Source Code - B

On DVD and Blu-ray

Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an Afghanistan War veteran trapped in a capsule who is forced by Air Force personnel (including Vera Farmiga and Jeremy Wright) via audiovisual equipment to enter another man's memories of the last 8 minutes of his life aboard a train which then blows up at the end of each sequence. Colter then gets debriefed and redirected to find the source of the bomb (in an attempt to prevent another terrorist attack). It's Groundhog Day meets The Matrix meets Heaven Can Wait . . .

It's actually fairly predictable (since no Muslim has been a movie bad guy in over 10 years) and the usual post 9/11 bad guys (education, the military, white guys) are indeed the bad guys here. Gyllenhaal is pretty good (especially during a phone call to his father - the best scene in the film), but Wright and Farmiga are just cashing paychecks. As the love interest, Michelle Monaghan shows some humor and energy which plays off of Gyllenhaal well. Director Duncan Jones (Moon) keeps the pace fast and the special effects are integrated well into the story. But the whole thing is nearly undone by a nonsensical coda which feels tacked on by a feel-good studio committee. At least Duncan, Gyllenhaal, and writer Ben Ripley hit the message (enjoying the miracle of life as well as your family and friends) right on the mark. B