Review of Donnie Darko (2001) by Diego T — 28 Oct 2013

This review contains mild spoilers.

The rare Diego Tutweiller 10/10 stars is not given out lightly. This movie is among only 20-something films out of hundreds that have actually merited a perfect score. So this should carry some weight. Donnie Darko is perfect. This movie is a spellbinding tour de force of incredible acting, breathtaking plot twists, and a mesmerizing plot. When you have a cult hit with great acting and a great plot... you have gospel. I just saw it and it's already in my top 25 favorite movies of all time. I don't remember any movie I've ever seen impressing me this much on the first viewing.

Donnie Darko stars Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular character, a teenager with some... "issues." He has visions of a devil-rabbit that speaks to him and orders him to do things. In the opening sequence, the rabbit (Frank) has him leave the house, just in time to avoid being crushed by a piece of airplane wreckage. His commands become more and more subversive and extreme as the movie commences, and it's... there's no other word for it. Incredible. While you're afraid of Frank and his influence on Donnie, you get the feeling that he's legitimately helping him. It's an incredible study of duality and psychosis. Not to sound like a pretentious twat, but it's true.

I cannot overstate how great the dialogue and acting is in this movie. Rare is the movie that can make commonplace dialogue sound like fucking Shakespeare. Donnie Darko does that. "Did you just call me a fuck-ass? You can go suck a fuck!" Genius. It's funny, witty, and a genuine pleasure to watch. If all dialogue was written as well as Donnie Darko's, the world would just be a generally better place. Yeah, that's how much I loved this movie.

Also, it really makes you hate the villains. I've always said that the hallmark of a truly great film is a truly detestable villain. A truly horrible movie, Hugo, is bad primarily because it has no notable villain. Donnie Darko is its polar opposite. Patrick Swayze plays a remarkable villain, a self-help douchebomb who enthralls everyone except Donnie, who exposes him for the fraudulent asswipe he is in public, then proceeds to burn down his house at Frank's command and expose his secret stash of kiddie porn. I was cheering at this part. It gave me a serious adrenaline rush. THAT is the payoff you want from a villain. It was truly verging on epic proportions.

Donnie is one of the most relatable and sympathetic characters in all of film. He's a tortured artist, struggling to get by while being tormented by his apocalyptic visions. This is truly a perfect film for any depressed emo teenager who thinks people should give a damn about his piddly-ass problems. Of all the movie characters I've ever seen, Donnie's the one I'd most like to have a beer with. Or The Dude, that would be awesome. But in all seriousness, you never stop rooting for this guy. It's an incredible cinematic feat. I wanted him to triumph over his demons far more than I ever rooted for Harry Potter or Luke Skywalker. I wanted his therapy instructor dead more than Sauron.

The subject matter of Donnie Darko spans everything from religion to parallel universes, and it's some complicated shit that even I had to pause and think about. But it all comes together in the end. I won't take the Inception fanboy route of saying "If you didn't like it, you weren't paying attention," but I will say this: If you didn't like it BECAUSE you didn't understand it, give it another viewing. Of course, you could always look it up on Wikipedia, but that's cheating.

Final Score for Donnie Darko? Yup, this is perfect. 10/10, would definitely watch again. REPEATEDLY. This is an enduring classic, and one of the few truly great films made since the turn of the century. Like others of its ilk (Blade Runner, Brazil) it has a few versions out, and I intend to see them all. It's a gripping, captivating movie that every true cinephile should see at least once in their lives.