For anyone who reads my blog/follows me on any form of social media, my adoration (or fanboy nature, you decide) for Jake Gyllenhaal is no secret. Whilst my favourite Gyllenhaal performances usually see him portraying a troubled individual, who could easily be perceived as an older Donnie Darko, todays recommendation sees him encapsulate the role of a Hollywood, blockbuster hero, in 2011’s Sci-fi Thriller, ‘Source Code’.
Colter Stevens, a pilot for the US army, who’s last waking memory is of flying over an Afghanistan battlefield, wakes up on an unknown train. He soon finds out that he’s assumed the identity of another man, after a conversation with a charming young lady named Christina sat opposite him. Eight minuets later, the train explodes and Stevens finds himself awake in some sort of freezing cold, isolation pod. Moments later he is then contacted by a lady named Goodwin, who explains he will keep being transported back to the train, exactly eight minuets before it explodes and his mission is to identify the bomber within the allocated time frame. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, angry and confused, he wants answers, in which Goodwin and a man named Dr. Rutledge explain that he is part of a project named Source Code that transfers people into the body of a deceased person for the last eight minutes of their life. He is informed that he cannot change the past, since Source Code is not a time machine, but he can reassign time and change the future. With Steven’s heart growing ever fonder for Christina, he decides to save the train and its passengers from the explosion, despite the projects architect claims that his efforts will be worthless.
Source Code starts like a Hulk Hogan kick to the face: Bang! You’re right there on the train, as a groggy Jake Gyllenhaal awakes to see his surroundings for the very first time. With no initial back story for the main protagonist or any of the characters he proceeds to meet, you find yourself on the same wavelength, with an instant attachment and rapport built with this person and the situation he’s just became conscious to. In what over the years has become a given, Jake delivers an outstanding, believable performance. Additionally, co-star Michelle Monaghan is brilliant in her role and the romance in which ignites between herself and Gyllenhaal, is a charming one, that feels both vulnerable and real. This movie looks great, its action sequences are big and past paced, whilst not straining on the eye and it's score aides the visuals in a typically great, big, Hollywood blockbuster fashion.
I’d like to wrap this up by saying this is one hell of an action movie. I feel like Ben Ripley’s writing and the direction by Duncan James fit like hand in glove. It encapsulates what I think this kind of movie needs: intense, fast-paced action, a gripping plot that keeps developing and characters in which entice you emotionally, allowing you to care for their outcome and wellbeing. I also feel this movie’s outcome delivers a powerful, important message. That amidst the fast paced culture of life, in the moments we perceive as humdrum monotony, we forget the frailty of life and how blessed we are to be alive at all, perfectly embodied by the John Lennon quote:
“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.”
Another A+ performance from the list that is Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting career.
If you enjoyed this movie, check out: Twelve Monkeys, The Matrix, Looper.
My Rating: 9 out of 10.
Joshua White
Fire Write With Me.
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