Donnie Darko (2001)
When a six-foot rabbit starts telling you to burn down people's houses, it's probably best to start taking those pills again
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Beth Grant
Director: Richard Kelly
Running Time: 118 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 15
Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Thriller
On DVD Donnie Darko isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill small-town teen. When he's not spending his time going over his inner-demons with his increasingly exasperated councillor (Katharine Ross), he's holding full conversations with a giant rabbit called Frank. It's fair to say that Donnie, much like this movie as a whole, is no stranger to going off the scale on the weird-o-meter.
Having escaped death when a mysterious unidentified aeroplane engine crashes into his bedroom, Donnie is instructed by his slightly-sinister bunny buddy that the world will end in 28 days. Obviously that's some pretty handy information to have - but, unfortunately, Frank also tells him to flood his school and burn down the house of sleazy life-preacher Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze).
The real question is, are these frighteningly realistic visions simply the product of Donnie's decision to stop taking his medication, or is there a deeper meaning to it all? No prizes for guessing that it starts to look like the latter is the case, when a spot of research on Donnie's part starts to unravel some astonishing information. Frank's advice on the secrets of time travel, for example, seems to carry a little more merit than you'd expect from - well - an imaginary bloke in a rabbit costume.
Though at times a little self-indulgent and slow in pace, it's a hugely original movie with a genuinely mind-blowing premise. The special effects are impressive for a film put together on a relatively measly budget, particularly when Donnie begins to see a strange Abyss-style ectoplasm projecting itself out of people's chests, which he believes to be showing him a short distance into the future. The dark satire is also at times extremely funny, and Jake Gyllenhaal is consistently believable in the title role.
DVD Extras: Everything you could possibly ask for - commentary with Richard Kelly, Jake Gyllenhaal and selected cast and crew, 20 deleted and extended scenes with optional director's commentary, interviews with 20 cast and crew members, B roll footage, "The Philosophy of Time Travel", website gallery, artwork gallery, UK art exhibition, 'They Made Me Do It' - making of the art gallery, cunning visions gallery, TV spots, and cast and crew filmographies.
It's Got: A cracking soundtrack - including Tears for Fears(!) - to fit in nicely with the late-80s setting.
It Needs: To be a little shorter and cut out some unnecessary scenes.
Alternatives: Rushmore, PI
Summary: A fascinating, thought-provoking and at times darkly comic big screen directorial debut from Kelly.
Review by Gary Panton
Review Date: 6th May 2003
External Links
Donnie Darko at the IMDB
Comments27 Comments |
| This is the most amazing film i have ever seen!! one of the reasons was u really couldn't tell how it was going to finish. |
| Comment by:- Milly | | 04 March 2004 | ip: logged |
| It was really great I loved it. It made me cry too. I preferred it to my previous favorite film which was Dirty Dancing. I loved the Rabbit in it that was cool, though I wasnt sure why it was there! |
| Comment by:- Daniel Price, Birmingham | | 09 August 2004 | ip: logged |
| I saw the Butterfly Effect. Is it anything like that? |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 13 August 2004 | ip: logged |
| It's 5000 times more thought-provoking than Butterfly Effect. Butterfly tried to take a different angle on what Donnie Darko nailed the first time hands down. Donnie Darko makes me think every time I watch it. It's also great for conversations and theorizing with friends. |
| Comment by:- Darth Juju | | 20 August 2004 | ip: logged |
| A great movie, now one of my favorites! Yet after seeing it foy the third time, I'm still not quite sure of the ending. I still stand confused, which may be one of the great things about it! |
| Comment by:- Ashley | | 24 August 2004 | ip: logged |
| never seen better! i love JAKE GYLLENHAAL in EVERY THING ive every seen........... |
| Comment by:- shawn seydler | | 26 August 2004 | ip: logged |
| you need to watch it a few times to totally understand it..and even then you might not understand it...very good movie. |
| Comment by:- Wes | | 02 September 2004 | ip: logged |
| With a very post-modernistic style, this film projects us into a sphere of confusion between reality and madness. It distinguishes these two extremes, for example through the presence of the psychiatrist, and connects them simultaneouly (Donnie could predict the future) in a very original way. |
| Comment by:- Cláudia Martins | | 10 September 2004 | ip: logged |
| Donnie Darko blew me away. I loved the characters, and I cried at the end. The idea that fear and pain may be wonderful if they are for the right reasons stuck out for me. I don't buy into predestination or divine intervention, but Donnie's sacrafice for those he loved still struck me as beautiful. The ending, and the movie, (as I see it, with a little help from what I've read from other people) goes a bit like this: There are two universes involved. In the primary universe, an unexplained jet engine crashes through the Darko roof. Because it passes through Donnie's bedroom (and therefore certainly would him), prior to this a tangent universe is created, specifically for Donnie (by god, personified by the guiding bunny) to learn the results of his death, through the results of his life in the tangent universe. Donnie learns through this alternate existence that his survival of the engine crash results, through a sequential series of events, in the death of his girlfriend (and if that's not enough), his mother and his sister. At the culmination of these events (where he is on the cliff, and see's the plane's engine broken off), he makes the descision to save the lives of those he loves, in the primary universe, by sacraficing himself (in the primary universe) and sends the engine through the wormhole, crashing through his bedroom and killing him. I think that Donnie is comforted by his descision because he now believes that his death (and life) have reason, and that after his death, there is something more. Though I'd be content just with my death having reason (my Atheist two cents). My explanation has its holes though. |
| Comment by:- Matthew C | | 21 September 2004 | ip: logged |
| Talk about ripping off my life story... my first g/f died on Oct 31st 1999... in a car accident... I wear Samba's like Donny did.... I was the smartest student at my school, and one of the weirdest.... often described as the 'cardiac-kid', accidents happen in a multitude around me and involving me... I seriously think someone got ahold of my town's newspaper and made it into a script... |
| Comment by:- Seabass | | 09 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| get ur head out ur ass |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 09 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| seabass ur a real nerd |
| Comment by:- PooMan | | 13 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| (I think that Seabass admitted that in his comment rofl) |
| Comment by:- Dire | | 13 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| donnie darko is my favourite film ever. Ihave seen it about 5 times in the space of a few months. Ok so maybe i'm obsessed. It is incredibly thought provoking and has a very large amount of different emotions. The soundtrack is also amazing although when i watched the directors cut i was disapointed that it did not start with echo and the bunny men. Any one else find this? absoulutely terrific if you haven't seen it see it!!!!! wake up donnie! Donnie: why do you wear that stupid bunny suit? Frank: why are you wearing that stupid man suit? |
| Comment by:- Frank moon killer | | 22 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| quite possibly a flawless film, a bunny, a huge freakin' bunny how could it be any better!!! |
| Comment by:- andrewan | | 24 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| Frank is the best character throughout the whole film. |
| Comment by:- CaptHowdy | | 03 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| **** all of you, donnie darko is **** |
| Comment by:- goobacks | | 19 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| it sucked alot.Really weird and pointless |
| Comment by:- DonnieDarkoSucks | | 19 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| wow u guys have no life |
| Comment by:- peoplewhoLikeThisMovieAreCrazy | | 19 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| I've just watched the the movie for the first time, and I can't help but wonder the irony of the new room Donnie receives after his fallout with Kitty Famer. Granted, it wasn't because of that incident that his room was completed as such, but I'm sure there was something being said by the director about people speaking out against those who try and shove that love/fear crap down their throats... |
| Comment by:- JB | | 01 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| who could possibly like this movie, it was absolutely pointless, but I did love it when the alibi was namely asleep the entire time he burnt down the house. |
| Comment by:- switch_likely | | 01 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| wow. i just watched this movie for the first time. F***ing incredible. Very thought provoking. |
| Comment by:- donniedarkogood | | 10 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| my favourite film.I agree it is extremely thought provoking and moving and each time i see it i pick up on something that i had never considered the previous time i watched it. You can only not like it because you just don't get it. The film isn't pointless at all. |
| Comment by:- faithless | | 12 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| donnie darko is the best movie ever!! And Frank is my hero!!! ****ing Wick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hey minnie!!!!!! |
| Comment by:- Lidjah | | 21 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| love it... jake ggyllehall is sexy |
| Comment by:- sassy_sarah | | 08 August 2005 | ip: logged |
| This is the best film ever!! I lovwed the bunny rabbit in it frank... at first i didnt realize what it was!! If anyone says its rubish.... its not!! i definetly think you should watch it!! its amazing. Jake Gyllenhaal is sooo sexy in it... i love his eyes they r sooo mysterious and dark!! when i watch a film i love i become obsessed with it and i have to wtach it over and over until i finally get bored with it... but with this film i didnt!! omg i love him soo much... ah ah ahhhhhhhhhh!!! im getting an orgasm oooooooooooooooo!!!!!! |
| Comment by:- sassy_sarah | | 08 August 2005 | ip: logged |
| AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH OHHHHHH YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! |
| Comment by:- faithless | | 08 August 2005 | ip: logged |
