Eleven years ago, with the release of Richard Kelly’s seminal cult classic Donnie Darko, the thought that I might be one day vying to defend this once prolific director to a dismissive general public and disenfranchised fanbase would have been as counter-intuitive as thoughts come.

Following the theatrical release of Kelly’s freshman effort – which introduced the world to not only one, but two Gyllenhaals – it was widely accepted that the director could in fact do no wrong, and that a long and illustrious career lay ahead as he continued to baffle audiences with his trans-dimensional tales of suburban apocalypse.

Since then, however, everything has changed: a divisive director’s cut, and unofficial sequel and a two poorly received releases later, Kelly is no longer held in such high esteem. He has been derided, his storytelling abilities questioned and his imagination mocked. Nonetheless, with the benefit of hindsight, I cannot help but challenge this new opinion of Kelly as a self-indulgent and impenetrable pulp-existentialist.

Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut

When Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko made its début back in 2001, the cinemagoing public was almost unanimous in its indifference. Well, it would have been if anyone had actually gone to see it. It wasn’t long, however, until overwhelming critical acclaim and persistent word of mouth spread and the film developed a dedicated cult following. With the film’s fans showing an insatiable thirst for more information, eager to make some sense of the film’s most enigmatic complexities, Kelly released a director’s cut in an attempt to maximise his audience’s enjoyment and understanding of the story.

For many, however, the release of the new cut of the movie had the opposite effect, with many viewer’s enjoyment of the film apparently mired by the new and extended scenes. In a somewhat predictable backlash on a film many hadn’t seen coming, stars were hastily deducted and Kelly’s abilities questioned due to a slightly altered pace and an additional 20 minutes of running time. As Kelly delved deeper into his film’s mythology and began to compromise the human element of his story in favour of a greater sense of narrative coherence, the director’s winning streak came to an almost immediate end, and he fell into an underserved disrepute that would haunt his next two features.

But Donnie Darko isn’t a lesser movie simply because Kelly has attempted to elaborate on his initial premise and endeavoured to find a clearer way of telling his story; if anything, it’s gained greater immersive value. The original film was ambitious enough, and while there might be those who miss the margin for interpretation provided by the missing pieces of the puzzle, they underestimate a version of the movie steeped in just as much ambiguity. It’s the same masterpiece, just with a different arrangement.

Southland Tales

The story of Southland Tales‘ troubled production is infamous: lambasted following its début at Cannes, Richard Kelly’s follow-up to cult favourite Donnie Darko re-entered post production for a much needed emergency overhaul – in which the director hacked furiously at a movie rejected by critics as calamitous, self-indulgent and unsalvageable. Even in its heavily edited form, released theatrically eighteen months later, Kelly’s film failed to redeem itself in the eyes of most.

Southland Tales is the sort of movie that features two cars having sex, an unlimited fuel source that can also get you high, and which casts Justin Timberlake only to have him lip-sinc to The Killers’ All These Things That I’ve Done. It is a film of criss-crossing narratives, conflicting genres and one which has an opinion on just about everything. A post-apocalyptic satire with a dream sequence musical interlude, Kelly has constructed a sprawling narrative which encompasses everything from reality television and celebrity culture to terrorism, cyber-censorship and surveillance. Not to mention the important topic of teen horniness.

But while it might flirt with pretension and occasionally border on the obtuse, Southland Tales is better for its eccentricities than it is worse off. Kelly has crafted an intricate and rewarding tale that – while initially confounding – has more and more to give with every viewing. Casting actors otherwise pigeonholed, Kelly has wrung interesting – if hardly naturalistic – performances from Dwayne Johnson and Sarah Michelle Gellar, while finding an unexpected emotional centre with an uncharacteristically toned-down and heartfelt double-performance from professional idiot Seann William Scott.

The Box

Kelly’s most recent offering is a comparably personal tale of familial and philosophical conflict. Starring James Marsden and Cameron Diaz as partial representations of his parents, the film asks what you might do if offered extraordinary riches at the expense of the life of a stranger. With the couple’s decision leading them to discover a society rife with conspiracy and their deal with the devil having unforeseen implications for their only child, the two actors wring almost unbearable tension out of a relatively simple concept.

While the hallmarks of a Kelly production are indeed present and accounted for – from the inexplicable water coffins to the mind-bendingly poignant final reveal – The Box makes a conscious attempt to dial down the crazy in order to appeal to a wider audience. Although decidedly more commercial than Donnie Darko and Southland Tales, however, this is no Hollywood sell-out, the film proving characteristically rife with intrigue and underscored by a welcome intelligence.

With one character’s face blown off and another’s toes missing, this is a movie that spends as much time outside the box as it does within. Packing zombies, aliens and a twist that isn’t so much unpredictable as hauntingly inevitable, Kelly has produced another winning blend of genres that successfully transcends its constituent influences to become more than the sum of its parts. When such parts include an ex X-Man and Cameron “The Holiday” Diaz, that’s all the more surprising.

All in all, then, Richard Kelly isn’t some one-hit-wonder turned laughing stock. To write his movies off simply because they fail to live up to the standards set by his original cut of Donnie Darko would be to do his subsequent works a great disservice. He is an auteur, a filmmaker unwilling to compromise his own vision, however impenetrable and non-commercial it may prove. A Richard Kelly film is one that straddles genres, as well as time and space; one which casts actors against type and juxtaposes music with striking visuals; a movie which strains under the very weight of its filmmaker’s limitless ambition, with a bullet in its eye and a paradox at its heart.

With only three such films to his name, I can only hope that there are many more to come. And so should you.

Jake Gyllenhaal is in talks to star in The Way, Way Back, which will be directed by The Descendants team, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Playlist have reported.

The project, which has taken years to get off the ground, tells the story of a teenage boy who over the course of summer forms a friendship that gives him the strength to stand up to his bullying stepfather and reconnect with his mother.

The film will be directed by Faxon and Rash with Mandate Pictures, Paul Young and Shawn Levy all producing.

Young brought the script by Faxon and Rash to Shawn Levy, then titled The Way Back, all the way back in 2007. He immediately took a shine to it, committed to direct and Fox Searchlight gave it a greenlight.

Unfortunately there were many complications along the way, including the WGA strike of 2007, Mandate Pictures scooping it up and Tom Bezucha (The Family Stone) becoming attached for a short while in 2009.

Now, two years later, the project is in the hands of producer Kevin Walsh, with a new title of The Way, Way Back, and things finally seem to be on a roll with Jake Gyllenhaal in talks for the lead role.

It’s a good job that Faxon and Rash know how to be patient, with The Descendants only making it to the big screen this year after beginning in 2006.

Developments are happening though, so we will tell you more when we see any more sign of movement.

Duncan Jones’ Source Code, written by Ben Ripley and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan, was a fantastic follow-up to his 2009 debut, Moon, taking almost quadruple its $32m. budget at the box office alone this spring.

One of the film’s producers, Mark Gordon, has now sold a TV version of it to CBS, THR report, turning the concept into a weekly episodic format.

Gordon is an Oscar-nominated producer of both film and television programmes, whose list of credits is very impressive, including feature films Saving Private Ryan (which earned him his nomination), Speed, The Day After Tomorrow, and TV shows Reaper, Grey’s Anatomy, and Criminal Minds.

Initially, I thought the idea of developing Source Code into a television show was a terrible idea, because there’s almost no way that the TV show would be anything like as brilliant as the film. But thinking about it a little more, I don’t think it would necessarily have to be as good as the film to still be good. The concept of Source Code, when you think about it, lends itself very well to being turned into a weekly show.

“The action/procedural follows three former federal agents who are part of a top-secret program. Each week, they’ll use “Source Code” technology to jump into the consciousness of people involved in tragic events.”

The only possible/probable pitfall is that, like many shows of its kind (and especially those at CBS – CSI, I’m looking at you), it will no doubt have a very formulaic structure for every episode, and thus quickly start to feel repetitive. Having said this, CSI has of course turned into a major franchise watched across the globe by millions of people every week, who clearly don’t mind if the majority of the episodes have the same basic structure. If it keeps you entertained, does it really matter if it’s entirely original? (An argument can of course be made either way.)

Regardless, I think I’m actually rather warming to the prospect of a Source Code TV show. I love the film so much, and my love for it won’t change regardless of the quality of the adaptation. Steven Maeda, who’s written for TV’s Lost, Lie To Me, and The X-Files, is on board to pen the new programme, and with any luck, Gordon will get a brilliant cast to star, and some great directors on board to shoot it. Hopefully that means I’ll just have more stories set in a world with Source Code to enjoy. More news as we get it.

It was only back in June when it was announced that Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) was in negotiations to star as Jake Gyllenhaal’s wife in the upcoming End of Watch, and two and a half months later, principal photography for the film has already wrapped.

Collider were lucky enough to be invited onto the set during the filming, and they’ve put up the first official images from the film, as well as its full synopsis:

“A powerful story of family, friendship, love, honor and courage, End Of Watch stars Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as young Los Angeles police officers Taylor and Zavala as they patrol the city’s meanest streets of south central Los Angeles.

Giving the story a gripping, first-person immediacy, the action unfolds entirely through footage from the handheld HD cameras of the police officers, gang members, surveillance cameras, and citizens caught in the line of fire to create a riveting portrait of the city’s darkest, most violent corners, the cops who risk their lives there every day, and the price they and their families are forced to pay.”

It sounds awesome. The film’s been written and directed by David Ayer, who wrote the Academy Award-winning Training Day, as well as co-writing The Fast and the Furious, and directing Street Kings, so you know his credits pretty much speak for themselves, which is why I’m so excited about this film.

Any film led by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña is going to be something to look forward to, and when you add David Ayer behind the camera and penning the script and Anna Kendrick as Gyllenhaal’s wife, you know you’re on to a damn good winning combination.

Steve Weintraub, the Collider reporter who visited the set, said,

“End of Watch is going to look and feel completely different than any cop movie you’ve ever seen.”

And that’s such good news. It’s always great to hear of writer/directors stretching themselves to do things differently:

• “The film was shot with unconventional camera coverage. In addition to the normal camera set up, Gyllenhaal and Peña also have cameras strapped to their chest in order to get a POV shot. The actors operate the cameras themselves and have to think about the camera in terms of a character.
• The cameras are referred to in the actual film, as Gyllenhaal’s character straps a small webcam-like camera onto his chest.  The way they’ll get away with this is Gyllenhaal plays a cop going to night school and he’s taking a filmmaking class. So he gets Pena’s character to also wear a camera as he’s planning on making a short film (or something like that).
• Writer-director David Ayer is going for an “in your face” POV style.  At times it will feel like a first person shooter video game. In addition, the movie will use camera footage from unorthodox sources like gang members’ cellphone cameras, dashcams from inside cop cars, TV news footage, citizens’ cameras, and surveillance cameras.  However, at some points, the movie will look like your typical film with Ayer shooting select scenes with normal coverage.  He’s going to mix it up.  The thing to know is that it’s not all found footage.”

Awesome. There’s no word yet on when it’s going to be released, as it’s an indie film without the backing of a major studio, shot in just twenty-two days. It’s expected to come out sometime next year though, and I think we should all keep our fingers crossed for it getting a UK release too, because this is a film I think we’ll all enjoy. Without further ado, here are the great first two images. As usual, click to enlarge.

After making a fantastic debut in 2009 with Moon, winning himself a BAFTA for an Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer, all eyes were on Duncan Jones to see how he would fare with his follow-up project. Source Code does not disappoint.

There are few young British directors working at the moment that I think are showing both current excellence and incredible promise for the future, and Jones is certainly one of them. His debut was by far one of the best I’ve seen in years, and this second film confirms that his talents are not to be underestimated; his creative vision is a force to be reckoned with.

Source Code’s basic premise is arguably nothing groundbreaking, and similar territory has been covered in cinema by the sci-fi genre in years previous. But to me, a film doesn’t necessarily have to be groundbreaking to be worthwhile. If the genre is yet to produce a perfect representation of that story, then all the more reason for writers to try and devise it. And I think Source Code is as close to that perfection as I’ve ever seen.

At the film’s outset, Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, Captain Colter Stevens, awakes on a train bound for Chicago in a body that he soon realises is not his, opposite a woman he does not recognise who calls him Sean and talks to him as if they are friends. Minutes later, just as this woman tells him that everything is going to be okay, we get the first of many brilliantly shot explosions that shoots down the train, engulfing everything in its path.

It is here that we get to see the second world of the film, outside of the Source Code. Captain Stevens is rocketed back into a darkened capsule, where he finds a woman on a screen in front of him in a military uniform. It is she, Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), who briefs him on his mission and tells him about the Source Code. The technology has been developed to allow a person to experience the last eight minutes of another person’s life, and to exist in their reality for those eight minutes. Goodwin tells Stevens that a bomb is on the train, and it is his mission to identify the bomber; a second wave of attacks is imminent, and he is their only hope at stopping them.

She sends him back, into the Source Code, and he awakes at the same moment we first meet him, with the same minute details repeating before – a spilt cup of coffee, a can being opened, the woman opposite him, Christina (Michelle Monaghan), talking to him – but everything is a little bit different each time he goes back. Every time he goes back, he struggles to find anything useful, returning to the capsule with just a sliver of new information following the bomb’s repeated detonations.

With the nature of these kinds of sci-fi films, where time is re-lived again and again, it is difficult to go into significant detail about the film without delving into spoiler territory, and so I will stop myself here from further discussions of the plot. I know there will be many out there who missed Source Code at the cinema and would like to see it for the first time now, and I would hate to spoil your enjoyment of the film in any way.

The danger of such a premise as Source Code’s is of course that it will soon begin to feel repetitive. The same eight minutes re-lived again and again is of course a pitfall for any story to become uninteresting for its reader or viewer. But Jones and writer Ben Ripley seem to avoid this problem with ease; not once in every repeated journey in and out of the Source Code does repetition ever feel evident to the viewer, nor does it feel stressed to do things differently. Jones’ direction is remarkable in being able to ensure that the story is kept alive and enthralling throughout.

And supporting Jones is a fantastic cast. Gyllenhaal’s career is one that I have always thought has been exceptional. I first saw him, like most, in Donnie Darko ten years ago, and his subsequent roles in films like The Good Girl, Brokeback Mountain, Proof (a little-known but brilliant film), Jarhead, Zodiac, and Love And Other Drugs at the start of this year have proven what a terrific actor he is. Source Code is yet another role that he performs outstandingly.

Similarly, Michelle Monaghan shines in her role. The love interest in a film like this could easily have been underwhelming, but the chemistry between Monaghan and Gyllenhaal is very believable. After finding some success in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang opposite Robert Downey, Jr. and Gone Baby Gone opposite Casey Affleck, Monaghan seems to be cementing her worth in this film just as Jones does, proving that she too is a rising star.

I think one of the things I loved most about this film was its attention to detail. When you re-live just eight minutes over a period of a ninety-minute film, you have to pay attention to the details to keep your audience engrossed, and Jones and Ripley have done just that. And if you have the capabilities to watch this film on Blu-Ray, I highly recommend you do just that, because the visual quality is so impressive; high definition was made to show off a film like this, letting you appreciate all its tiny details.

Perhaps the most interesting motif that recurs throughout is the simple phrase, ‘Everything is going to be okay.’ I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I thought its appearance through the film was perfect. At times said in ignorance, in honesty, in fear, in desperation, those few little words come back just enough to be memorable without being repetitive, and just like the characters in and out of the Source Code, we can never know whether or not the words will prove true.

What can be said with certainty, however, is that Jones is a director here to stay. Source Code is an immense second film from him that shows there is much talent that British directors have to offer, and with Jones currently at work writing his third film, I’m already excited to see what he’ll bring to the big screen next. You can be sure that it’s going to be something incredible.

Film: ****½ (4.5/5)

Special Features

Reviewed by Jon Lyus

I reviewed Source Code on its theatrical release and spoke to Duncan Jones soon afterwards and while the answers he gave on my own specific problems with the film were considered and convincing I wanted to hear how he would approach the commentary track knowing that there is much to talk about, and much explaining to do. Very mild spoilers from here on in.

The commentary track, featuring Jones with writer Ben Ripley and Jake Gyllenhaal, has a lot to enjoy if you’re a hardened sci-fi fan interested in the background and influences on the time-shift device but there’s a far more interesting story of how the film came about, the decisions made during (and after) the filming and on the consequences of the ending. Jones reveals that he had two endings (neither of them the one I expected) and how the litany of doomed relationships continues far beyond the closing credits.

From the technical aspects of filming on the Red camera and the light sourcing in the pod, and the discussion of the budget (which was relatively low, but it certainly doesn’t look like it) to the challenges encumbered at the scene when the bomber is revealed, and how it’s really the first time the film actually stops. Jones’s take on his way of filming is very interesting; the director is a safety net or sorts, which fosters a tone of improvisation on the set, and how much of the film’s tone and direction was chosen in editing suite.  The discussion of the ending is present of course and Jones and Ripley explain their thoughts behind it and this is one example of the interesting mode of collaboration between the two and how Jones brought the film to life from the written word.

This commentary is the real highlight. The other extras are listed below and there are some excellently designed small featurettes explaining the science behind it – think Aubrey Beardsley designing pages of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and you’re nearly there. The usual ‘it was great to work with’ moments are there as is an option to watch the film with pop ups on screen to allow you to flow off at a tangent which I can never understand.

Highly recommended, in all arenas.

• Audio commentary with Jake Gyllenhaal, director Duncan Jones and writer Ben Ripley
• Cast and Crew insights
• Access Source Code featurette
• Focal Points

Features: ***½~ (3.5/5)

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/08/15/source-code-blu-ray-review/feed/ 0 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/06/15/anna-kendrick-to-be-jake-gyllenhaal%e2%80%99s-wife-in-cop-drama-end-of-watch/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/06/15/anna-kendrick-to-be-jake-gyllenhaal%e2%80%99s-wife-in-cop-drama-end-of-watch/#comments Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:00:37 +0000 Kenji Lloyd http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=93002

Anna Kendrick is in negotiations to star as the wife of Jake Gyllenhaal in upcoming cop drama, End of Watch, Variety reports.

Also in negotiations is Natalie Martinez, who would play the role of Michael Peña’s wife.

End of Watch has been written and is to be directed by David Ayer, who wrote the Academy Award-winning Training Day and co-wrote The Fast and the Furious’ screenplay, and who has shown with Harsh Times and Street Kings that he’s got great talent behind the camera too.

The film follows,

“The longtime partnership of two LAPD officers [Gyllenhaal and Peña] as they confront marriage, love, fatherhood and the harsh realities of the Los Angeles streets. Kendrick and Martinez will play the officers’ love interest.”

Kendrick, last seen in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as Michael Cera’s sister, is a rising star also to be seen in 2009’s Oscar-nominated Up in the Air, and a role like this is definitely something to look forward to from her. I’m a big fan of Gyllenhaal’s too, and I think they’d make a great on-screen couple, which is a necessity in a film in which the cops’ home lives play an important role too.

Fans of the Twilight saga can look forward to seeing Kendrick return as Jessica Stanley in Breaking Dawn – Part 1 in November this year. And she’ll also be starring opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Bryce Dallas Howard in 50/50, which is due out on the same day as Breaking Dawn, so with some great films lined up for herself, we can hopefully expect to see more and more of Kendrick as her popularity rises.

Filming on End of Watch is expected to begin over the summer, and I’m already excited about the finished product. Ayer is exceptionally talented, and if it’s released next year, it will be the first film he’s directed in four years, and the first he’s written in seven, so I can’t wait to see what he’s been working on in his absence.

Duncan Jones’ Moon is one of my favourite films of recent times so to say that I’m excited about seeing it, as well as ridiculously jealous of those who have seen it at previews already, would be something of an understatement.

In advance of the film’s release Summit Entertainment have released an interesting infographic which they’ve sent over to us that explores the various scenarios explored in the film. I have to say that it has revealed a little more about the film that I would have liked before watching it so if you want to go in cold it’s probably best not to look at it in any detail.

If you’re excited about Source Code; check out Jon’s review here.

We’ve teamed up with Optimum Releasing to offer 15 lucky readers the chance to win a pair of tickets to attend the ultimate Duncan Jones double bill screening of SOURCE CODE and MOON, to celebrate SOURCE CODE’s release in cinemas April 1st.

SOURCE CODE and MOON are Duncan Jones’ only two cinematic features to date and are being shown back-to back at this exclusive event!

The double bill screening will be taking place Wednesday 30^th March at 6 for 6.30pm start at a Central London Location.

When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he’s ever known, he learns he’s part of a government experiment called the “Source Code,” a program that enables him to cross over into another man’s identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack.

Filled with mind-boggling twists and heart-pounding suspense, Source Code is a smart action-thriller directed by Duncan Jones (Moon) also starring Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Due Date), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Departed), and Jeffrey Wright (Quantum of Solace, Syriana).

You can follow all our Source Code coverage here and all our Moon coverage which was rather extensive here.

To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets to the double bill screening of SOURCE CODE and MOON, simply answer the following question using the form below:

How many minutes does Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) have to complete his mission?

1. 20 minutes
2. 8 minutes
3. 60 minutes

Source Code is in Cinemas April 1st.

Become a fan of SOURCE CODE on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SourceCodeUK

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

HeyUGuys small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Monday 28th March 12.00 midday GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Terms and Conditions:

• Prize is a pair of tickets to the double bill screening of SOURCE CODE and MOON at 6.00 for 6.30pm start at a Central London Location
• Winners will be notified by email
• Winners must be able to attend the double bill screening on the evening of 30^th March
• In order to gain entry into the event, winners must print off their confirmation email and show this to door staff upon arrival
• There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions
• Travel and accommodation is not included

Duncan Jones’ second film comes to us with a wave of expectation, carrying with it the hopes that the British director can follow up his award scooping debut Moon with something better, something to cement his reputation as one of the most exciting talents of this new century.

Source Code, released on the 1st of April against Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, does indeed make good on the promise shown, though the film lacks the soul of Moon it is a very strong and engaging thriller with its head, if not its heart, in the right place.

Beginning with shots of a commuter train thundering towards Chicago in the early morning we see Jake Gyllenhaal’s character Colter Stevens wake with a start, confused and apparently in mid conversation with a woman opposite him whom he does not recognise. His senses are heightened and every detail of the train is noted and he tries to shake off the confusion, not helped by the woman opposite , Michelle Monaghan’s Christina, calling him Sean. Stumbling to the bathroom and to a mirror where a confused face, not his own, stares back at him his confusion is our confusion, something that isn’t helped by the sudden explosion on the train, killing all of the passengers including Christina, Colter and Sean – whoever he is.

It is then we get into the Source Code and the search for answers really begins.

In talking about the film I’ll naturally mosey into spoiler territory, but I’ll save the big spoilers for my discussion of the ending later on, I’ll warn you. But to begin with – music.

The news that scheduling conflicts would keep Clint Mansell from scoring Source Code was unfortunate for fans of the composer who did such great things for Jones’ first film, and as the titles roll over shots of the doomed train following the track towards Chicago Chris Bacon’s score is evocative of Bernard Herrmann, not least North By Northwest, whose ghost haunts this film in the beginning until it finds its feet and the story unravels. The theme of the innocent man thrust into a terrifying situation was used by Hitchcock many times, and Source Code marries the search for a train bomber with the search for the identity of Captain Colter Stevens, who finds himself not in Iraq with his helicopter squadron as expected but in a strange cockpit with unknown faces on a screen talking to him. The quest for identity is something this film shares with Moon, and at first Vera Farmiga’s unknown military officer, Goodwin, speaks very like Gerty, impassioned and to the job, only with less emotional connection to Colter, and little patience to explain what he’s doing, or what Source Code is.

When it comes the explanation for how Colter Stevens is in another body, and why he is being sent back to relive the final eight minutes of a passenger’s life on the train is given quickly, using the words ‘quantum’ and ‘parallel’ and some sort of ‘temporal afterglow’ and while the military minds behind this classified project seem certain we, like Colter, remain unconvinced. He is told that another attack is planned and the bomber probably left the train before it blew up. Eager to save lives Colter refuses to find the bomber instead wanting to get everyone off of the train and is told that what he does in the Source Code will not affect the real world – it is a projection. Then we are thrust back in time again, and with Colter Stevens, are back on the train with eight minutes to find the bomb and the bomber before the train explodes.

In his discussions with Truffaut Hitchcock defined the difference between surprise and suspense as having two men sitting at a table with a bomb hidden under it – suspense is showing the audience the bomb while the two carry on their conversation, surprise is having the bomb explode without anyone knowing it was there. Jones substitutes a fast moving train for a table and moving from the initial surprise of the train explosion the film continues on a recurring eight minutes of tangible suspense, with each return to the doomed train yielding more answers to the bomber’s identity just as each time returning to the strange Source Code environment helps Colter piece together his current reality. Thankfully the suspense is bolstered by some imaginative camerawork, doing a good and necessary job in differentiating each eight minutes, and Gyllenhaal is thoroughly compelling in the lead here.

Ben Ripley’s script does a good job of setting up the two mysteries and Jones’ solid direction allows each to remain separate until the need to bring them together arises. Seeing Jones work with another, more conventional, sci-fi premise is bracing as he brings a cohesion and engagement to the narrative with a confidence and sense of fun that elevates the film above its Twilight Zone-esque familiars, notably two in the cinema at the moment – The Adjustment Bureau and Limitless. The subplot of reconciliation with Colter’s father is genuinely moving and provide Gyllenhaal’s best moments in the film, and Jeffrey Wright as the man in charge of the Source Code is great fun, although his delivery wavers into James Earl Jones territory when his blood is up.  Monaghan does good work with a character who on the page came across as thoroughly one dimensional and at journey’s end part of the reason it works is the life she brings to the role. And yes, the dulcet tones of Chesney Hawkes make an appearance too.

The device of resetting time allows the story to build in layers rather than on a linear pathway, each return revealing another piece of the puzzle, while the real world mystery of the Source Code fades slightly and when the answers come it is an anti climax, a discussion rather than a discovery. Initially I thought this was a mistake, and the film had given up one of its mysteries too easily, but Jones knew exactly what he was doing, setting us up for the end, which is where we need to stop those who would not be spoiled except to say that Source Code is a very solid piece of work, a lot of fun with Gyllenhaal in particular giving a powerful performance. Fans of decent sci-fi will love it, fans of Moon will be intrigued to see Duncan Jones riding the Hollywood train while maintaining his own character, and it deserves to do well if for nothing else so we can see what Jones has in store for us next.

Now, the Ending. Here is a spoiler warning.

We discover that ‘narrow’ parameters for entry into the Source Code necessitates near brain death and we see that the real Colter Stevens is half a body after being ‘killed’ in action in Iraq and now he lies with his brain exposed wired up to the machine capable of throwing him back in time. Once the bomber is found and the information is gathered it is understood that Colter’s memory will be wiped and the death he seeks, once the realisation comes, will be denied him. He convinces Goodwin to throw him back on the train one last time at which point he saves the day, gets the girl and when the eight minutes are up Goodwin turns off the life support machine and time in the Source Code stops.

If the film had left us here I would have been happy in the ignorance of what happened next. The film had come to a natural conclusion in emotional and narrative terms. Instead time continues even though Colter is dead and he (Sean) and Christina get off the train and we are shown the beginnings of a very happy ending. It is like witnessing Sam Bell returning to Earth at the end of Moon, staggering his way home and embracing his confused daughter as they both cry and credits roll. But this, still is not the end.

While in his final eight minutes in the Source Code, not only getting the girl and trapping the bomber Colter phones his Dad, and there is a genuinely affecting moment here, he also sends a text to Goodwin – remembering that nothing in the Source Code affects the real world. After the happy ending described above we then see Goodwin coming into work that morning and receiving the text from Colter telling her how he averted disaster – a disaster she and the Source Code would now not be involved with. Thus the day is saved and Colter still lies wired up to the Source Code machine and may do forever more, ignorant of the truth and denied any catharsis.  I have no problem with this twist, yet felt a little cheated that we had spent so long desiring and witnessing a lost soldier and an ailing man’s escape from the Source Code prison only to have it teased and then pulled from us.

I was reminded of Brazil and the moment the grim fate of Sam Lowry is revealed – this hits so hard because the film sets up Sam Lowry as the only man opposing the huge force of the totalitarian state, and while the happy ending (which we find to be false) is unlikely when the rug is pulled from under our feet it makes complete sense and is all the more depressing for it. Perhaps it speaks to the selfless nature of Colter Stevens the soldier that he saved lives, and gave his Father the resolution he needed, but by remaining trapped in the Source Code the film’s ending felt a little uneven, whereas Brazil’s twist of the knife felt completely correct, Source Code’s felt like a stab in the dark.

Nonetheless I had a lot of fun with Source Code. Jones has made good on Moon’s potential and we see a very talented director emerging, in command of his craft and pushing his boundaries. It is relatively unusual to be excited by what a director will do next and I want this film to do well if for no other reason than to have Duncan Jones working again, and soon.

****~ (4/5)

I’m not sure how much I like the idea of seeing the five opening minutes of a film when we’re close to being able to see the whole thing. I’ve written and posted about Duncan Jones’ Source Code more than any other film in the last month or so, and I am really excited to be seeing it very soon, but I’ll not be watching the video Yahoo put up, but I wanted to put it up on the site in case you do.

Certainly the buzz coming out of SXSW where the film had it’s premiere last Friday is extremely positive and it will be intriguing to see how Jones handles a more conventional sci-fi tale than his first film.

So if you fancy it here’s the first five minutes.

Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Peters and is released in the UK on the 1st of April.

Synopsis: Directed by Duncan Jones (MOON) SOURCE CODE centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal, JARHEAD) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.

I unfortunately got to SXSW a little too late to see Duncan Jones’ new movie, Source Code but from what we hear, it went down a treat! I guess we’ll just have to wait till it hits UK screenings now since it was the only showing of the movie.

Instead, we have this brand new international poster for the movie which hits UK cinemas1st April. Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright and Russell Peters.

If you’ve missed the two trailers which have been released for the movie over the past few months, you can catch up here and here.

Synopsis: Directed by Duncan Jones (MOON) SOURCE CODE centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal, JARHEAD) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.

What do you think of this new poster? We find it a little odd!

Source: IMPA

Yesterday I made the, frankly stupid, prediction that we’d post nothing more on Duncan Jones’ Source Code until it’s premiere at SXSW tonight. How wrong could I be?

Three new stills and a featurette’s worth it seems, as that is what we have on offer for you today, and the stills have Jake Gyllenhaal getting up close and personal with the bomb he is repeatedly sent back in time to find (but not, importantly, defuse). Gyllenhaal stars with Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright in Jones’ tale of time travelling and train bombing.

SOURCE CODE centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal, JARHEAD) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.

Here are the new pics from our friends at Sky Movies, the video follows below,

The featurette features a load of new footage and has talking heads from the writer, the producer, actors and an astrophysicist – so you really have to watch it don’t you?

Apple have in HD, but you can view it below,

The Source Code tease continues, with another (and probably the last) piece of the Source Code puzzle we’ll see before the film hits the big screens, and the new TV spot released today will turn heads.

There has been a lot of marketing for the film, which is great to see as Duncan Jones has a lot of admirers following his wonderful debut Moon, and we’re all hoping that Source Code will be every bit as good.

For those not in the know, Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Peters and is released on the 1st of April, so get that date marked.

JoBlo debuted the latest TV spot for the film, which has its premiere at SXSW in Austin in a few days time and this short clip gives a decent overview of what to expect, with the benefit of a little new footage for hardened Coders to pour through.

Two new images from Source Code for you this morning, including a decent look at the source code ‘chamber’ from which Jake Gyllenhaal jumps into the body of a man who died in a train bombing eight minutes before the fateful event. Living these eight minutes over and over Gyllenhaal’s character has to find the bomber and prevent a further threatened bombing.

It’s a great premise and Jones has lined up Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright and Michelle Monaghan to aid Gyllenhaal. It has its premiere ay SXSW in Austin in a  few day’s time and we can’t wait to see how Jones’ follow up to Moon plays out.

Directed by Duncan Jones (MOON) SOURCE CODE centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal, JARHEAD) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.

These pics came from the ever excellent Wet Dark and Wild and IHJ

There has been rather a lot of Source Code content on the site of late, and while this presents no ethical problems as we’re very much looking forward to Moonman Duncan Jones’ next, there is increasingly a desire to actually see the film rather than be teased endlessly.

So, while we wait for the SXSW screening to come around, or for those not heading Austinwards next week the 1st of April will suffice, here’s a new poster. It doesn’t match up to Olly Moss’s fine work but it’s diverting enough, though I can’t help but think it’s a little early 90s action thriller DVD cover. What exactly is that firing into Jake Gyllenhaal’s chest anyway? The future? A tiny train?

Think of the posters for Moon, then look at the various posters for Jones’ follow up – I can understand the need to sell the film to as many people as possible but if this was the first advertising I had seen then I’d be mentally adding it to my Lovefilm queue.

If you want a synopsis look down, if you want to skip the synopsis and take in the poster  you can look down further,

Directed by Duncan Jones (MOON) SOURCE CODE centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal, JARHEAD) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.

 

Empire have gifted this to the world, so you know who to thank.

There is just over a week to go until the Austin faithful get to witness the premiere of Duncan Jones’ follow up to the wonderful Moon, when Source Code hits SXSW.

We’ve seen a recent slew of trailers, clips and the occasional poster for this film, which sees Jake Gyllenhaal as part of a covert government project where he inhabits another person’s body, a passenger on a train which explodes killing everyone on board, for eight minutes in which he has to find the bomber.

It’s a great premise with a strong script and with Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright and Michelle Monaghan on board Jones should have another winner on his hands.

The epic website Man Made Movies pointed us to a short video going behind the scenes of the film and it’s the perfect primer for Source Code, a film which we get to see here in the UK on the 1st of April.

One of the things we loved about Duncan Jones’ debut Moon was how flipping great it was. It thrust Jones into the spotlight and while we wait for his Blade Runneresque future shock Mute we are in the fortunate position of nearing the release of his follow up film Source Code.

Jake Gyllenhaal leads the cast of Jeffrey Wright, Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga on an adventure in the near future using classified technology to uncover the identity of a train bomber before he strikes again. Gyllenhaal has to relive the last eight minutes of a man who died on the train using this time bending body swapping tech, eight minutes over and over until he finds the bomber. It’s a great premise and the trailers have sold it pretty well to me already – where Jones is involved I’ll be there.

Lovefilm have an exclusive clip which they’ve soldered to their webpage so we can’t embed it here – instead click here to watch.

UK people will be able to catch the whole thing on the 1st of April.

Summit Entertainment have posted the second official US trailer for sci-fi thriller Source Code.

Directed by BAFTA award-winner Duncan Jones (Moon), Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Peters, Cas Anvar and Michael Arden.

Source Code will be released in the UK on April 1.

Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes with a jolt to find himself on a commuter train heading into Chicago. Although the other passengers all seem to know him, he has absolutely no idea where – or even who – he is. The last thing Colter remembers is flying a helicopter mission in Iraq, but here he is in someone else’s life going through someone else’s morning commute. Before he can do anything an express train zooms by on the opposite track and a bomb explodes, seemingly killing Colter and all the other passengers. Colter comes to in an isolation chamber, strapped to a seat, and wearing his military flight suit. He still has no idea what’s happening, except that he’s being spoken to by mission controller Carol Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), who calmly recites a series of memory questions to which Colter is shocked to realize he knows the answers.

He learns he’s part of an operation called “Beleaguered Castle,” but before he can progress any further, Goodwin starts up the machinery and suddenly Colter is back on the train, at exactly the same time he first appeared there, once again speeding through Chicago with the same group of commuters. Colter figures he’s in some kind of simulation exercise, with his task being to find the bomber on board the train before it goes off again. Living the explosion over and over, Colter must uncover the identity of the bomber, while also figuring out what the alternative universe of “Beleaguered Castle” is. Adding to the puzzle, Colter uses the second chance opportunities to make peace with his father, and to find romance with a fellow passenger on the train.

Watch the trailer below:

Here’s the first clip from Duncan Jones’ new movie, Source Code which is his first movie since the fantastic Moon which was released last year.

Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Peters and is released in the UK 11th March.

If you’ve missed the two trailers which have been released for the movie over the past few months, you can catch up here and here.

Synopsis: Directed by Duncan Jones (MOON) SOURCE CODE centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal, JARHEAD) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.

In the clip, we get to find out a little bit of the threat which Jake Gylenhaal and down-town Chicago are facing. Check it out below!

Our friends over at Wet Dark and Wild, (a shrine to all things Jake Gyllenhall) have some scanned image from the latest issue of Empire Magazine which show some new shots from Moon director, Duncan Jones’ latest movie, Source Code.

Synopsis: Directed by Duncan Jones (MOON) SOURCE CODE centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal, JARHEAD) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.

Source Code also stars Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Peters and is released in the UK 1st April so not too long to wait!

Check out the images below which you can click to enlarge.