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'Source Code': The movie make-up of Jake Gyllenhaal's thriller

Published Monday, Aug 15 2011, 13:44 BST | By Simon Reynolds | 2 comments

With its bonkers premise and dodgy early trailers, we were surprised when Jake Gyllenhaal's sci-fi thriller Source Code knocked us for six earlier this year. It shouldn't really have been that much of a shock - director Duncan Jones proved he had the goods with Moon and managed to engineer a cracker of a high-concept flick with his second feature. As Source Code debuts on Blu-ray and DVD today, we take a look at the make-up of the train-based thriller.

Groundhog Day
The premise of soldier Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) re-living the same eight minutes shares similarities with Bill Murray's 1993 classic. Whereas Murray's weatherman Phil makes cheeky alterations to his day to win the heart of Andie MacDowell, Gyllenhaal finds himself falling for Michelle Monaghan's teacher Christina... with the added problem of having to diffuse a bomb.

Alfred Hitchcock
"There's two people having breakfast and there's a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that's a surprise. But if it doesn't..." Hitchcock is often quoted as saying. The juggling of suspense and surprise makes Source Code thrilling entertainment, as we know time is ticking for Stevens. Chris Bacon's excellent score, coupled with Gyllenhaal's Cary Grant-like attire and the train setting (a Hitchcock staple) also draw a line back to the legendary Vertigo filmmaker.

Mind-f**kery
Shot into a parallel reality by Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) and Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), Stevens finds himself a guinea pig for the source code's "time-reassignment" (not time travel, as Rutledge makes clear). As his relationship with Christina blossoms, Stevens - living through the body of Sean Fentress - feels a strong desire to stay in the alternate world. Posing existential and philosophical questions, Source Code joins the mind f**k movie club alongside the likes of Mulholland Drive, Donnie Darko, Total Recall and Memento.

Quantum Leap
Scott Bakula's science fiction show Quantum Leap found popularity in the '80s and '90s as its lead character, Sam Beckett, was transported through time, ending up in a different body each week. His quest to get home mirrors that of Gyllenhaal's soldier, whose last memories were of fighting in Afghanistan. Listen very carefully in Source Code and you might be able to pick out the voice of Bakula...

Chesney Hawkes
Duncan Jones's Moon saw Sam Rockwell's stranded lunar astronaut wake up every day to the Chesney Hawkes track 'The One and Only'. The gag worked brilliantly, and it gets a reprise in Source Code through a ringtone (listen out for it in the video below). Jones is such a Chesney fan, he's promised to use it again in his next movie!