Review of Donnie Darko (2001) by Daiken S — 16 Apr 2013

I can see the attraction behind this film, the main idea the film makers were trying to accomplish, their vision. It's supposed to be a film that combines complex time travel ideas and philosophy with eerie dark comedy and teenage love drama. And on the paper it's not a bad idea. The main character Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) gets told that he doesn't have long on this earth, while he simultaneously has to question his very sanity and even his existence. This is shown to have the effect of releasing him from his bonds, allowing him to express himself in ways he has never before realized. In a way you could say that he was happier during that final month or so than he was ever before. Except that he's constantly plagued by the knowledge of what might come. The film's atmosphere is very dark, with muted colours and uncomfortable, yet occasionally sweet scenes.

So what went wrong? The time travel aspect mostly. The thing about a plot device as complex as time travel is that it pretty much always requires a lot of explanation to pull off. The audience needs to know why something travels through time, what caused it. In Back to the Future it's explained to be the work of a brilliant scientist. In The Terminator it's future technology. Sometimes it's magic. In Donnie Darko it sort of just happens, which is always a terrible choice. Some films get away with it through the use of humour - the randomness of it is dismissed with a shrug. Donnie Darko however spends a significant amount of its running length talking about the methodology of time travel, yet explaining very little. And this is immensely frustrating, because either we should be receiving information or we should be doing something else. Of course a mystery left open is sometimes a valid plot device, but it needs to be brought into the story just right or it ends up being frustrating, like in this case. Though to be fair I've read that the director's cut is better in this aspect, so perhaps there's still hope for this movie.

Aside from that major aspect, I think the movie's OK. I'm not crazy about any of the performances, but the main actors are good at what they do. Gyllenhaal especially is very believable in his role, even though he comes off very detached and nonplussed. In this case I believe it's deliberate and he shows emotions in the right places, so it works. On the technical side of things I have no complaints. It's not the best looking film I've ever seen, but it's solidly slight above average, which is more than enough, considering that this movie is mainly about the idea behind it rather than how the idea is brought to the screen.

In the end I have to find this to be an average film, perhaps slightly above average. That's only the theatrical cut, though mind you. Had they explained the time travel any better and had they really focused on the complexity of Darko's situation, this could have been an amazing film. And it's entirely possible that the director's cut could be just that. Now it's a bit too open ended, a bit too non-explanatory, to really pull me in. Still worth a watch, but nothing spectacular.