"Burn it to the ground"

Even though I usually only write music reviews on amazon.com, I just felt obligated to say how awesome this movie is. The acting is superb all around, as is the dialogue, which turns what could have been an over-the-top and ridiculous premise into something believable and familiar. Set in the fictitious late 1980's suburbia of Middlesex, this film at once stuns you with its accurate portrayal of family and social life in such a locale, and it extends itself beyond the cliched boundaries of typical suburban teen dramadies (for example, Donnie's father is not a complete jerk). This movie combines elements of science fiction, horror, drama, tragedy, suspense, and even comedy into one eclectic yet effective amalgam that grips you from beginning to end. Jake Gyllenhaal is utterly believable as Donnie, a teen suffering from what seem to either be psychotic hallucinations or ominous visions of a six foot tall rabbit named Frank, who upon their first encounter informs him that the world will end in "28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds". This meeting occurs late one night, when in some sadistically sardonic twist of fate, a jet engine plummets from the sky and lands right on Donnie's room. Fortunately, he is not there at the time because Frank has drawn him outside, and thus "saved" him from what was sure to be an extremely unpleasant demise. Because of this fact, Donnie feels indebted to his new "friend," and follows any instructions Frank gives him. This leads to no small amount of trouble in Middlesex, as Donnie becomes increasingly reckless and unstable, much to the dismay of his parents (skillfully played by Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne) and especially his gym teacher Mrs. Farmer, played with an effective amount of self-righteousness and obliviousness by Beth Grant. The rest of the cast is spectacular as well, especially Noah Wyle as the cautiously helpful Prof. Monnitoff, Drew Barrymore as Donnie's sympathetic English teacher Mrs. Pomeroy, Katharine Ross as Donnie's caring psychiatrist Dr. Thurman, Patrick Swayze as oblivious self-help guru Jim Cunninham, and most of all Jena Malone as Donnie's troubled girlfriend Gretchen Ross, who becomes one of the only things keeping Donnie going. As the movie progresses, Donnie begins to feel more and more isolated, his only sources of solace being Gretchen and a book given to him by Monnitoff called "The Philosophy of Time Travel" written by Roberta Sparrow, a local recluse whom Donnie and his friends lovingly refer to as "Grandma Death". With the aid of both Monnitoff and Sparrow, Donnie believes he has discovered the secret of time travel. All of these characters and plots converge on one fateful Halloween night, causing Donnie to finally lose it in one of the films most heartwrenching and chilling scenes. In the end, Donnie makes an extremely sad, but somehow optimistic decision to, ah, well, you'll just have to see the movie. Along with all the magnificent elements already defined, this movie features several other things for which I must commend it, the first of which is its soundtrack and score. Utilizing a combination of popular songs from the 80's and a stellar, beautiful, and melancholy score of instrumental works by composer Michael Andrews, this film is appealing on more than one level, which is more than I can say for many movies. Another thing which I must take the time to acknowledge is the extremely realistic and effective subplot involving a student named Cherita Chen (played very well by Jolene Purdy) who is teased by her classmates for being overweight and foreign. This sad scenario is all too real in many schools, and is brought into the spotlight in this movie with a haunting and sorrowful authenticity. Overall, director Richard Kelly has outdone himself to say the least (especially considering this is his first movie), and one can only hope that he continues to manufacture material of the same calibur as this. If you haven't seen this movie yet, then by all means do so: I can honestly say that it is one of the best films I have ever seen. (NOTE TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE, DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVE NOT: I know there is some debate as to whether the entire movie was real or just Donnie's imagination, and I just have to weigh in on this matter: the jet engine that crashes through Donnie's room obviously came from the plane his mother and sister were flying in when it ran into the wormhole that manifested when the end of the world was set to occur, so therefore he must have discovered the secret to time travel in order to allow himself to go back and alter the course of time and restart the entire thing. Just my thoughts.)

Stick with the original release

Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie, but I felt the Director's Cut too long. I also was disappointed that the song, "Under the Milky Way" by the Church was removed from this version. Music plays such an important role in the movie and the Halloween party scene was "limp" because this song was taken out.

Uh, Dude, Calm Down - it's just a movie...

Granted, it's a thought provoking movie, which is a bit of an oxymoron, if you think about it. I mean, movies are Entertainment, and the minute you have to think about what is supposed to entertain you, it stops being entertainment, and becomes work, which is what we go to movies to escape from!
Okay, I'm not saying this because I don't 'get it.' I'm the weirdo in my social circle. Tape deck: Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Coldplay, conscious hip-hop - the stuff that requires thinking.
Favorite movies: Fight Club, Vanilla Sky, Memento - the stuff that the average dude has to see 3-4 times to 'get.'
I respect your attempts at philosophy, Sunshine - no doubt you're a college man. But for God's Sakes, this isn't a teen movie made to challenge religion. The Matrix has more religious undertones than Donnie Darko! DD is an acid trip, in the most poignant sense of the word.
Bear in mind, I rated this movie five-stars, so I'm not belittling it. Still, so many of my friends have the tendency to overhype things. If it's just okay, it's good. If it's good, it's great. If it's great, it's a classic piece of art that dwarfs all things in its presences. You get the picture.
About the movie: Donnie Darko, like the last review said, is a challenging movie, with a scenario that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't seen. Even after all is said and done, it's still difficult to tell whether Donnie Darko has imagined the whole thing, or if he has somehow been able to turn back the hands of time.
Donnie's an iconoclast; he (forgive the tired cliche) marches to the beat of a different drum. He's a little darker than those his age (duh), but he's also a lot smarter, dabbling in obscure sciences, and often wrapped up in an obsession with the study of time travel.
This would make him a respectable fellow, if not for forte for theories about the apocalypse, as well as the fact that he sees a life-sized talking rabbit (we've all seen that in the trailer).
All of the performances, both from the veteran actors, of which there are a few, and the newcomers, of which there are also quite a few, are very well-delivered and believable. It's really surprising to me that this wasn't a big movie, propelling Jake to stardom (sure, he's popular, and he got to go out with Kirsten Dunst, but he's no A-Lister).
It's very surprising that this was the writer/director's first film, as every piece of dialogue, and every camera angle seems like it came from the hands of a pro.
In the end, I highly recommend this movie. It is a great film, a thing that young aspiring directors may look to in the future for inspiration. So, in conclusion, people, watch it, enjoy it, but please don't take it too seriously!