Source Code

OPENING: 04/01/2011

STUDIO: Summit Entertainment

RUN TIME: 93 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Make every second count.

Opening Statement
Director Duncan Jones made a strong initial impression on audiences in 2009 with his intelligent, moving science fiction film Moon. Now he’s returned with Source Code, another sci-fi flick which proves that Jones is the real deal.

Facts of the Case
Our story centers on Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal, Moonlight Mile), who finds himself in a puzzling situation. He is on a train, sitting next to a woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) who seems to know him. The only puzzling thing is that she keeps calling him “Sean.” Stevens catches a glimpse of his reflection and is alarmed to discover that he looks like someone else. As Stevens is attempting to put the pieces together, a bomb goes off and the train explodes.

Stevens suddenly finds himself placed inside of a small capsule, where he is informed by a superior officer (Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air) via video screen that his job is to figure out who bombed the train and why. Using advanced “source code” technology (which permits a person to engage in a very limited variation on time travel, for lack of a simpler explanation), Stevens must travel back to the train and inhabit Sean’s body again and again until he solves the mystery of who bombed the train. He is only able to work within the same eight-minute window before the train explodes each time. Additionally, he’s working on a deadline: another, larger explosion is being planned and cannot be thwarted until Stevens is able to determine the identity of the bomber. Fortunately, Stevens is able to retain memories of each trip he takes, allowing him to put new pieces together with each journey into the past.

The Evidence
There were multiple moments in Source Code which caused me to breathe a sigh of relief. Not because the hero had just avoided some nasty accident, but because the screenplay had so deftly evaded some obvious pitfalls. There are numerous opportunities for the film to run off the rails in a bid for cheap thrills or emotional manipulation, but it stays true to its premise (slippery as the nature of that premise may be) and refuses to compromise itself at any point. What a nice surprise it is to find a movie which carefully considers the consequences of everything it does and refuses to insult our intelligence.

Of course, I don’t suppose it’ll be as much of a surprise to those who have seen the aforementioned Moon. While the science-fiction elements of Source Code are a bit more convoluted than those of that film, if you can accept the movie’s basic principles you’ll discover a film which provides terrific entertainment as a thriller and leaves you with some nifty notions to chew on as you leave the theatre.

The film begins as a lean thriller built on a gimmicky yet entertaining sci-fi premise, as Captain Stevens returns again and again to the doomed train attempting to find clues. But before long, his perspective begins to change and the scope of the film begins to widen. When he begins his investigation, Stevens regards the individuals on the train as some sort of computer program; simulated versions of real-life figures from the recent past. But as he spends more time around them, he can’t help but begin to feel they are real human beings. There is no scientific revelation which fuels this notion; just an emotional current generated by the fact that the passengers on the train appear to be real, living humans in every single way.

After a while, Stevens not only becomes obsessed with solving the mystery but with “saving” the passengers on the train, a notion that military scientist Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright, Casino Royale) finds entirely pointless. It would seem that Rutledge is correct from a scientific point-of-view–there is nothing that can be done to alter the past since what Stevens is engaging in is not actually time travel but rather a complex interactive experience based on recent events. Reality is one thing; what feels like reality is another.

I will not spoil what develops as the film progresses, but suffice it to say that the movie has a lot of tricks up its sleeve, none of which seem unreasonable or frustrating. With each new development comes a series of new ideas (scientific and ethical) to consider, and it’s terrific to observe the lovely, economical manner in which the film outlines and explores these notions. The film is no less complex than Christopher Nolan’s Inception, but the running time is considerably shorter because the film finds ways of getting things across without resorting to countless speeches about why things are happening the way they are happening.

In this case, it’s unlikely that many are going to complain that Source Code is confusing, simply because the film works just fine on a basic thriller level and only requires you to consider the larger ideas to the extent that you’re interested in them. That’s not a knock on Nolan’s excellent sci-fi outing, which offers a structure which is fascinating in its own right. However, Nolan’s film requires its characters to consider its ideas and explore them for the audience (thus emphasizing its complex nature), while Source Code frequently allows the audience to do that for themselves. While a couple of items seem a little wobbly under close inspection, for the most part attentive viewers will find themselves rewarded and stimulated by this film’s deceptively intricate design.

Gyllenhaal makes a sturdy lead, and proves more persuasive as the hero of a cerebral thriller like this than as the rough-and-tumble protagonist of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Michelle Monaghan is warm and appealing as the woman Stevens begins to develop feelings for as the film progresses. She seems like the world’s kindest, most forgiving person until you recall that she cannot remember all of Stevens’ ungainly actions over the course of the film. Vera Farmiga essays another conflicted character to compelling, subtle effect as Stevens’ superior officer, and Jeffrey Wright is predictably terrific as a scientist who seems to veer between giddy and agitated from scene to scene.

Closing Statement
Go see this movie. Not only is Source Code an excellent film well worth your nine bucks; it’s the sort of film we’re seeing less and less of these days–an intelligent, mature thriller based on an original screenplay which offers an emphasis on ideas rather than explosions (though you get plenty of those, too). I can’t wait to see what Mr. Jones delivers next.

The Verdict
9/10

Cadillac Records

OPENING: 12/05/2008

STUDIO: Sony

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge
Follow the beat to its source.

Opening Statement
Cadillac Records tells the true story of the famed Chess Records label. In addition to this, Cadillac Records is every musical biopic you’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s giving us a look at the life of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess (the co-founder, Leonard’s brother, is nowhere to be found in this movie). Chess Records was home to a number of influential and immensely talented African-American musicians, including Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and Etta James (Beyonce Knowles). The film does indeed tell their story, but I wish that this story didn’t feel so much like every other story about musicians.

Facts of the Case
If VH1 has taught us anything, it’s that the life of every musician is more or less the same. In the first act, we meet the aspiring dreamers. Quite often these folks are down-on-their-luck nobodies with a lot of talent. They begin to rise to fame and become very popular. In the second act, the artist starts to get too cocky, acts like a jerk, starts doing drugs, drinking, and/or cheating, and begin a terrible downward spiral. In the third act, the person realizes how foolish they have been, vow to change their ways, and find some measure of success again. The end credits then tell us about all the awards the person has won and all of the wonderful things that happened in their life. Ho-freaking-hum. The formula was still working okay when Jamie Foxx wowed everybody in Ray, but it’s getting very old very fast.

The Evidence
I honestly didn’t think that Cadillac Records would be able to employ this formula. Because it was about a diverse group of individuals who had different lives, surely it had no choice but to be different? The film is almost fiendishly determined to make sure that it is not unique in any way. Since it can’t focus on a single individual who happens to be going down the acceptable plot path, it keeps the formulaic structure in place and simply inserts the pieces that fit along the way. Need some success in act one? Focus on Leonard Chess and Muddy Waters. Need some bad behavior and failure in act two? Focus on Little Walter and Chuck Berry. Need some redemption in act three? Focus on Etta James. It’s a fiendish scheme, I tell you.

But you know what? I fell for this sucker one more time. Despite the fact that I profess to hate formulaic biopics, despite the fact that nearly every moment in the film was predictable… I kind of liked the movie. As a movie, it’s kind of lousy, but as a musical… great googly-moogly, Cadillac Records works like gangbusters. The film keeps a steady stream of soulful blues flowing from start to finish, and the bland bits of formula wind up feeling more like commercial breaks in the middle of an exceptionally enjoyable television special. If you’re coming for the drama, you’ll be disappointed, but if you’re coming for the music, you’ll get your money’s worth.

I was also impressed by just how smoothly the film is cast. By that, I mean that every actor playing a famous figure immediately becomes that figure. We aren’t watching Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Beyonce Knowles, and Mos Def… we’re watching Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters, Etta James, and Chuck Berry. Wright in particular is just superb here, demonstrating yet again that he is one of cinema’s finest character actors. Meanwhile, Brody manages to make Leonard Chess a very compelling figure. He isn’t a civil rights activist or a noble saint… he’s just an ambitious, somewhat compassionate and financially irresponsible businessman who wasn’t going to let something as stupid as racism get in the way of a big pile of money. The scenes Wright and Brody share are some of the only strong dramatic moments in the film, as they offer a reflective complexity that can’t be found elsewhere in Cadillac Records.

Closing Statement
So, does the movie work? Yes, but only on a surface level. If some terrific music and convincing performances are enough to earn your 10 bucks, then by all means go for it. If you’re hoping for a musical biopic as effective or insightful as Ray or Bird — or heck, even Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story — then you’ll undoubtedly be a bit disgruntled at the conclusion.

The Verdict
7/10