Source Code (2011)

Stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an army helicopter pilot who finds himself strapped inside a chamber, part of a secret experimental mission where he must travel back in time over and over again to the same eight minutes leading up to a terrorist bombing, in order to prevent it. Time travel movies give me a headache, my mind tends to wander, mulling over the paradoxes that occur, but this handles the problem rather amusingly and cleverly. Gyllenhaal is likable, Michelle Monaghan as the girl inside "the eight minutes" is proper dream girl material, Vera Farmiga is excellent and surprisingly affecting as his commanding officer. Jeffrey Wright, as the head of the program, overdoes the evil scientist thing a little bit, but when we finally catch up with the bomber, baby-faced Michael Arden plays him to creepy perfection. This is a very good, ingeniously constructed B-thriller. Not too fancy or showy, just an intelligent, exciting straight line with a satisfying finish. Written by Ben Ripley and directed by Duncan (Zowie Bowie) Jones.