Source Code

Review by Anthony Morris

How's this for high concept : you wake up on a train, you have no idea where you are, and all you do know is that you have eight minutes before a bomb goes off killing everyone.

Don't worry if you can't find it and disarm it though : once it goes off you just go back to the start and re-live those eight minutes all over again.

Despite not actually making much sense when explained to US helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) – he's the guy who keeps going back in time – he goes with it because what other option does he have?

They need him to find out who set the bomb so they can stop the bomber before he can set off an upcoming (and much bigger) device - plus it gives him a chance to flirt with fellow passenger Christina (Michelle Monaghan).

While the logic of this set-up is blurry at best it makes enough sense to go with (especially if you've ever played a video game in your life – he’s basically having to do the level over and over until he gets it right) the film itself is totally compelling as we go back over things again and again with Colter trying to find clues to solve the puzzle.

This isn't a film that you watch for the characters – despite what a little-too-neat ending would have you believe – but the cast do solid work as they cover the same ground again and again gradually putting it all together.

Plus with the explosion only ever eight minutes away, we get the romantic ending, the dramatic ending, the pointless ending, and so on.

It might be basically Groundhog Day with explosions, but Source Code is as sharp and smart a thriller as you'll see this year.

4 out of 5

Source Code
Australian release: 5th May, 2011
Official Site: Source Code
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Director: Duncan Jones