High-concept plot is flawed but a fun ride (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

High-concept plot is flawed but a fun ride

8:06am Thursday 18th August 2011 in DVD reviews By Damon Smith

Source Code (Cert 12, 89 mins, Optimum Home Entertainment). Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Peters, Michael Arden, Craig Thomas ***

Helicopter pilot Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a train, sitting opposite Christina Warren (Monaghan). Confusingly, she calls him Sean and a visit to the bathroom reveals he is trapped inside the body of a teacher called Sean Fentress. “Everything’s going to be OK,” smiles Christina as the train explodes. Colter wakes almost instantly in a top-secret facility under the control of Dr Rutledge (Wright), who needs Colter to identify the bomber. “I don’t know who bombed the train!” rages Colter. “Then go back and find out,” sternly replies Rutledge, ordering uniformed officer Colleen Goodwin (Farmiga) to send the pilot back into the “source code”, which has been culled from the last eight minutes of the real Sean Fentress’s memory. The film is an adrenaline-pumping thrill ride that plays fast and loose with our notions of space and time. Aspects of the high-concept plot don’t make sense and some of the digital effects aren’t as slick and polished as you would expect. However, director Duncan Jones and editor Paul Hirsch don’t become too bogged down in the flawed science behind the slam-bang thrills, maintaining a brisk tempo throughout as the clock ticks down relentlessly towards doomsday. The central relationship between Colter and Colleen draws obvious parallels with Jones’s previous film, Moon. Gyllenhaal brings vulnerability to his role, including a heartbreaking scene when he breaks protocol to make an important telephone call. Farmiga is equally impressive in a role that requires her, largely, to stare down a camera lens.

Mars Needs Moms (Cert PG, 84 mins, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment). Featuring the voices of Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois, Mindy Sterling ***

Nine-year-old Milo (voiced by Green) doesn’t appreciate his mother (Cusack). After a disagreement about broccoli, the youngster is sent to his room to sulk. “My life would be so much better if I didn’t have a mom at all!” he spits, reducing his parent to tears. That night, Martians descend from the skies and kidnap Milo’s mother. The youngster gives chase and stows away on board the Martian craft, eventually seeking refuge in a Martian rubbish tip, home to a techno-savvy human called Gribble (Fogler). The astronaut vows to help Milo rescue his mother from the terrifying Supervisor (Sterling), aided by a rebel Martian called Ki (Harnois). Mars Needs Moms is a computer-animated adventure that affirms the special bond between mother and child, based on the delightful book by Berkeley Breathed. Rendered using the same state-of-the-art motion capture technology that brought The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol to life, Simon Wells’s fast-paced film mixes action, comedy and some heart-tugging emotion.