Source Code

What you almost certainly know in advance about this movie—sci-fi, Jake Gyllenhaal, time travel, big explosion—is really only part of the picture. In the actual event, you get all that and good deal more. The film’s central sci-fi/fantasy gimmick has a U.S. Army helicopter pilot (Gyllenhaal) caught up in some futuristic technology that allows government scientists to put him inside the mind and body of someone else. Here, he’s sent inside the last eight minutes in the life of a man aboard a train that is about to be blown up by a terrorist’s bomb. He must make repeat visits to those eight minutes as he tries to find the bomb and identify the bomber, who has promised that there are more and bigger explosions soon to come. In the course of these subtly evolving repeat visits, Gyllenhaal’s Capt. Colter Stevens also begins to get emotionally involved with Christina (Michelle Monaghan), the quietly adventurous young woman seated across from him. Director Duncan Jones (Moon) and screenwriter Ben Ripley keep at least three major narrative threads crackling with life over a compact, fast-paced 93 minutes of running time. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13