DVD Review: Source Code

Director Duncan Jones’ second film is another intelligent, eloquent science fiction thriller.

Sincere without growing mawkish, intelligent without becoming geeky or pretentious, Duncan Jones’ Source Code justifies the promise the director showed with his similarly ambitious science fiction mindbender Moon. Like that debut effort, Jones’ second film reveals a warm and compassionate concern not just for the workings of the science fiction elements of story but also for the human emotions spun out of their wake, and the emphasis – especially in the last half-hour – is on character development and interaction.

Army captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the covert operative for Project: Beleaguered Castle, an Air Force counter-terrorism group that can project his consciousness into the “after-image” of recent temporal events and allow him to occupy a host body of comparable age, height, and size. It’s complicated science, though explained via simplified metaphor by the project’s direct Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright.) Source Code technology is not exactly time travel, and not entirely jumping between parallel worlds, but Stevens’ jaunts into the remnants of immediately recent events allow the project to gather intelligence about upcoming terrorist attacks.

His current mission involves finding the bomb secreted aboard a Chicago-bound commuter train before those responsible detonate a dirty bomb within the city itself. But increasing disorientation hampers Steven’s effectiveness, even as he’s increasingly distracted by Christina, the woman (Michelle Monaghan) accompanying his host body into the city. Stevens tries, tries again to locate the bomb and the passenger he believes may set it off. But each failure – he has only eight minutes to complete his mission – results in the train’s explosive destruction and a painful jolt back to the project’s headquarters.

Worse, he suspects the doctor as well as Goodwin, his mission control operator (Vera Farmiga) are less than candid with the information they provide him, both about his role in the project as well as the events surrounding his recruitment into it. Stevens remembers serving as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan but nothing of the last two months, and Goodwin’s evasion of questions, as well as Rutledge’s condescension, make him even less trusting.

The second act centers on Stevens’ abortive attempts to apprehend the bomber and disarm the bomb, even while he draws closer to the girl. Stevens also reasons he can use his time on the train to research the project itself and his service in Kandahar, the better to fill in the blanks of his memory. Each return trip home – he fails many times, often in ways that ought to evoke pity from the audience – reveals his mission capsule in greater disrepair. Pressing Goodwin for more information, he learns he may not be in the capsule at all but that his physical body may reside somewhere else entirely.

But he eventually prevails, locating the bomber and confronting him – once disastrously, the second time with success. With a train full of suspects, Ben Ripley’s script has fun manipulating audience expectations regarding the bomber’s identity: the nature of his evil more closely resemble homegrown anarchist Timothy McVeigh than 21st Century notions of Islamic extremism. The remainder of the film focuses on the nature of the bottle reality itself, whether Stevens can escape his real-world fate, and whether he can mend his relationship with his estranged father and jumpstart a romance with Christina. The willingness to devote so much time to events and details outside the ostensible main plot thread is a curious structural decision, but thanks to Ripley and Jones’ expert handling the film never once sags in suspense or pace.

We’ve said this before. It bears repeating: pretty.

The actors are perfectly if sometimes predictably cast. Gyllenhaal is a talented and versatile actor who’s still yet to find his niche with audiences, but here the action chops that went largely unnoticed in last year’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (coincidentally, another adventure driven by short-distance time travel) get better use in the heightened tension of the railway plot. Still, he fares better in the character-driven scenes, especially with Farmiga and the actor playing his father (the actor’s identity is too much of a treat, and concession, to long-time sci-fi fans to divulge). As the sweet, beguiling Christina, Monaghan plays to the type she’s already performed in a half-dozen films. She’s a lovely and talented actress, but the role does little to showcase the range she’s demonstrated elsewhere.

Wright is spot-on as the pompous doctor who sees Stevens as nothing more than a resource, and Farmiga’s character arc – efficient to humane – may make her the film’s most fully development personality. Whereas Moon was centered – and carried – by the formidable acting talents of Sam Rockwell, the larger script gives Jones time and space to explore more complicated character interactions. Like Moon, the protagonist is separated by space and technology from the answers he needs; the answers this time rely less on shock value and more on character sympathy.

As with probably any great science fiction film, enjoyment relies somewhat on your willing suspension of disbelief, in giving the film license to let a hole slip into the plot when perhaps you’re less likely to notice. But in the meantime it offers the best kind of not just science fiction but fiction itself – rooted in humanity and letting emotions rather than spectacle guide its way. Source Code brings that all together while still maintaining its action-charged momentum – it’s a lot more movie than it seems.

- Michael Kabel

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Review: Source Code

Director Duncan Jones’ second film is another intelligent, eloquent science fiction thriller.

Articulate and emotional without ever growing maudlin, intelligent without seeming geeky or pretentious, Duncan Jones’ Source Code justifies the promise the director showed with his similarly ambitious science  fiction mindbender Moon. Like that debut effort, Jones’ second film reveals a warm and compassionate concern not just for the workings of the science fiction elements of story but also for the human emotions spun out of their wake. The high energy marketing campaign focuses on the film’s time travel and exploding train aspects, but don’t be fooled: Jones and his cast and crew have created a film as much about loss and its aftermath as much as bombast and adventure, and the emphasis – especially in the last half-hour – is on character development and interaction.

Army captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the covert operative for Project: Beleaguered Castle, an Air Force counter-terrorism group that can project his consciousness into the after-image of recent temporal events and allow him to occupy a host body of comparable age, height, and size. It’s complicated science, complex enough to stretch suspension of disbelief by force alone, though explained via simplified metaphor by the project’s direct Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright.) Source Code technology is not exactly time travel, and not entirely jumping between parallel worlds, but Stevens’ jaunts into the afterimage of immediately recent events allow the project to gather intelligence about upcoming terrorist attacks.

In particular, his current mission involves finding the bomb secreted aboard a Chicago-bound commuter train before those responsible detonate a dirty bomb within the city itself. But increasing disorientation hampers Steven’s effectiveness, even as he’s increasingly distracted by Christina, the woman (Michelle Monaghan) accompanying his host body into the city. Stevens tries, tries again to locate the bomb and the passenger he believes may set it off. But each failure – he has only eight minutes to complete his mission – results in the train’s explosive destruction and a painful jolt back to the project’s headquarters.

Worse, Stevens suspects the doctor as well as Goodwin, his mission control operator (Vera Farmiga) are less than candid with the information they provide him, both about his role in the project as well as the events surrounding his recruitment into it. Stevens remembers serving as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan but nothing of the last two months, and Goodwin’s evasion of questions, as well as Rutledge’s condescension, make him even less trusting.

The film’s second act centers on Stevens’  abortive attempts to apprehend the bomber and disarm the bomb, even while he draws closer to the girl. Stevens also reasons he can use his time on the train to research the project itself and his service in Kandahar, the better to fill in the blanks of his memory. Each return trip home – Stevens fails his mission many times, often in ways that will probably evoke pity from the audience – reveals his mission capsule in greater disrepair. Pressing Goodwin for more information, Stevens learns he may not be in the capsule at all but that his physical body may reside somewhere else entirely.

But he eventually prevails, locating the bomber and confronting him – once disastrously, the second time with success. With a train full of suspects, Ben Ripley’s script has fun manipulating audience expectations regarding the bomber’s identity: the nature of his evil more closely resemble homegrown anarchist Timothy McVeigh than 21st Century notions of Islamic extremism. The remainder of the film focuses on the nature of the bottle reality itself, whether Stevens can escape his real-world fate, and whether he can mend his relationship with his estranged father and jumpstart a romance with Christina. The willingness to devote so much time to events and details outside the ostensible main plot thread is a curious structural decision, but thanks to Ripley and Jones’ expert handling the film never once sags in suspense or pace.

We’ve said this before. It bears repeating: pretty.

The actors are perfectly if sometimes predictably cast. Gyllenhaal is a talented and versatile actor who’s still yet to find his niche with audiences, but here the action chops that went largely unnoticed in last summer’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (coincidentally, another adventure driven by short-distance time travel) get better use in the heightened tension of the railway plot. Still, he fares better in the more character-driven scenes, especially with Farmiga and the actor playing his father (the actor’s identity is too much of a treat, and concession, to long-time sci-fi fans to divulge). Playing the sweet, beguiling Christina, Monaghan plays to the type she’s already performed in a half-dozen films. She’s a lovely and talented actress, but the role does little to showcase the range she’s demonstrated elsewhere.

Jones wisely casts two ringer character actors to play the heavier parts. Wright is spot-on as the pompous doctor who sees Stevens as nothing more than a resource, and Farmiga’s character arc - efficient to humane – may make her the film’s most fully development personality. Whereas Moon was centered – and carried – by the formidable acting talents of Sam Rockwell, the larger script gives Jones time and space to explore more complicated character interactions. Like Moon, the protagonist is separated by space and technology from the answers he needs; the answers this time rely less on shock value and more on character sympathy.

Like probably any great science fiction film, enjoyment relies somewhat on your willing suspension of disbelief, and in giving the film license to let a hole slip into the plot when perhaps you’re less likely to notice; those flaws will also likely emerge with repeated viewing. But in the meantime it offers the best kind of not just science fiction but fiction itself – rooted in humanity, letting emotions guide its way, and dedicated to continuing larger traditions while modifying them for new audiences. Source Code brings that all together while still maintaining its action-charged momentum. Don’t let the slam-bang advertisements fool you – the film is a lot more than it lets on.

- Michael Kabel

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Time Enough For Love

Five love stories with a time travel twist.

Seeing the trailer for the upcoming The Time Traveler’s Wife got us thinking about other love stories hinging on the science-fiction trope of time travel. There’s more than you might think. The blending of the two genres also serves a more pragmatic purpose, too, bringing the male-friendly sci-fi genre together with the female-dominated romance.

Actually, science fiction authors have understood this from the beginning: H.G. Wells included a love interest for the hero of his The Time Machine – the progenitor of most time travel stories – and more recent successes like Quantum Leap and even the Terminator series played on the bittersweet pathos of lovers separated by and through time.

We have mixed expectations regarding The Time Traveler’s Wife. Though screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin did pen the 1990 scare-your-ass-off thriller Jacob’s Ladder, director Robert Schwentke’s only major directing credit so far was the 2005 Jodie Foster vehicle Flightplan. Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling source novel looks like weapons-grade chick lit but was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction; yet the film’s emphasis, judging by the trailer, is on the romance side of the story. Stars Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana are always welcome screen presences, though, and are almost certain to generate more heat than Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock managed in 2006′s vaguely similar The Lake House.

There are more time travel romances then the five listed below, though these are the ones we can recommend.

Time After Time (1979): Speaking of Wells,  co-writer-director Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) adapted Karl Alexander’s novel about the author (Malcolm McDowell) time-travelling to the present day in pursuit of Jack the Ripper (David Warner.) The movie Wells finds love with bank employee Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen, Step Brothers) but (because they’re in a movie) she becomes the Ripper’s next target.

Though its premise may politely be described as “contrived,” the film works largely because all three principals are at the top of their games. McDowell is charming as a Victorian Utopianist lost in Disco Era Manhattan, and Steenburgen is as lovely and graceful as ever. On the other hand, you sort of expect Wells and Jack to square off more than they do, building more tension for the inevitable plot twists that happen later. With a heavyweight ringer like Warner playing history’s most notorious killer, the tension is there from jump.

Somewhere In Time (1980): A playwright (Christopher Reeve, Superman) falls in love with the woman (Jane Seymour) in a portrait he finds at a resort hotel. Using hypnosis, he travels back to 1912 to find her, even as her manager (Christopher Plummer) conspires to keep them apart.

The elaborate plot, written by Richard Matheson and based on his own novel, includes lots of smart paradoxes and complications. Unfortunately Reeve is somewhat miscast as a brainy playwright desperate to find his romantic ideal, though Seymour is spot-on as a Victorian stage actress. Director Jeannot Szwarc (Jaws 2) soaks the film in soft-focused opacity to recreate the sumptuous pre-World War I era, even if its pace often stalls out.

Made In Heaven (1987): The time travel method in this overlooked melodrama by eclectic director Alan Rudolph (Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Cirlce) isn’t a machine or hypnosis – it’s the afterlife. After dying heroically in the 1950′s, Mike Shea (Timothy Hutton) goes to Heaven and falls in love with a “new soul” (Kelly McGillis) soon to depart for a life on Earth. The powers that be allow him to return to Earth and find her – but he only has thirty years, and they return on opposite ends of the economic ladder. They arrive in the 1980s, which as the trailer below demonstrates was the worst decade ever for men’s hairstyles.

Besides the leads, the film features pitch-perfect turns by Maureen Stapleton, James Gammon, Amanda Plummer, Tim Daly, and Mare Winningham. Debra Winger steals her scenes, however, unrecognizable in an uncredited turn as Shea’s redheaded guardian angel.

Late For Dinner (1991): A cult movie fan’s cult movie, W.D. Richter’s (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) weird, oddly-paced romance puts two 1960′s New Mexico everymen (Brian Wimmer, Peter Berg) on the run from the police after a shootout defending their property. Fleeing to Los Angeles, they’re taken in by a scientist (Bo Brundin) who cryogenically freezes them for thirty years. Upon their awakening, the two men attempt to reunite with their family, despite the passage of time and their relative lack of aging.

Marcia Gay Harden plays the wife and sister to whom both men try to return, while 90s indie mainstays Peter Gallagher and Janeane Garofalo also appear.  Like Made In Heaven, the film isn’t available on DVD, though it sometimes shows up on cable movie channels.

Happy Accidents (2000): The time travel edge to writer-director Brad Anderson’s (El maquinista) indie effort saves it from its bevy of period romcom tropes, many of which seem dated just a decade later. Lovesick big city girl Ruby (Marisa Tomei) almost gives up on men until meeting, seemingly by chance, the sensitive and charming Sam (Vincent D’Onofrio, beta testing Robert Goren’s weirdness). They meet cute and have a thrilling romance until Sam divulges he’s from 500 years in the future. Ruby’s taken aback, and Sam works to convince her of his veracity and – you guessed it – save her life from an approaching traffic accident.

Anderson wisely envisions Sam’s 25th Century as a hellish mire of eugenics and deprivation, lending plausibility to Sam’s claim that its inhabitants time travel virtually out of necessity. Tomei and Donofrio have real screen chemistry, and the plot is smart enough to keep you guessing until the last minutes, when everything comes together with an ingenious twist.

- Michael Kabel

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Review: Life On Mars

Take a look at the lawmen. It’s the freakiest show.

Sometimes you can watch a show grow up. ABC’s new adaptation of the cult British series Life On Mars improves with each episode, gathering focus and dramatic momentum even as its talented cast settles into their roles. That’s especially good news in a season of underperforming newcomers and former hits gone woefully askew. While it’s not where it could be yet or even sometimes where it should, the freshman sci-fi/cop drama/bittersweet family story is quickly becoming unmissable television. Like Quantum Leap, another sentimental time travel epic, it’s possibly the kind of favorite that diehard fans revisit for years to come. Still, there’s work to do.

Harveys white shoes made everyone feel awkward: the cast

The premise is a whirligig of genres and normally well-worn plot contrivances that work suprisingly well when stitched together: Police detective Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara) is struck by a car and knocked unconscious. When he awakes, he finds himself in 1973 – a culture and atmosphere so different from the more restrained, dour Twenty-first Century that he feels stranded on another planet (hence the title, taken from a David Bowie song of the era.) He’s still a detective, assigned to New York’s 125th Precinct under the direction of Lieutenant Gene Hunt (Harvey Keitel). While serving on a police force only just getting used to such “outlandish” notions as Miranda rights and forensic science, Tyler works at reassembling his fractured memories of 2008, guided in part by his love for his girlfriend Maya (Lisa Bonet.)

Man out of time: OMara

He’s often given flashes of modern day hints, usually in sly modern pop culture references (a Nirvana t-shirt, a Mars rover, among others), that his time travel may be a hallucination or something more ethereal. The combined effect is of an entire world that’s a mystery, both in parts and as a whole. The show works best when Tyler keeps his head down and works cases despite the often bewildering change in place and time. He’s got two – possibly one too many – confidantes about his plight, as well: caring policewoman Annie Cartwright (Gretchen Mol) as well as spacey hippy neighbor Windy (Tanya Fischer). It doesn’t help that both are gorgeous and transparently attrcted to the hunky Tyler. But fellow officers, including Hunt and ferret-like Ray Carling (Michael Imperioli), are less than impressed with his forward-thinking police techniques – don’t plant evidence, don’t beat confessions out of suspects – and often berate his sensitivity.

Typical time travel stories involve a lot of retro-smart humor, and so far the show has indulged in such “One day, this will all be…” kinds of fish-out-of-water gimmickry. But excecutive producers Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg (formerly of ABC’s emo melodrama October Road) have with each episode grown into the ramifications of what the time displacement means. The time-travel gimmick is virtually as old as the science-fiction genre itself, but the emotional impact on the traveller is less often attempted and even less often done well. Even when the story’s are rickety, the emotional impact – a recent episode in which Tyler met his mother was a study in bittersweet elegance – remains the story’s redeeming virtue.

Mean Streets: Keitel, OMara

That’s partly because the cast is getting better and getting better quick. O’Mara was somewhat stiff, somewhat bland in the first two episodes, but as the stakes raise for Tyler’s sanity and his growing sense of loss, he’s finding his anguished bearings. Keitel is badly miscast, approaching his character as another bad lieutenant with a good streak buried somewhere inside. An earlier version of the show’s pilot cast Colm Meaney (The Commitments) as Hunt, and it’s hard not to imagine his Irish bulldog charm brought to bear on the gruff Hunt. Imperioli has fun in his snarky Dog Day Afternoon-era Pacino pastiche, though his character may have the most potential in an Andy Sipowicz kind of direction. Mol, luminous in The Notorious Betty Page and 3:10 To Yuma, is underused as a proto-feminist in a male-dominated profession. A solid actress in a compelling part, she needs more to do, currently relegated to a sidecar position as Tyler’s girl Friday.

Police Woman: Mol

The show producer’s have so far displayed a shrewd taste in casting guest stars, putting Oz alumni Lee Tergesen and Dean Winters into important recurring roles. Yet, tomorrow night’s episode (Here come November sweeps) guests Whoopi Goldberg as a racially-charged disc jockey. That could probably go either way.

It’s possible that the show is an ensemble drama that’s yet to realize as much. As the pieces come together that direction is one the show runners should consider continue taking; they’ve certainly got more than enough talent lined up for a long run as such. But the show is worth joining now, while the story is in its early development, because when it hits its stride there’ll be no end in sight. And O’Mara shouldn’t be underestimated; like fellow Celtic imports Kevin McKidd and Damian Lewis, he’s likely an American television star in the making. With any luck, that fame will come as Life On Mars settles down to Earth and achieves its energetic potential.

- Michael Kabel

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