Duncan Jones is a skilled enough director to make his character learn from his mistakes each time he is forced to relive the same eight minutes.

The script also offers Michelle Monaghan plenty to get her teeth into. She plays a charming woman who has clearly lost direction in her life. It is intriguing to note how she reacts to Colter Stevens each time he arrives at the same point in her fateful train journey and Monaghan does well to portray very different emotions in relation to the way he behaves.

These changes are determined by the Source Code, as Colter Stevens becomes increasingly desperate to escape the endless cycle of those same eight minutes and only when Goowin and Rutledge, his handlers at the Source Code, are satisfied that he has found the bomber will he be allowed his freedom.

And this freedom is one that is both poignant and uplifting, as Gyllenhaal and Monaghan's characters find love together, despite the tragic circumstances that surround Colter Stevens' final use of the Source Code.

Duncan Jones handles this ending with care. He clearly has an intimate understanding of the importance of human attachment. His film is well-shot and convincing as well as intellectually stimulating.

Very interesting stuff. An uplifting and satisfying watch.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the picture used in this review and will remove it at the request of the rights holder.

'Star Trek Into Darkness' directed by J.J. Abrams

With the audacity of an outsider brought in to revive a once great project, J.J. Abrams has swept in to stamp his brand of relentless energy on the Star Trek franchise.

Its second instalment, Into Darkness, shows just how unafraid he and his team are of defying the laws of movie physics, zipping along with a purpose more akin to great action films such as Die Hard than the pedestrian pace of other big screen Trek outings.

The film opens with Spock (the excellent Zachary Quinto) facing incineration at the centre of an exploding volcano, from which he narrowly escapes with the help of Captain Kirk (Chris Pine, far outstripping his performance in the first film) electing to disobey orders to save his friend. Whilst this sequence does feel a bit like a deleted scene from Galaxy Quest, it is characteristic of the tremendous pace that the film sets that, by the end, it seems relatively sedate by comparison.

No further time is wasted in introducing the antagonist of the piece, John Harrison, a super villain with strength and intelligence to match his sense of purpose, played with the same intensity that Benedict Cumberbatch has brought to Sherlock on the small screen. When his character is not speaking, which seems to be most of his screen time, Cumberbatch wears the expression of a man delicately poised on the verge of rage.

This anger drives him to attack the very foundations of Starfleet, as Earth once again becomes the target of a psychopath, something which is becoming a theme of Abrams' take on Trek. The scenes on Earth are well made with the help of some excellent CGI. They look far more convincing than previous efforts, which had to rely on lower tech methods to show us glimpses of life in the 23rd Century.

By contrast, the space battles seem a bit overblown and feel more like a very advanced computer game than cinema. Nonetheless, the sequences on the bridges of both of the ships involved (Enterprise and Vengeance) are a particular highlight. Fine performances from John Cho (Sulu), Simon Pegg (Scotty) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov) add colour to these sequences, a particular highlight being Sulu's repartee with Dr McCoy (Karl Urban) about his poker skills. Karl Urban is once again excellent as Bones, providing an altogether more serious presence than in the first film.

Although Uhura (the excellent Zoe Saldana) is perhaps a little underused in Into Darkness, she continues to be a challenging and intriguing presence, saving the lives of the rest of the crew on several occasions. A confrontation with a particularly nasty Klingon is an interesting scene, which alludes to the theme of cultural misunderstanding that is present in much of the best Trek.

By contrast, Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) is more prominent as Kirk's latest love interest, an English physicist whose true agenda is kept entirely secret from the rest of the crew, including Kirk. Alice Eve does an excellent job as a well intentioned but misguided scientist whose loyalties shift rapidly throughout the story.

On the whole, Into Darkness is an effective and interesting addition to the Star Trek franchise. It is fast paced, well produced and exceptionally well acted. Whisper it quietly, but it is, in the opinion of this minor Trekkie, probably the best edition of the twelve produced so far.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the image used in this review and will remove it at the request of the rights holder.

'Fight Club' directed by David Fincher

This film is a bit different. It is contrary, self-satisfied and a bit smug. Nonetheless, Fight Club has much to be smug about, featuring stellar performances from Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter and a plot that borders on indie self-parody yet successfully avoids that pitfall.

All of this takes place in the rarefied atmosphere of an unnamed American city that is beset by urban decay. Amongst the ruins, Edward Norton's narrator attempts to figure out what he is doing with his life, stuck as he is in a dead end job that funds the purchase of various possessions that bring him no satisfaction. To add to these woes, he is a chronic insomniac whose only relief is in support groups for conditions he does not suffer from.

This all changes when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who is a feckless, iconoclastic soap salesman living by his own rules. With the help of Durden's take on life, the narrator slowly realises that his job cannot give him the excitement he craves and it is in this spirit that the two of them form the first Fight Club. This Fight Club gives the narrator a sense of purpose, a purpose which is revealed later in the film to be very dangerous indeed.

Added to these elements is an explosive performance by Helena Bonham Carter as Marla, a damaged lover of Durden's whose death wish almost matches her morose cynicism. Her role is never entirely clear, except as a counterpoint to Norton and Pitt's characters. The narrator is obsessed by her as she always seems to stand between him and what he wants - sleep before he meets Durden and her after he does.

Whilst this bizarre combination of circumstances plays out on screen, it should be noted how distinctive the film still appears nearly 15 years after its release. Its grimy, greasy colour scheme has often been copied since but rarely bettered. The corruption it portrays in both the conventional narrator's lifestyle and Durden's anarchistic approach are memorably captured. It is, despite its cult status, just as critical of counter-culture as it is of the mainstream that Durden, the voice of the film, claims to detest.

All of these elements, along with a very accurate and somewhat chilling take on the dynamics of male group behaviour make for an interesting film, even if it is a little too pleased with itself and perhaps slightly undeserving of the esteem in which it is held. Nonetheless, it is an entertaining watch with a script that has kept it feeling fresh several years after its initial release.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the photograph used in this article and will remove it at the request of the rights holder.