***fantastic - great film***

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2005)

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a normal everyday teenager; well, he was until a jet engine crashed into Donnie's house and triggers a parallel world, which will end in 28 days. Frank, a 6 ft tall rabbit is sent to warn Donnie of the end of the world and help guide Donnie into a position where he will send the engine back through time, which will close the parallel time frame and save the world. Donnie meets a girl called Gretchen (Jena Malone), who has moved into the neighbourhood and has been put in the same class as Donnie; Donnie takes an immediate like to her. Frank manipulates Donnie into burning down a man's house which, means that Donnie's mum has to take his sister to a dancing competition. To get to the location of the competition they must go by plane, which leaves the plane in the correct position to deposit its engine into the black hole. As the climax begins to unfold Donnie unwittingly gets Gretchen killed, and realises his mother and sister will also die if he doesn't close up the black hole. At the end of the film Donnie kills Frank. Closing the black hole means that Donnie will sacrifice his own life, saves Gretchen from being killed, he doesn't burn down Cunningham's (Patrick swayze) house so that means that his mother and sister aren't on the plane (the other mother has taken them). He also doesn't kill Frank and everybody wakes up on what would have been the 1st of October (the beginning of the film) to news that Donnie has been killed by the jet engine that landed in his room.
Although the film has a very complex plot, it has you gripped from beginning to end. "Donnie Darko" is not a film that you can categorise into just one type of genre, its thrilling, it's full of fantasy, the whole film is a mystery, its got drama within it and also sci-fi. The film has a very interesting ending; it goes round in a circular motion, the more the film moves on the closer you get back to the beginning, so by the end of the film you are back to where you started, in this case back at Donnie's house when the engine crashes in to Donnie's bedroom. All the answers to the ending to of film are there you have just got to look hard to find them. This is not a film I would recommend to anyone who likes to lay back and just watch a film without having to do much thinking.
The film was made in America which suggests that it's going to be a happy ending and everything will work out fine. This to some extent is true but however it's not for Donnie who dies. The movie was set in 1988 and take place over a period of 28 days. "Donnie Darko" proved popular with the teenage audience. This is because the film is about teenagers and their life at secondary school, which a teenage audience can relate to. Many people stereotype teenage films into that they are all sex, or "lovey-dovey" but when the release of "Donnie Darko" came about this all changed. "Donnie Darko" is a film which is similar to "back to the future" and if people give the film a chance would appeal to an older audience as well. This movie is beautifully made, considering the budget was a mere $4.5 million. Richard Kelly the writer and director of this film were only 26 when this film hit the theatres in October 2001.
Throughout the film there are many interesting use of special effects. The one that stands out to me the most is when Donnie is in the bathroom taking his medication and Frank appears, as Donnie reaches out his hand is stopped by a rippling sheet of 'glass'. Frank repeats this process and the same happens to him. This stands out to me the most because its something you don't expect to happen and I like things to surprise me. Donnie also starts to see "wormholes" coming out of people's chests, seeming to psychically illuminate where they are going in the immediate future. It's an eye-opener for Donnie and it leads him into the field of time travel. These "wormholes" look like tubes of water and they are located in the stomach of the people he looks at, they move also the air and "take" the person to where they want to go.
"Donnie Darko" has a questionable climax (all the answers are in the film but many people choose not to look for clues) but I think it is in keeping with the movie's theme of how unexplained events can change a person, if not a whole family, even a small town. Donnie Darko is on to something - he is searching for meaning in life and in the universe (he has an interest in time travel). His girlfriend, Gretchen is searching for peace and beauty in the world. It is rare in movies today to see young people engaged in such rational thoughts. That is part of what makes "Donnie Darko" so refreshing.
With all these concepts taken into account I would say that "Donnie Darko" is one of the best films I have ever seen and I would certainly recommend it to others if they haven't already seen this masterpiece, especially since it was quite a low budget film and it has still managed to have an impact on the audience with the special effects, which you would not usually expect from a film of this amount.