Synopsis:
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Captain Colter Stevens, a helicopter pilot, who wakes up in the body of an unknown man on a Chicago commuter train and discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber using the Source Code.
There are certainly parallels to draw between Source Code and Duncan Jones’ previous feature Moon. Both films explore issues of identity, or more precisely loss of identity and erosion of human rights when working for ‘the man’. Whether Source Code is a political statement by Jones in the same way that Monsters is a political statement about U.S. foreign policy is debatable though. Source Code is a sci-fi thriller come conspiracy theory with the obligatory romance thread thrown in. It does have a nice tempo but the score is overly dramatic and I don’t know if you’re not supposed to see the ‘twist’ about what the Source Code and Captain Stevens’ situation actually is, but it’s hardly a shock when it’s revealed. The story at first seems quite innovative until you realise Captain Stevens’ father is voiced by Scott Bakula (who even uses his catchphrase) in a clear nod to Quantum Leap to which this story borrows significantly.
The main problem I have with Source Code is the ending. [SPOILER ALERT]. It is so cheesey, a sappy, happy, Hollywood cop-out ending where the guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after. And it's not what I was expecting either. There is a moment in the film about 5 minutes from the end when the options facing Captain Stevens are that he's going to be wiped in readiness for his next mission or have his life support turned off completely. That's where the film should have ended.
