Review of Donnie Darko (2001) by Raaj C — 03 Dec 2013

Donnie Darko is an interesting kind of movie. Like Christopher Nolan's Memento and Inception, you really need to stay focused as of what is going on in the movie. If you don't and act like this is that average teen flick, you are going to hate it. Now, I love movies like this. It is deep, funny, tragic, intense, and downright enjoyable...if you pay attention to it of course.

The film is about Donnie Darko, a troubled teenager that seeks the meaning and significance behind these troubling doomsday-related visions he has been receiving throughout. With the help of his friends, family, and a 6-foot man imaginary man in a rabbit suit named Frank, he may find the answers he is looking for.

Like I said, this is movie is deep and I mean really deep. When I first saw this movie, I just couldn't get it. I thought the filmmaker, Richard Kelly, was just going complete artsy on this movie like Baz Luhrmann does with his movies. No, he knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to making a completely original piece of work. I don't think I have seen or heard a story like this one before. It is really good! I manages to blend fiction and reality really well.

The performers did an excellent job in this film, Jake Gyllenhaal especially. His portrayal as a trouble individual was believable and very exciting. His relationship with Jena Malone (yes I just realized that she also played a lovely part in Catching Fire, I just didn't realize she was also in this film) was also believable. In fact, the relationship between Donnie and any other character was believable and funny. When watching a movie like this, you wouldn't expect to see a good amount of humor, but there is actual humor in this film.

You can probably guess that I loved Donnie Darko. This among other films like this, Memento, Inception, Looper doesn't really need a sequel at all. Unfortunately, Donnie Darko did spawn a direct-to-video sequel that mainly focuses on his little sister named Samantha Darko. This sequel is called S. Darko and I am not going to see and/or review that because I heard how many people hated that film. Anyway, you need to see this movie. It is well written, well acted, well directed, it is just well. If you do want to see this movie, then pay CLOSE attention on what is happening. I am giving this film 5/5 stars.