"It's A Wonderful Life" All Over Again

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2005)

I have never been a huge fan of "Donnie Darko" as a science fiction story, which is how it was intended by writer/director Richard Kelly. The vague storytelling masks the gaps in logic and the budgetary constraints that did not allow them to show things more convincingly (also Kelly needed more experience before he tackled a project of this scope). However, fans have embraced this failing as the film's strength and have used the open-ended structure to mold the thing into something that fits their own individual agendas.
By now most everyone knows that early in the film the world diverges into a tangent universe, a situation that must be remedied in 28 days or the normal universe will end. Donnie has been selected by some undisclosed guardian to bring the tangent and primary universes back into alignment. He is given some superhuman powers for this task but only a few clues about what must be done. Searching for answers (mostly about time travel) during the day and performing sleepwalking pranks by night (an inefficient way to bring about certain vaguely tangential events), he semi-cluelessly moves forward toward the deadline. At last he figures out that he must send an "artifact" (a jet engine) back from the tangent universe to the normal universe. He seemingly knows that doing so will result in his death in the normal universe but he selflessly performs the task and restores things to a stable balance.
This is not as silly and contrived as it sounds but it does have some major issues that must be ignored if one is to really embrace the film. It also lacks useful philosophical depth and is just a teen movie with some intriguing thoughts about time travel.
But "Donnie Darko" becomes extraordinary when viewed instead as an allegorical story about free will versus destiny. It is basically a twisted remake of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life", with Donnie a 1988 version of George Bailey and Frank his guardian angel. Instead of being given a chance to see what the world would be like if he had not been born, Donnie is given the chance to see how his continued existence would alter events. For George Bailey the experience was full of positive revelations, for Donnie it is the opposite.
To go with this unintended interpretation you just dismiss the whole thing about tangent universes. Instead Donnie dies at the beginning of the story by a random event (a jet engine falls off a plane passing over his house)over which he has no control. Since he is not essential to the event, he is given a chance to experience an additional 28 days of life to see the effects of his remaining alive and then choose between the two alternate futures. But he is also given the ability to actually see the force fields that draw everyone toward their destinies and finds himself powerless to resist such manipulation. Ultimately he makes his first "free choice" and elects his original death.
"Heathers" was a major influence on Kelly and "Donnie Darko" has that same sedated tone, with characters generally under-reacting to absurdly extreme developments. As in that film parents are not the problem, rather it is kids being incredibly (but believably) cruel to each other.
The cast is solid although avoiding Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze is normally a good idea. Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent and it is nice that his actual sister Maggie plays his film sister. Unfortunately both Maggie and Jena Malone are wasted in unchallenging roles with minimal screen time.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.