Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice...

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2002)

Donnie Darko tells us in a strange kind of way things about the future. Not in a typical sci-fi way or an apocalyptic movie with a pregnant Demi Moore.
Donnie Darko, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is a high school student who has an oversized demonic bunny as companion, who tells him things about the future.

Donnie has to take medication and sees a psychiatrist who uses hypnosis to discover why the oversized bunny leads him on to these sleepwalking trips. Many times he wakes up on different places. Sometimes somewhere on the road, other times on a golf terrain.
One time he has luck. Late at night, everybody is a sleep, instead of his older sister. She just got home after a date. Suddenly when she closes the door, a loud crash is heard. She holds her hands to her ears and falls on the floor.
The next day. Donnie wakes up somewhere else, when he got home, everywhere around his house are police lines with neighbors standing around the lines, while a big truck removes an engine away and the FBI questions the Darko family. There is much unexplained. For example, no airline is reporting that an engine is missing from one of its jets. Where did the engine come from?
Just like Mulholland Drive, the movie gives you allot of intriguing mind puzzles, and you keep wondering what is happening.
This set-up and development is fascinating, some will not like the ending and others will think is terrific. It's up to you what you think about it.
But I tell you this, Richard Kelly is very talented, especially at creating a disturbing atmosphere out of the materials of real life. His mysterious engine is a brilliant. He sees his characters as persons, and never reduces them to typical characters. And he has this also to thank to the actors, who all gave a great performance.
For a film debut this is a very good start. A very good start indeed.
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. -- Robert Frost