Donnie Darko User Reviews

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The titular Donnie is a troubled teen under medication with a habit of sleepwalking, a habit which saves his life when he wakes up on a golf course only to find that a plane engine has dropped out of the sky crushing his room, though he finds on his arm he has written a series of numbers which are, ostensibly, the moment the world will end. Donnie goes on a strange journey of self-fulfillment and rejection of the norms of a society which long ago forgot how to be human, only to discover that to preserve it all he may have to make a terrible decision. Darko is a dreamy, surreal drama that intersperses human emotion with strange sci-fi fantasy asides that eventually segue back into the overarching narrative. The principal cast delivers a fine performance, particularly Gyllenhaal's portrayal of moody, dissatisfied Donnie, but perhaps the most resonant performances come from the supporting cast, including Patrick Swayze as a wonderfully slimy motivational speaker whose obtuse way of looking at the world clashes with Donnie's own budding sense of the fabric of the world. Now, I would be in remiss to not mention Darko's plot which, woven in with (microspoiler) time travel and phantasmal visions, can be a little jumbled on a first viewing and may necessitate a second watching to fully understand the lightly-touched-on yet thoroughly interwoven philosophies of time being put forth, especially to fully appreciate the climax which, unfortunately, depends so heavily on those same concepts. That said, for most people looking for a thinker of a drama, you should definitely see Donnie Darko at least once if you haven't already and I doubt you will find yourself disappointed.