Moon<\/strong>, was widely touted as a dreadfully
disturbing psychological affair, and I still rue the fact
that I missed it at the cinema – so maybe it would
have my proverbial cookies after all?<\/p>\n
Short answer: yes.<\/p>\n
Long answer: yeeeesssss, mmm, yes, mmm, thank you,
Duncan, mmmm, Jake Gyllenhaal, hargleblarge he handcuffs
a man to a pole, nrrgghhnnffnnff nargb.<\/p>\n
Long intelligible answer: It certainly does. It turns
out that the film’s content is the complete
opposite of what the trailer would have me believe. The
trailer bigs up the romantic relationship and downplays
the unsettling premise. The film, on the other hand, is
all about the premise, which rules the shop from start
to finish, throwing up questions of morality and ethics
in science, what happens to the universe when we make
decisions, and the nature of a good death. The romance
is a barely-there breath of something sweet and touching
that’s symptomatic of the premise rather than an
event all in itself.<\/p>\n
I keep talking about this magical wonderpremise like
it’s Jesus and I haven’t even explained what
it is. How rude of me. Let’s fix that.<\/p>\n
The premise, without spoiling anything, is that there is
some military science (SCIENCE! more like) that allows a
person to take possession of a dead person’s final
memories, ten minutes before their death. This involves,
of course, a poor bastard (in this case, a
harassed-looking, sweaty Jake Gyllenhaal) being held
prisoner in a Science Tank and forced back into some
dead guy’s brain so that he can solve terrorism
forever. In this case, Jake Gyllenhaal scuba dives
through time and space into ten minutes prior to a
big-ass explosion that detonates an entire train on the
way to Chicago.<\/p>\n
In the process of this, Jake Gyllenhaal observes the
bloody, violent reality of the terrorist attack, and
experiences first-hand the nature of the death the train
passengers had foisted upon them out of the blue. This
raises two issues: firstly, the morality of the military
experiment that forces a man to repeatedly experience
death from which he cannot escape. Secondly, we realise,
along with Jake’s captive captain, that death
without closure is worse than death itself.<\/p>\n
So the reason, then, that there’s this romantic
subplot
anything<\/em>, is less about OH ROMANCE, SAVE THE
LADY, THE MERE PRESENCE OF A WOMANLASS MAKES MAN LOSE
ALL SEMBLENCE OF RATIONALITY AND FLING ASIDE ALL PLANS
AND SCHEMES FOR HER, FOR SHE IS RUBBISH GIRL! WHO
CANNOT SAVE HERSELF! AND HE IS ERECTILE-TISSUE-BRAIN
MAN! WHO THINKS OF NOTHING BUT WHETHER OR NOT HE CAN
BESHAGGERATE A THING! and more about giving this woman
– and her fellow passengers – a chance to
have a good death.<\/p>\n
Wow, that was one hell of a paragraph. What
I’m saying is that
Source Code<\/strong> doesn’t buy into the
“Fuck everything, save the chick!”
spiel wholesale. It touches upon it, but
it’s made emphatically clear through events
in the film that it’s not really about that
at all. And good job too, because we all know that
that kind of carrying-on is insulting to everyone
involved.<\/p>\n
Another thing: although this film deals heavily
with military science – a combination of
fields that stereotypically leaves women out
wholesale – one of the lynchpin characters
is a woman, and she’s not only steely and
full of agency and poise, but she carries a
bucketload of morality and cunning, too. I loved
her. I was very glad she was in it to balance
out the do-stuff-and-explode machismo of Jake
Gyllenhaal Fighting Science.<\/p>\n
That said, he fights science very well, and when
we’re dumped right into the thick of it
along with Mr Gyllenhaal’s beleaguered
captain with as much explanation as he gets
(that is to say, none whatsoever) the tension is
wound so tight that it’s painful.
It’s frightening and paranoia-inducing,
and flavoured with a little pinch of
Groundhog Day<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Overall, yeah!
Source Code <\/strong>is surprising:
it’s a fun and entertaining ride
without being brainless. Also, I did
mention the thing with Jake Gyllenhaal and
he’s in a suit and he’s doing
things and oh god help I’m on
fire.<\/p>\n
YOU SHOULD SEE THIS FILM
BECAUSE:<\/strong><\/p>\n