There have been several movies and TV shows involving the concepts of time travel and/or alternate realities. FromQuantum LeapandBack to the Future, to recent features likeX-Men: Days of Future Past,Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, andEverything Everywhere All at Once, filmmakers have constantly grappled with fascinating characters who go back in time to change an element of the past or prevent a catastrophe to secure the future.
The 2011 sci-fi action thrillerSource Codestars Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens, a U.S. Army pilot who suddenly wakes up on a commuter train headed to Chicago. Stevens learns that he is repeatedly being sent to the same time period of eight minutes before the train explodes due to a high-tech bomb. While the film became a critical and box-office hit, it is an underrated feature due to the familiar elements concerning time travel. However, the film’s plot is more complex and intriguing than expected.
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Source Code Is Inspired By Other Films Based On Time and Crime
One of the most obvious inspirations forSource Codeisthe comedyGroundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s weatherman relives the same day over and over again. Gyllenhaal’s Captain Stevens has to relive an eight-minute time loop on a train to encounter the identity of the bomber and the location of the explosive device. This premise is reminiscent of Tony Scott’s sci-fi action thrillerDéjà Vuwith Denzel Washington as a special agent who travels back to the past to prevent a terrorist attack.
InDéjà Vu, Denzel’s character falls in love with a woman he’s trying to save. InSource Code, Stevens grows to like Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), a female passenger on the train who develops chemistry with him even though she doesn’t understand his situation. On the train, Stevens is also under a different identity: a school teacher named Sean Fentress, meaning that everyone on the train sees him as Sean, but spectators will almost always view him as Stevens. This concept of dual identity may remind viewers of features likeJohn Woo’sFace/Offand John Frankenheimer’sSeconds.
Another key inspiration forSource CodeisMurder on the Orient Express(Sidney Lumet’s 1974 feature before Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 version). While Stevens doesn’t exactly match the charm and finesse of detective Hercule Poirot (although that’s due to Stevens' perplexing dilemma), he does have charisma towards Christina and has intriguing interactions with passengers on the train. Just like Poirot searching for a killer on a train in Agatha Christie’s story, Stevens has to analyze each person on the commuter train to figure out who is responsible for planting the bomb.
Edge of Tomorrow(which was released three years afterSource Code) is another sci-fi action feature that tackles a fearful hero (played by Tom Cruise) who constantly goes back to the sametime loopto figure out how to win a war against gigantic aliens. Similar to Cruise’s protagonist in Doug Liman’s film, Gyllenhaal’s Stevens inSource Codealso repeatedly dies and returns to the same time span (like starting over in a video game). While both movies are high-tech,Edge of Tomorrowappears more bombastic and set on a grand scale, whileSource Codeis more of a subtle mystery crime thriller (which may explain whySource Codewas somewhat underrated, and Gyllenhaal is an under-the-radar movie star compared to Tom Cruise’s massive star appeal).
Source Code’s Cast Holds The Complex Story Together
Along with Gyllenhaal and Monaghan, other cast members includeVera Farmiga(known forThe DepartedandUp in the Air) as Colleen Goodwin, another army captain who breaks the news to Stevens that he is actually on life support after fighting in battle. Goodwin and her boss, Dr. Rutledge (Westworldstar Jeffrey Wright) are controlling his body and repeatedly sending him back to the eight-minute time loop to find the train bomber, so they can prevent another attack. Generally, it’s all about a heroic protagonist trying to stop or prevent a disaster, but Stevens is going back in time to an attack that already happened (the train exploded, killing all passengers).
Gyllenhaal is one of the best actors of his generation because he constantly tackles challenging roles in complex thrillers (Donnie Darko,Prisoners,Nightcrawler,Nocturnal Animals). As Stevens, he transforms from a deeply fearful soldier to a skillful hero who uses his expertise from the army to make the most out of a seemingly impossible task. Monaghan’s role as Christine may seem like a simplelove interestfor the male protagonist (like inMission: Impossible III), but she is also a compassionate woman who tries to understand Stevens (even though she sees Sean from her viewpoint) and manages to get through to him in an affectionate way through their insightful conversations as they learn a lot about each other.
Farmiga is focused and precise as Goodwin, a commanding officer who seems to care more about the mission, but is committed to helping Stevens (especially since she understands his horrific experiences in warfare). Jeffrey Wright’s Dr. Rutledge is a double-edged sword because he is an elite scientist who created the “Source Code” program to investigate attacks from the past to stop future incidents, but at the same time, he is using dying soldiers like Stevens to complete his work, making him ingenious and impersonal. Rutledge may have been the role that inspired Wright’s character, the technically proficientArnold Weber in the HBO seriesWestworld.
Source Codeis one of the best films involving time travel because it skillfully combines sci-fi and crime (like Tom Cruise’s other mind-bending thrillerMinority Report), along with some well-choreographed action sequences. This is a ride that audiences should definitely look back on.
