I recall a discussion surrounding this film in a university classroom in the 2nd year of my PhD. A student had presented a paper contrasting Christopher Nolan time-based narratives with this film. Our professor Warren Buckland argued the film contorts its way to a Hollywood ending, not in a good or bad way, but as a matter of fact.

I've got fond memories of Source Code. I first saw this about twelve years ago after school on a Friday, the perfect way to start the Easter Holidays. The film was an original idea -- rare these days -- and resembled some of the Hitchcockian thrillers I was beginning to discover at that age, as well as taking place in a post-9/11 Christopher Nolan cinematic world. Much like The Dark Knight, this film begins with a sweeping aerial shot of Chicago -- our cities are under threat etc. I don't know why director Duncan Jones began with an establishing shot of a city, other than generic conventions of the War on Terror film, because much of the movie takes place on a train. That is where we get the best modern Hitchcockian material as Jake Gyllenhaal attempts to find out why the train blew up and who was the bomber.

The movie is comparable to many Nolan films, although I felt it had an easy charm and old-fashioned feel similar to Hitchcock thrillers. Gyllenhaal's tweed jacket and the film's sentimental ending take us back to an earlier time of Hollywood fare, rather than the white-knuckle intensity of Nolan. The film is fun, and enjoyable, and, although frothy at times -- rated 12A, PG-13 in the States -- the intensity comes from Gyllenhaal's performance. Even as Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, he had this boyish energy. Here, with his buzzcut and knackered jacket, he appears like a grown man.

The film's light touch is stripped bare with its sentimental ending, although, looking back now, that ending seems inevitable given the director's soft, deft touch. This isn't a gritty, gnarly thriller, it's fun and breezy sci-fi Hitchcock.