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Donnie Darko Customer Reviews (34 - 36 of 213 Reviews)

Brilliant!
This has to be the most thought-provoking movies ever! You have to watch this movie twice to catch everything, and you will want to! Just full of twists and turns and wonderfully strange characters. Jake Gyllenhaal is just amazing as Donnie Darko.If you enjoy sci-fi and crazy plot twists, then you will thoroughly appreciate Richard Kelly's masterpiece.

Best left to ambiguity or full comprehension?
Donnie Darko was one of those kind of films that actually needed theories: people explaining just what was going on and what it all meant. Even watching the director's cut, I was like "what?" at times, but then re-reading some of the things, it finally clicked. Whether you should've been left in the dark or finally understood the movie is one of those personal things that you can have it either way best suited to your tastes. For me, I enjoy that I finally "get" this thing.

Donnie Darko(dumb name by the way) is a troubled teen under medication living in the 80's. One night while sleepwalking, a jet engine manages to land right smack in the middle of his room. That's not all as a 6-foot tall freaky rabbit tells him that the world will end in less than a month. To spoil the rest would of course be a big disservice.

Some directors will come out with a huge film, and either make films that surpass or films that are great on their own merits but public reaction is "they liked the first movie better". M. Night Shyamalan is essentially trying to match the impact of the Sixth Sense with varying degrees of success while David Fincher was able to grow beyond Alien 3's reaction with Seven and Fight Club. Richard Kelly on the other hand seems to be one of the few who's actually trying to change around its success. Donnie Darko didn't exactly make much money but it developed a big cult following meanwhile Kelly was saying it was wrong thing, wrong that, anything and everything was wrong, hence we get this release.

On initial viewing of the original version, I didn't know what the hell happened, it's like some weird story with core elements actually taken out. Here, it's practically spoonfed to you and a quick trip to a site like Wikepedia helps put everything in perspective. All the talk of Tangent Universes and Manipulated Living are just like "huh?" to some people but eventually they'll get...maybe. Some prefer the ambiguity, others like an explanation for once. Me? I'm kind of in the middle.

Since I didn't watch the original constantly, I have no idea what was added back in but some of the effects got better and music was changed, such as the opening song which I always preferred the original choice better but hey it's his movie. Got no problem with him adding scenes to create his ultimate "vision" of the movie, just glad he cast Maggie Gyllenhaal, easy on the eyes that one.

This is a release that I have no idea which to recommend. Both serve their purpose of providing a good film and I guess it just comes down to one choice: do you prefer theorizing, or do you prefer understanding everything?

Darkly Donnie Darko Does It
Donnie Darko is one F'ed up movie, but in a good way. The movie makes you think and you know from the first frames of the film that this is one of those you'd better pay attention to or else risk missing something important. If you're not prepared to challenge your mind then you may want to wait until your brain is ready to watch this.

The movie gives the viewer humor, horror, teen angst, family drama, psychological thriller and sci-fi rolled into one and remains fun to watch and interesting which is the feat, I think, that makes it as popular as it is. Donnie, the perfectly cast Jake Gyllenhaal, is a darkly troubled teen that is either, crazy, a genius or a cog in a universal scheme that has the power to save the world. The only consistent thing is that we have to see what he's going to do and say next.

Frank the Bunny is his horrific companion in his adventure and helps direct Donnie along his path, helping him to escape death and commit acts of violence that may or may not serve an important purpose. Or is it all schizophrenic delusion? This is a movie that a few minutes in you will know that many questions will arise and maybe not all will be answered by the end.

Many people who were faithful to the original cut of the film will point out that the director's cut may not be as ambiguous as the original and therefore not as challenging for the viewer. That may be correct. I was very proud of myself for figuring out the main plot (well, mostly) on my first viewing, but then I had the help of the time travel book text to assist me whereas, as I understand, the original did not. I do know that even if the director's cut is "easier" it is still one of the most thought provoking and intelligent movies around. It is also of note that the director does not expect us to forget the original but states this is just a re-mix and can co-exist with the original release. Considering the subject matter of the film I don't see why that can't work. He's not pulling a George Lucas on us anyway.

To sum it up, the movie is just too interesting to pass up. It may sound like sci-fi but it has so many elements that it really defies that simple tag. Watch it and enjoy the ride.

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