'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.