Donnie Darko: One Confusing Movie

TITLE: Donnie Darko

DIRECTOR: Richard Kelly

STARRING:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle

GENRE: Science Fiction, Drama

YEAR: 2001

COUNTRY: United States

Finally I decided to review this film. Donnie Darko is a fun film to sit around and watch one hell of a confusing film. Lets just leave it at that. No? Fine I’ll keep going.

Donnie Darko follows titular character Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) a schizophrenic teenager who’s life is saved by a large person in a rabbit costume who calls himself Frank. Franks warns him of the “end of the world” in 28 days, six hours, 48 minutes, 12 seconds, and then reappears throughout the film. He is one of the many voices that speak to Donnie throughout the film. We follow Donnie through his breakdown and the slow degeneration of his mind, up until his demise. Death by jet engine.

I can’t stretch this enough, this film is one hell of a confusing movie. This is my third viewing of the film and I think I need at least one more to fully understand it. I really enjoyed Jake Gyllenhaal and Drew Barrymore’s performances, and I think that there are very few people that could play Donnie Darko. He is such a complex and confused character that I didn’t even think Gyllenhaal could pull it off, but I was politely surprised. I was entertained by all of the symbolism and hidden messages in this film that it kept me coming back for more.

Donnie Darko, despite everything I liked about it, has plenty of negative characteristics. The majority of the cast performed poorly in the film, except for Jake Gyllenhaal and Drew Barrymore. While all of the other characters were interesting to say the least, I felt they were portrayed poorly. My main beef with this film was the fact that the film is based on time travel. Really, time travel? You set up all of these amazing surreal moments and cop out with time travel? Bullshit.

PROS:

• Interesting characters.
• Controversial themes.
• Amazing songs.
• Superb main cast performances.

CONS:

• Confusing as hell.
• Time Travel

SCORES: 8.0 / 10

If you have any suggestions for films/TV/Games/Music for me to review, drop me a comment! Remember: Like Media In Review @ https://www.facebook.com/MediaInReview?ref=hl Follow Media in Review @ https://twitter.com/Media_In_Review.

Brandon Stuhr

Who am I? Just some guy who decided to start writing on the Internet years ago and now operates his own brand and site. Owner/Operator of Modern Neon Media, I make all kinds of niche content to suit my interests at the time. DIY Enthusiast, Brewmaster extraordinaire, and avid freak for geek culture. Follow on my socials for a more “on” version of me.