Getting Sourcey

Movie double the other night, consisting of the wholly brilliant Source Code and the wholly not great Gulliver’s Travels.

Source Code is high concept science fiction (which I’m a fan of, in case I haven’t mentioned it before) and is a thoroughly entertaining watch. Jake Gyllenhaal gives his best performance since Donnie Darko and Vera Farmiga is excellent providing the moral heart of the film. 

The intriguing story sets up two separate but equally compelling mysteries at the same time: who’s responsible for the attack on the train, and what’s really going on with Jake Gyllenhaal’s character back in the present. The whole thing plays out like a incredibly dark episode of Quantum Leap (yet somehow it still works). I won’t spoil the plot any more than I already have, but needless to say it’s definitely worth a watch.

It’s Duncan Jones’ second film, following on from the outstanding Moon (it’s a crime that more people haven’t seen that film). If he continues on in this vein then you can expect big things from Bowie Jnr in the future, as long as he avoids remaking Labyrinth with his dad.

Then there was Gulliver’s Travels which wasn’t very good, except for the always entertaining Jason Segal (with an unfortunate British accent) and a stand-out performance from Chris O’Dowd, of IT Crowd fame. Considering he’s mostly sharing the screen with Billy Connolly and Jack Black, it’s a testament to his comic timing that he steals every scene he’s in. No wonder he’s making waves in Hollywood now.