Interesting ideas...but flawed

Rating: 8/10 (13 May 2012)

Donnie Darko is truly an art-house movie, and art-house movies aren't really my thing. Sometimes I just really don't like them, such as 2001: A Space Oddysey, or the Tree of Life. Other times I like them, but find them so over-rated such as last year's Drive. A lot of these films have a similar problem, they are much more Style over substance, and I don't have a problem with that, I enjoyed Transformers, and Roland Emmerich is one of my favorite directors. But with these films, the style just get's boring. I don't want to watch two people sit motionless for twenty seconds, or watch crap float through space for five minutes, or cut to dinosaurs for twenty minutes for no reason. Yet Donnie Darko doesn't really have that problem.
There actually is quite a bit of substance here. The film does have some really good ideas, like how Donnie's visions all come together near the end, and how he criticize therapy. And like a lot of these other art house movies, it looks great, I like how the music tells the story at times.
However there are two problems I really had with this movie. One was that some of the characters, don't act like human beings. And the other was the ending. Warning, this has spoilers, so don't read on if you haven't seen the movie.
I know the ending wasn't supposed to be clear. However, what I get out of this, and from what I heard, Donnie chose to die, because he knew that if he lived, a chain of events would lead to the death of his girlfriend. Uh, I don't think so, Donnie knows how she will die, he was the one who took her to the house where she was killed. So just don't take her there, you know what happens now, there is no reason to. And how does that work, will the world just go ahead 28 days, then the tornado will send everyone back who won't remember, and it will just keep repeating? Donnie Darko has some great ideas, and looks great. But some character problems and a disappointing ending lead me to like this movie less than a lot of people.