Smarter than the Average Bear

Rating: 9/10 (8 August 2005)

We all know the story of the teenager full of angst; it's an old tale. But this movie takes the teenager and put him into a new situation. The end of the world!
Seriously though, the atmosphere of this movie hits you and keeps attached throughout the whole film. The story line is thought provoking and quite deep; it leaves quite a lot of the story open for the viewer to view it in their own way (intentional or not..). This has lead to most people saying that, to get the real idea of 'Donnie Darko' you should watch it at least twice. Well in my opinion there is no need, I understood most of the story in the first viewing. The only problem being that with misunderstanding of the story this film could be discarded as rubbish. (I have also been told that this film is stupid because it makes no sense, this was by the same person who said exactly the same about the less confusing matrix?)
The film is about a kid (conveniently named Donnie Darko) who has been having 'emotional problems' for some time. This has lead Donnie to be seeing a therapist about it, this seems has no effect on his problems. Donnie has been having visions of this 6 feet tall rabbit, called frank. The first time we encounter Frank we discover that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds.
So we follow Donnie for the next 28 days, with his development on the end of the world. With more encounters with Frank (don't worry it all becomes clear close to the end) and characters such as 'Grandma Death', Donnie's teachers, friends and family all add to Donnie's development and his realisation that, with fate, we all die alone. As you can probably guess this is no 'sexy cheerleader, oh my God she is taking them off' teen movie but a deep thought provoking film about alienation and the meaning of life.
Not that this film is perfect it has some flaws. I felt that his dreams, full of special effects seemed to go on a bit too long. I got the point of Frank after a while; I didn't need to know that Donnie couldn't stab him because of a force field. The only things I can find wrong are tiny pathetic things like that, so no major problems.
I wouldn't advise people to go and see this if you are too lazy (or stupid) to think about what is happening. Also if you enjoy the mindless Hollywood trash then this is not the movie for you. But for all the people who are willing to go and watch a thinking persons movie then, this is for you! So go and watch it now you thinkers.