Haunting and Hard to Forget

Rating: 9/10 (18 April 2002)

I saw a trailer for this movie back in December of 2001 and I didn't think much of it, passing it off as just another one of a slew of terrible "horror" movies that have come out in the past. Then last week my friend tells me that it's one of his top five favorite movies, so I decided to give Donnie Darko a fair shot. I watched it, and though I didn't understand a lot of it at first, I thought it was really well done and keeps you guessing all the way to the end.
I went to bed and all night into the next day I kept processing the movie over and over again, trying to figure out the stuff I didn't get at first. I decided to watch the audio commentary, which helps a ton if you watch the movie but don't get some of it. Richard Kelly wrote a great screenplay with a lot of the story coming straight from your interpretation of what happened, something few screenwriters have been able to do throughout a movie, not just the ending. I would put this screenplay on par with Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, another movie you don't get at first but it just grabs you and makes you watch and think about it to create your own interpretation of it.
After watching it three times in two days, I don't put Donnie Darko in my top five, but I agree that it's a brilliant, beautifully haunting movie that didn't get enough respect. Backed by an equally haunting and emotional soundtrack, it is a movie that shouldn't be watched just once.
By the way, classifying it as horror isn't giving it any justice...Don't think you're gonna get scared if you watch this movie. It has it's moments, but it's not horror.