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Created Oct 21, 2011 04:54AM PST • Edited Apr 01, 2018 02:52PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Source Code’s a challenging movie to like. I found myself not liking it for the first half, then kinda liking it, then really liking it, only to back off at the end to kinda really liking it. Complicated? Yep, complexity overload is part of its problem. Yet Duncan Jones’ sophomore picture rates Very Good after the dust settles.

   Think of it as a terrorism Groundhog Day. The same horrific act gets reenacted again and again, and a hero walks through it. Jake Gyllenhaal does a great job as the hero. His character quickly learns that he’s an interloper in the doomed lives of a train full of commuters, there to figure out which is the bomber. The repetition grates at first but ultimately becomes engaging and almost fun.

   Unfortunately this thriller is too clever by half, first struggling to sell its Sci/Fi memory mumbo-jumbo, succeeding and then pushing it too far. In contrast, director Duncan Jones’ ambitions were in check with his far more successful debut effort, Moon. Beware bigger budgets. They can lead a Sci/Fi story astray. More accurately, they can lead a Sci/Fi storyteller astray.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Jake Gyllenhaal isn’t a great enough actor that his movie’s are worth watching because of him, but he gives a great performance here. Rapidly switching from uncertain to likeable to tough, he makes a series of improbable situations seem almost natural, and he’s easy to cheer.

   Michelle Monaghan easily becomes an adorable dreamgirl, yet also demonstrates the ability to play serious.

   Vera Farmiga is less impressive as a military control-freak. Jeffery Wright is even less impressive as a semi-demented genius.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Can a director be typecast? Duncan Jones’ second movie echoes his first in using reality repetition with identity transposition to create a layered effect. While Source Code isn’t as effective as Moon, it does ultimately satisfy. Still he can do better, as he proved in his rookie effort.

    One other ding: Source Code? Why title it Source Code? Sure it’s techy and kinda references the recovered memory concept, but it feels random in the end.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music OK 2.5

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.7

    A bit tough.

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Fierce 2.2

19. Rudeness Salty 1.8

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.9

    My biggest reality beef isn’t with the captured memory recreation and extension, but with the life support of a partial human torso. It wasn’t remotely credible in Terminator Salvation and isn’t here either.

    The other stuff is physical and biological bunk also.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.9

23. Biological Supernatural 3.5

24. Physical Supernatural 3.3