opinions in the extreme (spoilers within)

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2004)

It seems that everyone has an extreme view of this film, its either the greatest movie they ever saw or the worst, the truth is somewhere in between. This is an intelligent movie that makes you think, is darkly funny and doesn't necessarily end happily, to some people these qualities make a movie great to others it makes it bad and to some they dosn't make a movie good or bad. Donnie Darko is a fun movie, it is at times confused and confusing. Donnie is "rescued" from death by someone dressed as a rabbit who tells him the world will end in just over 28 days. From this point on the world is apparently slightly out of kilter but we can't know for sure because we aren't shown enough before he is saved. Life goes on and the man rabbit tells Donnie to do "bad" things, arson, vandalism and the like. HE also sees "strands of time showing him what is about to happen. Everything comes to a head as people die, we learn where the rabbit came from and then Donnie watches as a time worm hole, he may or may not have created, sends him back in time where this time he is not rescued. While I enjoyed Donnie Darko I have two gripes, first we aren't given enough back story to know what is right or wrong in the universe that should be fixed and second it would appear that if Donnie had just died in the first place none of the story would have been necessary. The movie itself creates its own paradox. Definitely a movie worth seeing but not the greatest movie ever made either.