An excellent blend of Sci-Fi, Drama and Mystery

Rating: 8/10 (18 September 2007)

I bought this movie on DVD like 2 months before I watched it. The reason why I didn't watch it was that I was expecting one of the most disturbing films ever, so I never wasn't really "in the mood" so to speak. I wanted to see it, but it seemed like there never wasn't time for a movie like it. So one day I decided "What the heck? I have to see it in some point anyways.." so I watched it with my brother and friend. Looking at the trailers, the reviews, the plot outlines and everything it had to be sick, right? Well, the disturbance level wasn't even near the level I personally was expecting. Honestly, it isn't even disturbing apart from a couple of scenes.
The movie tells about what the title says, a teenager named Donnie Darko. Donnie may seem like an ordinary American guy, who lives with his family in a sleepy suburb. Nothing could be farther away from the truth; 18-year old Donnie has a large bunny rabbit named Frank as his imaginary friend, who inspires Donnie to do things which seem to be unreasonable. Frank saves Donnie's life when a huge aeroplane's engine falls in middle of the boy's room. Donnie "investigates" the bizarre accident and finds out unbelievable things that lets him to manipulate the streams of time and space. Donnie travels through daring and secret paths, he tries to understand the chaotic, raging universe around him and he finally sees the truth; Even the smallest acts can have serious consequences.
The film itself is a great blend of science fiction, mystery and drama. It cleverly leaps between the real world and the imaginary world, and it does it with such a credibility that the viewer won't get lost in any part of the movie, it stays in a tight package throughout. The screenplay is fantastic, it doesn't bother you with any unnecessary or pointless subplots or scenes, it stays in the main theme all the time and the end solution is just brilliant. Through the vision of Richard Kelly, who has written and directed the film, "Donnie Darko" offers you an intensive and interesting movie experience, which can not be compared to any other films because it's also original and pretty unique in its own genre. Although the film is pretty dark and gloomy, it still doesn't affect you as much as you could imagine, as the story's just so interesting you'll get hooked to it and instead of thinking how dark the movie is you keep on thinking of the twists and turns, and how brilliant the movie itself is.
Donnie is played by Jake Gyllenhaal who is outstanding in the role. Just like the leaping between the real world and the imaginary world in the story, also the character itself changes between these leaps which makes it pretty enjoyable to watch because of Gyllenhaal's strength on the screen. The character progresses really well too, as when we start off the movie the character is totally different in both of the "worlds" but as we move along the character crafts into a person who's surprisingly similar in the real world and the imaginary one. There are good actors in other roles too, for example Maggie Gyllenhaal, Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore and Katharine Ross, but they are left out in minor roles as the film concentrates on Donnie after all. These characters of the supporting actors do not have that depth like the main character does, but their purpose is in fact more like complimenting the character of Donnie, which is also pretty genius. Soundtrack is also marvellous; The music's composed by Michael Andrews and like the movie itself the music also mixes between soft and dark pieces of fine compositions. It's sometimes beautiful and it's sometimes really dark like the main theme, which works really well with the build-up of the film.
"Donnie Darko" is definitely one to watch, but only if you're open minded with films or if you just happen to be a sci-fi addict. If you're expecting heavy disturbance like I was don't be fooled, as even when you get something disturbing it isn't nearly as disturbing as you could imagine, so don't let the plot outlines or trailers fool you. To me "Donnie Darko" is all in all a great movie and at times it's pretty thrilling as well. It isn't sick or gross, it's a fine piece of film making which works really well in all of its styles, drama, mystery and sci-fi. Although it is a short film you should watch it when you really have the time for it, as it's just not one of those movies you can watch when ever you want to, it requires that certain mood which I was telling you about. Even when this is a movie which probably (and still) gets mixed opinions from really negative to really positive you should just see it yourself and make up your own mind. No-one's going to make it up for you anyways, so it's your decision.