Source Code

I rented Source Code primarily on the basis of Duncan Jones’ impressive sci-fi debut, Moon (not because of Jake Gyllenhaal), and my belief that Jeffrey Wright could do no wrong.  Source Code turned out to be a rewarding and challenging picture of second (and third, etc) chances and what happens to those chances.

See, it’s best to go into this picture with as little information as possible and let the series of clues be revealed as the picture goes on.   Ostensibly, Jake’s Captain Colter Stevens is sent into an 8-minute window of time that the scientists (led by Jeffrey Wright) can somehow tap after a horrific terrorist incident by getting into the mind of one of its victims.  Never mind the garbly-gook explanation, and just accept that somehow these little pockets of time can be used to mine the past to catch the terrorist and prevent him from striking again.  But what the film ultimately ends up doing with it opens it to a richer territory than advertised and leaves the viewer (or this one, anyway) with more theoretical questions than anticipated.  Source Code is an unexpected treat.