Dark, twisted, and utterly engrossing, Donnie Darko has captivated audiences since 2001. Now, a whole decade later, the film has been revitalized for high definition with a special 10th Anniversary Edition. Does this Blu-ray double dip improve on the previous release? What's new here for content? Read on to find out!
Donnie Darko is a thriller that keeps viewers guessing and scratching their heads from one scene to the next. The film's strange beginnings merely foreshadow the even more bizarre events to come as the story slowly unwinds itself to a dramatic conclusion. The movie focuses on the life of a mentally ill young man named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal). Donnie has visions, hears voices, and is prone to react in a manner that doesn't necessarily conform to society. He's basically a genius level student with nutty tendencies.
In the opening moments of the film, Donnie wakes up on a hill-side road in his pajamas. He hardly seems phased by that fact, and that's a little window into one of his quirks. He has a tendency to sleep walk and wake up in strange places. That sets up one certain night where Donnie leaves the house and visits a golf course to talk to a man in a hideous bunny suit. Frank, as the bunny is called, tells Donnie that it will all end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds, which Donnie writes on his arm with a marker. What will end though? The world? Donnie's life? It's rather unclear at this point, but the visions only get weirder and weirder as the movie goes on. Meanwhile a mysterious jet engine falls onto the Darko household and lands in Donnie's room. Coincidence? You decide.
It's from that meeting with Frank that Donnie slowly unravels. Frank takes on a personality and becomes a voice in Donnie's head telling him to do things he doesn't want to do. He can't disobey the bunny and it often leads to other, better paths for Donnie. One incident allows him to meet a girl he's wanted to meet while another gets accidental revenge on someone he despises. It soon becomes clear to Donnie that there are greater forces at work and there's a predestined tapestry laid out before him.
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Article comments
1 - Baronius
I've only seen the movie in a director's cut. From what I understand there was a lot of added material, so I can't comment on the original, but in the version I saw it really seemed like Donnie suffered a psychotic break. I was bothered by the movie's attempt to poo-poo it. It seemed to be saying, just go with it. Hallucinations? Loss of impulse control? Sudden insights into unconventional physics? Don't worry about it. It could be true, so just roll with it.