Reviews

The movie boils down to one character, acting under enormous pressures of space and time, racing to solve a mystery. In this case, that may be good enough.

By Kirk Honeycutt, from The Hollywood Reporter

Confused? Good. Director Duncan Jones has you right where he wants you. His "Source Code" is a gripping mind game that could cause a headache to describe, much less figure out. But what's really cool about the film -- in addition to Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as Stevens -- is how Jones makes sure that we don't know any more than Stevens does, right up till the end. And even then; sadly, the ending falters under the forced logic of the setup. But the ride is a lot more fun than the one Stevens is taking.

By Bill Goodykoontz, from The Arizona Republic

Like its protagonist, "Source Code" gets a lot done in a short time, and by the end of a concise and packed hour and a half, there's a sense of having completed a full journey. Vera Farmiga, as the officer conducting the experiment, nicely calibrates a soldier's path from cold efficiency to humanity, and Jeffrey Wright as the ambitious scientist behind the project creates a detailed portrait of a skewed soul. Meanwhile, Michelle Monaghan, as one of the unwitting victims of the tragedy, is lovely and vivid. The notion of a man's falling in love with a dead woman's shadow is a familiar motif in high art. It's no less potent in this crowd-pleasing picture.

By Mick LaSalle, from San Francisco Chronicle