The ultimate Sci-Fi film with true realism

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2008)

Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) suffers from visions of a rabbit called Frank who orders him to commit a series of crimes and tells him that the world will end in 28 days time.
The Sci-Fi genre has always been open as to what is out there in the universe, discovering new and exciting worlds and dimensions, and an ideology which today is still being experimented with is time travel, which is explored beautifully in Richard Kelly's absorbing and open Sci-Fi drama.
Can time travel be achieved? With all the evidence collected in this 2001 film it seems so, and the persistent view, looking at all the possibilities such as worm holes and vessels carries all the way through to an open and stunning climax as we follow one of the most interesting characters of all time.
Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) leads in only his second major film as Darko, a distant teenager who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and Jake creates a modern day teenage icon, a simple enough guy who lashes out at the world and stands by his own beliefs, and not to mention the Halloween costume is one of the best in cinematic history.
Jena Malone (Into the Wild) Barrymore (E.T) Swayze (Dirty Dancing) lend great support to with their character's personalities and opinions.
This is an opinionated film with plenty of ideas to engage you into thinking mode. Kelly helps add an extra dimension to this film by including modern day issues such as religion, teenage rebellion, and fear.
The use of God mixed with the complex idea of time travel achieves a dark but colourful imagination and controversy to the narrative.
Darko's actions against the school and bullies is a conflict between his beliefs and the schools rules and is especially significant to the overall picture, and Kelly's direction for the first vandalism "They made me do it" is terrific in achieving that drama and black comedy.
The use of fear being negative and love as positive is a great reflection on human emotion and behaviour, and goes a long way to shaping the characters and is a terrific reflection on modern day rules and Darko proves a point in that emotions simply don't fall into these two categories, inviting audiences in to his world and sharing his opinion.
This film justifies the drama genre through these realistic issues, and dives deep into the fantasy genre with Darko's visions of a rabbit that can see the future. Frank is the ultimate fantastic fantasy creation, a simple but highly effective symbol, as is this film.