A Puzzle missing the picture and several pieces

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2002)

I have to confess that I was not as "into" this movie as I'd hoped to be. As it was wrapping up, I kept looking at the timer on my DVD player to see how much longer it was going to continue. It was not that I did not enjoy myself, I did and my friend and I had an interesting discussion about it afterwards, but I just got really bored as the movie hit the home stretch. That final climax just didn't do much for me.
I must warn viewers of the film that it is not an entire story. In order to understand the film you must read the book of time travel written by Kelly (on the film's website or included in the DVD special features) and read through a lot of the other stuff on the website in order to "get it." Sadly, after going through the rigamarole of watching the lengthy film and poring over the website/special features for a couple hours the given explanation still has flaws - big ones.
Kelly has cited 12 Monkeys as inspiration for this film, but I feel like "Blair Witch Project" is a better model. He has created this snippet of a story (made it into a film) and then uses a webpage, interviews, etc. in order to finish telling the story. It is a shame really. This film is very close to being able to stand on its own. Kelly comes really close to pulling off a tremendous film, but falls tragically short.
Of course, this is a film that should rank high on people's "to see" list, but I feel that its inclusion in the IMDB top 200 is a bit of an overstatement. Sure it has got great acting, a relatively well-established, though young, cast, good writing, an original plot and nice cinematography but it just does not have a plot that will hold up to numerous watchings. Here's a test to prove it: read that book that Kelly wrote and put on the dvd and website so that you understand how he explains the film, what is actually going on...he's rather explicit. Then watch the film again and see if what happens fits with the "model" he presents in the book. With some things it fits so seemlessly it is amazing. With others, Donnie's insanity (or lack thereof), Donnie's first experience with Frank, etc...you will notice that a great many things just do not gel.
Sorry to burst people's bubbles, but once you know what Kelly's explanation was, you'll realize how it pales in comparison to all of the imaginative, exciting and complex scenarios that viewers have given to it. It is a good film, definitely top 75%, but as more people read what Kelly was doing in the film through his explanation, I think this movie will drop down to the realm of Boogie Nights and 7.5 land...that's not a bad place to be for a first-timer either. Looking forward to Kelly's future works...I'm sure I'll wait for them to hit DVD, but I'll definitely watch.