Film Review: Source Code

First of all, apologies if some of the things I am saying in this review are a bit cryptic, but I want to stay true to my ambition to give away as little of the plot of a film as possible - and especially with this film I wish I could have watched it without having seen the preview before.

After the brilliant "Moon", Source Code is Duncan Jones' (David Bowie's son if you must know) second feature film, and boy is he pushing the boat out with this one! Source Code is, just as Moon, a Science Fiction film. And, just as Moon, the Science Fiction aspect of the film is pretty much irrelevant. Jones is extremely ambitious in his film making, because he combines an intelligent plot with the exploration of big ethical issues and deeply emotional character development. And he succeeds in all three. The one mistake you must not make is to question the Science in the Science Fiction too much. One of Jones' underlying premises in Moon is actually scientifically plausible: there is a wide-spread view that Helium-3 is present in significant amounts on the Moon and there is a wide-spread view that it could potentially be used to enable nuclear (cold) fusion. You may not have watched Moon yet (what are you waiting for - get the DVD or Blu-Ray!), so I will not elaborate on why the second underlying scientific theme is much less plausible, at least with our current understanding of the human condition. In Source Code, the underlying scientific principles are a bit wobbly and the biggest mistake is to think too hard about the science and ignore the more important aspects of the film over it. I think the best way to make this film work scientifically is to imagine that the scientist in the film have actually just begun to understand a phenomenon and are misinterpreting it quite badly. Just imagine Marie Curie as she experimented with radiation - if she had actually understood what she was dealing with from the beginning, she certainly wouldn't have died from the consequences of radiation exposure. So, if you're looking to pick holes into the science aspect of the film, don't bother and go back to re-watching Star Trek Voyager for the 10th time. Otherwise enjoy the carefully developed plot progression, the strong performances provided by all lead actors (Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright), the powerful soundtrack by Chris Bacon and, most importantly, explore the emotional and ethical dimensions that the film invites you to consider.

7.5/10 - watch this if you liked Moon, Inception and I, Robot.