Fabulous, albeit confusing

Rating: Null/10 (23 September 2004)

If I had to explain Donnie Darko (2001) in one sentence, I would say that it could best be described as Fight Club meets John Hughes. Thankfully, I'm not restricted to just one sentence, because there's a lot more to this movie than just a simple benign remark.
As best I can manage, it is a pop culture masterpiece with a dark edge -- a brilliant insight into the minds of troubled youth. At the center of it all is actor Jake Gyllenhaal, playing the titular character, who delivers an amazing performance, so isolated and grim that it instantly brings to mind Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver or perhaps, even, a new kind of screen 'hero'  a snapshot of teenagers across America, and considering how disturbed Donnie is, the fact that he could be a non-rarity is startling.
Donnie exists in our world as a true oddball. 'You're weird,' a girl tells him. 'Sorry,' he says. 'I meant that as a compliment,' she replies.
So, it's a compliment to be weird these days  a good thing to be different. Times have changed significantly; from when being normal was what everyone wanted. I suppose time has progressed far enough now that those who aimed to be like everyone else reached their goal and realized atop their mountains that everyone else wanted to be like everyone else, too, and now they're all climbing back down. It's a paradox only Donnie Darko could welcome. It's one of many.
To actually give a summary of Darko's plot might seem ridiculous, and because of this I'll merely say that it presents an all-new twist on the idea behind Harvey  Donnie is plagued by imaginary (?) visitations by a rabbit named Frank, who talks, and tells Donnie that the end of the world will arrive in no more than 28 days.
Frank saves Donnie's life, after a jet engine crashes in his bedroom. He then commands Donnie to do a variety of tasks to help prevent the end of the world, including trashing his high school and burning down the house of a self-help publisher (Patrick Swayze).
These days I admire any film that is unique  and Donnie Darko is the most original film I've seen since Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or perhaps, even, as far back to 1985's Brazil (also directed by Gilliam). What those two films had, however, was a biting satirical edge  Donnie Darko has it, too, but it's not as blatant. It's far subtler, darker, more dangerous. The movie has its fair share of laughs but to classify it as a comedy would be wrong.
The movie's cast is impressive  Drew Barrymore (who also serves as co-producer), Swayze and other supporting roles are impressive. Swayze in particular is remarkable, having reached that point in his career  like Tom Cruise  where he's capable of abandoning his nice guy image and playing a darker role.
I'm sure many people won't like Darko because of this reason (its darkness), but for me it was a real delight, a movie as complex as anything I've seen in years with a labyrinthine plot that brings to mind the limitless possibilities of the time paradoxes created in Back to the Future. Mere irony, then, that Robert Zemeckis's film is mentioned in Donnie Darko? Perhaps not
I still don't fully understand Donnie Darko, nor do I need to. Directed by newcomer Richard Kelly, it is one of the most intriguing films of all time  and indeed probably one of the most unique films we'll see for quite some time. In a decade of Michael Bay, CGI, thoughtless standardized 'flicks' and boring, sappy, routine melodramas, Donnie Darko hits the right nerve  all at once it is a comedy, drama, thriller, horror, romance, and one of a kind in each regard. A don't-miss-it sort of masterpiece.