Donnie Darko

-20^th Century Fox (2001)

Summary

A teenager must solve a strange puzzle that threatens to unravel the fabric of time itself. 

My Thoughts

Donnie Darko is an interesting sort of film that seemed to escape most everyone's notice in its theatrical release except for goth kids and emo singers. This elite group has spread word about the film far and wide, and that's how I finally heard out about it. Donnie was released right around the time of 9/11, and a film as dark as this didn’t stand much of a chance for success in the box office at that time. Donnie Darko is also the sort of film that’s both bizarre and makes you think. Put these facts together and you have a box office disappointment, because many people don’t enjoy cerebral concepts when they go see a film especially when they're worried about terrorists blowing them up. 

Unfortunately, most people don't know what they're missing. It’s almost impossible to talk about its plot without giving the entire film away so in order to understand it you really must see it for yourself. It’s not obvious what is going on, and requires a little thought. Donnie plays itself out through a weaving narration that comes full circle at the end. This film is like a combination of a few different styles, including a David Lynch type of weirdness and a Stephen King type of storytelling.

What I can tell you is that Donnie Darko the character is more or less the world’s most unconventional superhero. Something is wrong with time and in order to save everyone he must do some pretty horrible things, and at the same time some good things in order to reach the goal of fixing time.

This isn’t the greatest, most profound film I’ve ever seen, but it is a very good one. To be honest I didn’t really like it that much at first, but the more I thought about it the more I found myself enjoying it and wanting to see it again.

*****Spoiler Alert!*****

The great thing about this film is that in order to save time, Donnie must do some acts that will lead to the end of his own life. Basically, the world is better off without him. This is a rather unique concept, one in which I haven’t seen anywhere else.

*****End Spoiler*****

Extras

There are plenty of extra features for anyone interested in the film starting off with the theatrical trailer included on the disc. It's probably one of the best film trailers I’ve seen in a very long time. It makes you want to see it in a very bad way, and creates a deep sense of mystery and wonder about what the story is all about.  The TV spots are about the same as the trailer, except with slight variations on a theme. The only one that I hated was the one that touted the big names of the cast. I hate the idea that people want to see a movie because famous people are in it.

Another nifty feature was the “Mad World” music video. If you’re anything like me this song is going to get stuck in your head something awful.

A surprising feature was the inclusion of the linear notes from the soundtrack. I’ve never seen this before on a DVD and I’d like to see this kind of thing more often.

“Coming Visions” contains the corny infomercials seen within the film. They are pretty funny, and it’s cool to see them included. Also included for the infomercials is “director” commentary that must really be seen to be believed. The book covers for Patrick Swayze’s character of Jim Cunningham, and the “His Name is Frank” slideshow are also in this section.

“The Website Gallery” is a collection of images taken from the very cool website for the film. It’s some good archival stuff, but it really doesn’t do the actual website any justice, although it eliminates a lot of the work you have to do on the site to try to navigate around.

The “Art Gallery” feature provides production stills of the film as well as conceptual art that are worth a look.

 “The Philosophy of Time Travel” is the sections of the book that appear as a central role of the film. This book is a pretty good read and helps explain some of the philosophy behind the film. The only problem is that it was rather tough to see on my television, but it probably looks a lot better on high definition sets.

One of my favorite special features for any DVD are deleted scenes. I don’t know why, but I love seeing all the extra stuff that’s left out of a film. Donnie Darko has deleted scenes to spare and then some. There are twenty of them and each one has a commentary feature. Some of these are pretty ho-hum, but there’s also a few of them worth checking out.

Score

Film: 8.5

Extras: 8.5

Edition: 8.5

-Paul