Rent Donnie Darko (2001)

Like Nothing Seen Before or After - Donnie Darko review by CP Customer

Richard Kelly's masterpiece is an achievement like no other film. Great 80's soundtrack accompanies a story that is so bizarre and fascinating I couldn't keep my eyes from the screen.

It follows Donnie a rebellious but brilliant teenager who is visited by a giant bunny called 'Frank' who tells him when the world will end. Sounds strange and it is but it is handled so well that it doesn't detrack from the amazing performance - Jake Gyllenhaal: a star is born!

I cannot recommend this film enough! Watch it! Rent it! Own it!

Brilliantly Original. Surreal Drama - Donnie Darko review by GI

Director Richard Kelly's surreal, fantasy masterpiece, an existential exploration of reality played out as a teenage drama. It's funny, enigmatic and fascinating even after repeated viewings and with the aid of Kelly's 'Special Edition' which offers some explanations along the way. Jake Gyllenhaal is the titular Donnie, a High School teenager with behavioural and emotional problems that manifest as sleepwalking and strange visions. His concerned yet liberal parents send him to a psychiatrist who medicates him. Then events take a weird turn as an aircraft engine falls from the sky onto the Darko's house. This is the mystery element of the narrative as the engine cannot be identified and Donnie begins to see a strange man/rabbit creature called Frank who gives him instructions including committing arson and vandalism. Everything is for a reason as the plot unfolds and Kelly has interwoven a story about dreams, hallucinations running alongside the theory of alternate universes. It all sounds complicated and the film does leave lots of questions to be asked but this is what makes the whole thing so intriguing and downright fun. The cast are great with Jena Malone as Donnie's girlfriend, Mary McDonnell as his mother, Maggie Gyllenhaal as his sister and support from Katherine Ross as the psychiatrist and Patrick Swayze in a role that goes completely against his screen persona (Seth Rogen can also be seen in an early role). A really original film that harks back in some ways to Harvey (1950), it's utterly enthralling and endlessly watchable and a film everyone should watch and watch again.

Donnie's Back - Donnie Darko review by AS

Hadn't seen this since it came out originally. Enjoyed it at the time but less so this time, probaly because I knew the plot. Still liked it this time. Acting was good as was the 1980's mainly British music. Picked up on a few references to other 80s films such as ET, Heathers and The Shining. Definitely worth a look if you haven't seen it before.

I was disappointed by the quality of the Blu Ray sound and vision.