The Anomaly | Noel Clarke tries to do Source Code on the cheap

(Image credit: Leon Mcfarlane)

Director and star of low-budget sci-fi action thriller The Anomaly, Noel Clarke tries to do Source Code on the cheap with this tale of a former soldier who repeatedly wakes up in different locations but only has bursts of consciousness lasting nine minutes and 47 seconds to unravel his role in a mind-control plot cooked up by evil scientists Ian Somerhalder and Brian Cox.

Throwing Russian pimps and a plucky prostitute (Alexis Knapp) into the mix, Clarke never shuns an opportunity to show off his buff body but displays little of the intelligence or flair needed to pull off his film's mind-stretching conceits. Instead, his film can only lurch from one ineptly staged set piece to the next, ripping off ideas from better movies - Memento, Bourne, The Matrix etc- as it goes.

Certificate 15. Runtime 97 mins. Director Noel Clarke.

Released on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital by Universal Pictures.

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.