Super Frat

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan star in this much more serious and action-packed version of Groundhog Day.  Gyllenhaal is a soldier that must relieve a commuter train disaster over and over again, eight minutes at a time, so he can figure out who bombed a train.  The bomber has a bigger one coming.

Most of the movie rests on Gyllenhaal’s performance and he’s engaging as the earnest pilot trying to figure out what’s going on with the bomb and what’s going on with his life.  It’s hard to describe more without giving away the surprises.

Director Duncan Jones doles out the information at a nice steady pace.  The movie suffers a little bit from “Why didn’t he already know that?” and “Why can’t they just answer his questions the first time?”  But by the end of the first reel, it settles down and it’s not really a problem.

Sci-fi geeks will probably tear apart writer Ben Ripley’s pseudo-science, but the movie is paced well enough and the characters likable enough that you don’t really care.  And once you get out in the parking lot, you can pretty much forgive the film makers.

Like a lot of movies, the ultimate message is, make the most out of life, no matter what kind of life you might have or how much time you have.  Because you never know when you might get blown up on a train.

Yes, all the rumors are true.  It’s a decent flick worth seeing.  I give Source Code 8 out of 10 keggers.