In 2009, Duncan Jones took the independent film world by storm with a little film called ‘Moon’. The film, both directed and written by Jones, was a masterfully-crafted and brilliant science-fiction film. It featured a wonderful, one-man-show performance from Sam Rockwell (‘Iron Man 2‘). The quiet film was well-received by the majority of critics, and many wondered what Jones’ follow-up film would be. The answer is ‘Source Code’, the best film of 2011 thus far, and a film that tosses away any belief Jones’ success with ‘Moon’ was merely a fluke.

Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Colter Stevens, a military pilot who was fighting in Afghanistan when he suddenly wakes up on a passenger train. A woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan) knows him, but Stevens doesn’t know her – and oddly enough, she keeps referring to him as Sean Fentress. When Stevens looks in a mirror, he doesn’t see his face, but the face of the man named Sean Fentress. After an explosion occurs on the train, Stevens wakes up in his own body, but he finds himself in an undisclosed, pod-like location. A woman by the name of Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) appears on a monitor screen, informing Stevens that he’s part of a new government program called “The Source Code.” This program allows Stevens to relive the last 8-minutes of a person’s life, in this case Sean Fentress. Earlier that morning, the train Fentress was on exploded from a bomb, and everyone on board was killed. Stevens’ job is to continue re-living the same 8-minutes over and over again, until he can identify the terrorist.

Now you would think seeing the same 8-minute scenes multiple times would get tedious, but director Duncan Jones and writer Ben Ripley keep ‘Source Code’ interesting and entertaining by changing up the scenes in each interval. Each time Colter Stevens revisits the train, he learns something new. Different suspects arise, more clues are found, and Stevens’ relationship with Christina grows stronger. This bond with Christina, who is technically already dead, is one area where the film shows its human and emotional side.

Colter Stevens wants to change the events of the past. He wants to save everyone on board the train, but the source code doesn’t work like that. The program is not a “time machine,” really, it’s more like an alternate reality. Everyone on board the train is already dead, therefore, according to Goodwin, everything besides the mission at hand is “irrelevant.”

‘Source Code’ features some really heavy themes regarding the importance of making choices and the extent of one’s free will. Stevens isn’t a volunteer for the source code program, he’s forced into it by the government, which includes the program’s cynical inventor, Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright). The struggle to understand what’s going on around him, as well as dealing with death after each 8-minute interval, allows Stevens to give off the film’s emotional aspect. Stevens is in a dire situation, one in which he cannot alter the events of the past, nor talk to and see his family and loved ones; he’s stuck serving the source code. We, the audience, feel for Stevens.

Regarding the mission within ‘Source Code’, the mystery as to who bombed the train isn’t as challenging as it should be. Many will probably already know the identity of the terrorist before the film does. However, this small flub doesn’t alter the film’s impact. The relationship between Stevens and the many different passengers on the train is interesting to see, though the film should have included more of these moments.

As solid of a film ‘Source Code’ may be, it unfortunately features a disappointing resolution. The ending of the film is too “feel-good,” and it seems as if the filmmakers forced this feel-good, plot-holed ending in favor of a logical one; it doesn’t exactly make total sense. Perhaps the film requires multiple viewings to fully understand the conclusion, but I doubt it. If the film had ended 5-to-10 minutes earlier, it would have been more effective. No matter, the rest of ‘Source Code’ is crafted well enough to allow me to accept the ending without dissing the entire film.

Besides having a talented director on board, or a solid screenwriter, ‘Source Code’ also features a small, but talented cast. This is the third film Jake Gyllenhaal is in that involves time travel (okay, technically this film doesn’t have time travel, but it’s pretty close), after ‘Donnie Darko‘ and ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time‘. Gyllenhaal is quickly growing on me as a talented actor, after recently seeing his performances in ‘Zodiac’, ‘Brothers’, and many other films. The beautiful Vera Farmiga (‘Up in the Air’) is perfectly fine as Goodwin in this film, and Michelle Monaghan (‘Eagle Eye’) is good as the love interest to Gyllenhaal. I didn’t mind Jeffery Wright’s performance as the inventor of the source code, but in many scenes he seems to over-act.

Like ‘Moon’, Duncan Jones’ new film features wonderful performances, as well as underlying themes of self-worth and free will. Jones demonstrates in ‘Source Code’ that he can go Hollywood and not let it overtake him, as well as solidly demonstrating his mastery of science-fiction. ‘Moon’ is a slow, small and quiet science-fiction film compared to ‘Source Code’ and its fast pace and big action sequences.

Three and a half out of four Kents.

****UPDATE****

I now understand the final scenes of ‘Source Code’, and I take back my statement that it’s a big plot hole. It makes sense to me now! I like the film a lot more after realizing so.