Forget the theatrical version, buy the director's cut instead!

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2005)

(Minor spoiler noted at bottom of review) The following is a comparison review for both DVD versions of the movie. Whereas almost everyone seems to see the theatrical version as the superior cut, i couldn't disagree more. The director's cut is superior in every way. It isn't a chopped up mess that just seems like random events are happening like the theatrical cut. Many people would argue that they understand/understood the theatrical version on their own, but i doubt that. It makes no sense whatsoever. The only way to grasp some understanding on the theatrical version was to read an online 'philosophy of time travel' book. When you have to read something online just to understand a movie, you know something is horribly wrong. A viewer shouldn't have to spend hours on end to understand one movie, nor study an online entity that is separate from the actual movie.
The director's cut, on the other hand, makes near perfect sense, and everything falls into place (as a movie should) and INCLUDES the important 'Philosophy of time travel' book pages into the movie. Like i said, the movie may not necessarily make complete sense on the first viewing, but upon the second or third viewing, the movie will make pretty much complete sense. After that, it's fun to watch over and over to catch all of the little clues strewn throughout the movie. The director's cut also contains many satisfying family moments between Donnie and/or family, and many other story-crucial scenes which should not have been cut in the first place. Scenes like this flesh out the movie. The theatrical version doesn't have these and it just ends up making the movie feel rather stale. I wish movie studios would learn to back off and not to require a movie to be cut up just so more people can watch it in theater. That's really ignorant. A movie should always be ONLY cut to the best of it's full potential, not cut for more people's butts in theater seats. And the theatrical version suffers horribly from this. As for the music changes from the theatrical version to the director's cut version: while i didn't like the changes at first, the director's cut quickly grew on me and the music changes in are ultimately better. While the 'killing moon' song does go good in the beginning of the theatrical version, i disagree with it because the words in the song give away what the movie is about way too soon. The theatrical version DVD transfer suffers from dirt poor sound quality compared to the director's cut DVD. The sound on the director's cut DVD is superb. The bass is good, sounds and music are clear and sharp, and the picture seems to be slightly clearer and more refined.
Theatrical version DVD: PROS: -Good extras/special features including 2 audio commentaries CONS: -Movie makes very little sense (if any sense at all) -Poor sound and picture quality -Vital plot elements and scenes are missing -Doesn't include the time travel book in the movie (it is in special features, but is way too small to read, so it is useless.) Other: -1 DVD -So-so DVD case artwork
Director's cut DVD: PROS: -Makes sense (Finally!) -Good picture and GREAT sound quality -Vital scenes are included -Nicely enhanced special effects sequences -Includes the story-crucial time travel book IN the ACTUAL movie -Hilarious '#1 fan Darkomentary' -1 audio commentary Other: -2-disc DVD set -Cool DVD case artwork and slipcover
CONS: -Some of the time travel pages pass by too quickly to read completely, resulting in having to rewind/pause the movie to read them. PRO: After reading them the first or second time(s), you'll already know what they say next time you watch the movie so you won't have a reason to pause or rewind the movie anymore as you can just glance at them and know what they say.
Theatrical version: 6.0 out of 10
Director's cut: 9 out of 10
Theatrical version/director's cut DVD sound comparison example: (Minor spoiler warning)
When Donnie is in the therapy room and tells the doctor than Frank the rabbit is "RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!", the theatrical DVD sound is very bland but the director's cut DVD sound for this is crisp and chilling!
Closing comments: I was never a fan of the movie until the director's cut came out(i bought it on release day), now i love the movie. Thanks to the director and everyone else responsible for putting this director's cut DVD set together!