Bluddy Genius

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2006)

A great film, I really enjoyed it. The narrative is based around the life of a mentally troubled teenager called Donnie and his inability to come to terms with the problems and turmoil of the world around him. I felt this was a very engaging and clever plot as the film is trying to communicate the message of how hard it is to connect and understand the thoughts and feelings of teenagers today. This allowed me to relate to the character of Donnie and enabled me to understand what he was experiencing. This gives the film a real personal feeling, which made me feel like I was going through the exact same emotions as the characters, especially Donnie.
The casting was superb. Jake Gyllenhal was faultless playing the role of Donnie. He managed to capture the real essence of Donnie's negativity towards life and his vulnerability to the outside world that he doesn't understand. Recognised figures in the acting community such as Noah Wyle, Patrick Swayze and Drew Barrymore put in distinctively esteemed performances to give the film an extra edge and separates it from other cult classics. The only downfall to this film is the complexity of the ending. Although it ties in with the films highly complicated and sometimes bamboozling storyline, the ending poses a very confusing finale to what is a great film. However, this may also work in the film's favour as it just adds to the mystery, provoking the audience to want to watch again so they can try to come up with a conclusion to the elaborate finish. I personally love the ending. Though it can be perceive as sad, I thought it was the perfect manner to finish off this thoroughly entertaining masterpiece. All in all, Donnie Darko is an overly elaborate, dark and yet ingenious film and one of the best I have ever seen. The characters are believable, the narrative is captivating from start to finish and it leaves you with that feeling of confusion, intrigue and desire to watch repeatedly that makes the film of the highest quality. Superb film.