“An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man ……” This is how IMDB begins to describe Source Code (2011) I would have to say that is pretty accurate. The opening scene is Jake Gyllenhaal (October Sky, Jarhead, Prince of Persia) joltingly waking up on a train. He has no idea where he is and appears to be in the middle of a conversation with the woman sitting across from him. The “woman” is Christina who is played beautifully by Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone, Eagle Eye, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) what follows is what is now called a “Groundhog day” sort of story. We see the same final eight minutes of a man’s life over and over.
Groundhog Day (1993) starring Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Scrooged, Lost in Translation) seems to be a very popular version of the “time loop” movies, even coined a sort of phrase for it I guess you could say. I really like these kinds of stories, both in movies and on TV shows. Source Code does this well with a very different kind of sci-fi twist. With an excellent cast and some intriguing story telling it really held my interest.
Source Code also has a very entertaining audio commentary. Jake Gyllenhaal does the commentary with the writer and director. Ben Ripley (Species, Species III) wrote the script, it was really one of his firsts. Duncan Jones (Moon) directed it, one of his firsts as well. It will be interesting to see what these two do from here on out. Anyway, the three of them really discuss the story and what it all means. They even talk about the ending and some variations that were discussed. If you enjoy the "whys?" of a script you should give the commentary a try.
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