"Source Code"

Runtime:1 hr. 33 min.

Rated PG-13 for some violence including disturbing images, and for language

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Arden

Director: Duncan Jones

The man awakes in a state of bewilderment. He sits aboard a commuter train shooting toward Chicago. He knows who he is but not how he got here. The man is Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a military pilot recently deployed to the Middle East. Aboard the train, however, he is cloaked in civilian attire and sits across from a lovely young woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan). She believes him to be someone else... a history teacher named Sean Fentress. What's going on here? Stevens struggles to come to terms with this new "reality" only to have a bomb detonate inside the train a mere eight minutes after he awoke.

Instead of being hurled into an afterlife, Stevens jolts awake again, this time inside a cold, dark pod of sorts. He sits strapped into a cockpit chair, though is unable to free himself. Various digital readouts and video screens bestrew the pod's interior. Stevens doesn't know how he got here, either. He is contacted via video link by a military officer named Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). She calculatingly conveys to him the situation... he is on a mission. A bomb has already obliterated a train in the early morning hours (yep, that train) and a threat has been levied against the civilians of downtown Chicago. Another bomb is set to go off. Through a mind-bendingly complex creation called a "source code," Stevens can teleport into an alternate reality and take control of a particular body for the last eight minutes of his life. The source code is the brainchild of a twitchy scientist (Jeffrey Wright). Stevens' mission is to re-enter the source code over and over--at eight minute intervals--until he is able to uncover the bomber's identity.

Amazingly, the above doesn't give too much away. "Source Code" is a terrific sci-fi thriller that revels in its unpredictability. That it boasts an intriguing premise isn't unusual; many films can stake claim to that. But while mediocre movies lazily accompany their premises with standard story arcs, this one skillfully reveals layer after layer at a rapid-fire pace, engaging our curiosity to maximum effect. It's interesting how Stevens is able to uncover clues to one "reality" while roaming through the other. I love that the weapon of choice here is the human brain.

Moviegoers include anyone, but movie-lovers are ardent geeks. I certainly am. The best films cater to the lovers. I suppose cynics can attack the plausibility in "Source Code," although it makes me wonder why those cynics would even bother attending movies in the first place. The film offers explanations of the science involved, and a lot of it went right over my head. I didn't mind. The description of the code sounded good enough to me, and the fact that we're actually given smart, resourceful characters strengthened my interest.

Playing a man whose own personal redemption has been cruelly placed at the opposite end of a tortuous maze, Jake Gyllenhaal offers a much more nuanced performance than one might expect. A combination of anger, defiance, and intelligence, he also conveys a sense of longing and desperation. The story finds time for scenes of poignancy you wouldn't expect in this kind of thriller. Michelle Monaghan has the role with the least arc, yet she makes the most of it. Behind penetrating hazel eyes and an unflinching need for the truth, she represents the only salvation left for Stevens.

Vera Farmiga gives a subtle yet strong performance as a military officer who knows how to follow orders but can't help sympathize with Stevens' emotional plight. There are revelations late in the movie about her work environment that make you wonder how she does this job without going insane. Jeffrey Wright brings a mad scientist guise to the role of Dr. Rutledge, a genius whose pride overrides his accomplishments.

The director is Duncan Jones, who made the 2009 science-fiction drama "Moon" with Sam Rockwell. He demonstrates the same kind of mastery shown by Andrew Niccol in "Gattaca" and Alex Proyas in "Dark City." There is no extravagant visual style here, but the effects the film does have are put to good use, underscoring the madness inherent in the hero's dilemma. The script by Ben Ripley forgoes a standard linear plot line in favor of a complex narrative web that somehow never loses its way.

If there's one possible drawback, it may be in the movie's final fifteen minutes, where a 180 degree twist is thrown into the mix without a real explanation for how that twist was possible. Even that didn't bother me. Am I overpraising?  Not to me.  And I don't care.  It may not be for everyone, but "Source Code" is a marvelous science-fiction thriller that specifically targets those movie-loving geeks. And I'm ALL geek.

* * * *  out of  * * * *  stars