# 8 Movie Seen - Source Code

Apologies for the lack of updates and reviews of late, I've been unwell and busy, a bad combination.  A few films have slipped through my fingers and will have to be DVD rentals.  I was determined not to let Source Code be one of those though so I went tonight with my friend B.  I had high expectations of this, and luckily it lived up to them.  This was based on the fact that the director Duncan Jones' first movie, Moon, was such a great, original sci-fi film.  Old school sci-fi.  I strongly urge you to check this out (more info here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/). 
His second film is also well worth going to see.  Again it is an original storyline although many have compared it to Deja Vu which I haven't seen.  The plot appears to be fairly simple - a military helicopter pilot awakes in the body of another man on a commuter train that is about to blow up.  He has been sent there to try and find out who the bomber is and thus avert another tragedy occurring, but he only has 8 minute blocks of time due to the way the "source code" program works.  Although it appear simple, the plot ends up quite complex and the sci-fi is pretty "hard".  This ain't no time travel that's going on....we're talking about parallel universes using actual science based phenomena in a very plausible way.
This is another film where I don't want to say too much.  It's best to see it with as little information as possible and then have a good discussion with your friends about what it means and whether it actually works or not.  At the end I felt I was caught up in a loop trying to work out if it works or not.  In the end we thought it does, but there is some pretty good debate on the IMDB forums that might help if you're at all confused.
Despite being a sci-fi film, it makes a pretty good action thriller.  Jake Gyllenhaal is capable of doing the confused time travel thing very well (see Donnie Darko for earlier evidence) but also carries the big action scenes and the romance with Michelle Monaghan convincingly.  The backup from Vera Famiga and Jeffrey Wright as the people who are running the source code program is also great, although Jeffrey's accent is a little weird and offputting.  It would make a great Austin Powers villain but is out of place as a scientist trying to save a lot of people's lives.
Overall I felt the movie was great as there was a good emotional connection with the characters and the mystery was quite compelling.  The acting is top-notch, action was believable and the story was original and interesting.  Duncan Jones has done it again for me!
P.S. I just realise a massive coincidence! This was the 8th movie I saw this year at the cinemas, and it revolved around 8 minute blocks of time.  Spooky!!!!