What would it be like if Alfred Hitchcock directed an episode of “Quantum Leap” with a script based on “Groundhog Day”? Well, it wouldn’t turn out exactly like “Source Code,” but it’d be pretty close.
Duncan Jones (or Zowie Bowie if you prefer) wowed audiences lucky enough to catch his debut sci-fi thriller “Moon” (2009) during its short theatrical run. His technical wizardry and philosophical maturity helped him quickly escape the shadow of his superstar father. And now with Summit Entertainment’s “Source Code” Jones steps into the big time with a big budget, a big star and big studio pressure.
So how did he do? Don’t let the above description fool you. “Source Code” is a success.
After Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a helicopter pilot serving in Afghanistan, flies into enemy gunfire he awakens on a Chicago-bound train with no memory of how he got there. He feverishly tries to figure out why he’s there and, after seeing a strange face in the mirror, who he is. But just as he starts to put the pieces together the train explodes, killing everyone on board. This time, he wakes up in a small, dark capsule, receiving mission instructions from a woman (Vera Farmiga) in a military uniform via video monitor.
Stevens slowly learns that he is the centerpiece in an experimental counter-terrorism program called Source Code, which allows his consciousness to be inserted into the last eight minutes of another person’s memory preserved in a computer program after they die. His task is to search this dead person’s lingering consciousness to find the identity of the terrorist who bombed the train before a bigger attack hits Chicago in real life.
If any of that sounds gimmicky, that’s because it is. Even though I count “Moon” as one of the best films of 2009, I had low expectations for Jones’s second effort. Something about the big budget polish, ultra high concept and pseudo-science air of the promotional materials turned me off. But “Source Code,” as much as it’s tangled up in that world, is ultimately a human story wrapped up in a sophisticated philosophical dilemma.
Beneath the quantum mechanics and theoretical physics gobbledygook is an age old ethical problem, which pits the rights and autonomy of the individual against the welfare and safety of the population at large. You see, Stevens (spoiler alert!) is actually dead. He was killed in action in Afghanistan. His consciousness, however, is being kept alive by machines so that he can execute the Source Code program and ostensibly save the lives of countless Chicagoans. The problem is that he basically has no choice in the matter. Disembodied consciousnesses tend to have limited options in the physical world. And, since his body is already dead, he doesn’t even have the option of suicide.
Jones, who holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, handles this dilemma with incredible awareness and skill throughout most of the film. The motives of all the players are clear and valid.
The film’s biggest problems stem from the myriad plot holes and logical inconsistencies of its concept. If Stevens is inserted into another person’s memories, how is he able to change things? or is he entering an alternate reality each time he enters the Source Code? But if that’s the case then how is he able to send an email to Vera Farmiga’s character in the current reality from a different reality? And what about the ending? Why is Stevens suddenly able to remain in the Source Code (or alternate reality) when he was unable to before? And is he seriously just going to take over the other guy’s life and live as Sean Fentress forever? That seems a little strange. Fraudulent even.
But the logic challenges of its concept seem irrelevant when “Source Code” really gets cooking. Jones makes sure its human core carries it across the finish line.
