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“Groundhog Day” meets “Speed” and “Murder on the Orient Express” in “Source Code,” a heady sci-tech thriller about a military pilot (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s forced, via an experimental, physics-defying government program, to continually enter the body of a deceased train passenger until he can find out who bombed the Chicago-bound locomotive. That description alone should illuminate the suspension of disbelief required by the film, the first from screenwriter Ben Ripley and the second from “Moon” writer/director Duncan Jones. It’s easy (and fun) to step aboard and take the leap, but the more one mulls over the movie’s increasingly twisty ideas, the less capable it seems of supporting them.
Thus, “Source Code” doesn’t exactly dazzle in retrospect, but its in-the-moment (and in-the-moment again) excitement is rarely less than considerable. One would think Jones’ move from the personal to the commercial would result in a career blemish, but, quite the contrary, his range-expanding efforts here exhibit a canny ability to punch up the work of another. Ripley’s lapses in logic and occasionally embryonic ambitions are often hidden by Jones’ keen sense of pacing, his adeptness at blending humor with suspense, his continued emphasis of potent themes like Big Brother oppression, and his splendid affinity for clunky, vintage sci-fi (certain sets are straight out of an early Ridley Scott flick).
He’s got a peach of a cast to play out his vision, with Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright and Michelle Monaghan filling the supporting roles. Farmiga and Monaghan both make the most of what little they have to work with, and, as a shifty mastermind, Wright has never offered a more delicious utilization of his madly articulate, better-than-Alan-Rickman voice. But the contribution that lingers most is that of Gyllenhaal, who alternately stocks the film with energy, charm and pathos. If anyone needed proof that this guy’s a true movie star, they’ve got it.
Indeed, “Source Code” is better than most of what’s out at the multiplex. It’s just better still if you leave the deep cerebral diving to the action hero.
Source Code
PG-13
Three reels out of four
Opens tomorrow in area theaters
Recommended Rental
I Love You Philip Morris
R
Available Tuesday
Lead star Jim Carrey does some of his most memorable work in this outrageous true story of gay convicted conman Steven Russell, but even better is Ewan McGregor as Russell’s starry-eyed, titular cell-block lover. Together, the actors run with the movie’s unabashed humor, and lighten the growing load of its “Catch Me If You Can” redundancy. SPR
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