The film blows. I have no idea why i liked this movie when i was a teen. I'm 30 now and it just seems mediocre and pretentious. There's hardly any time traveling in it and basically nutjob gyllenhall is being driven mad by a 6ft rabbit. I don't see any substance other than the movie teaching us how important mental health is.
shareso you're implying that when i'm 30, i won't like this movie anymore
watch me
I can only assume this guy is trolling..
shareNot everything is trolling. So now opposing views is trolling? Does anyone even know how to apply the term anymore?
shareI saw this film when I was well over 30, and I thought it was strange, well-made,and weird, with a consistently downbeat tone maintained throughout. My sister, who likes weird films like I do, hadn't seen it, so I got the DVD and mailed it to her some years ago. It would be interesting to check it out today,though. I do recall that it got virtually no promotion when it came out----the only reason I even knew that the film existed at the time was a mention about it in a post on another movie site which spoiled the ending---go figure. I thought the description of the film sounded intriguing enough to check out, which I did, years later (I don't think it even played anywhere near me---that's how obscure it was--never saw an ad for it,nothing.) Really interesting how DONNIE DARKO's gotten to be a major cult film in its own right---it's certainly weird enough to have earned that title.
shareThank you
shareYour comment is a reflection of you, not the movie.
shareDidn't Donnie's mental health issues result in him saving the world?
When I saw this in 2007, being emo was in fashion and dark, twisted tales seemed to be all the rage. Now the story is a little out there by today's standards. I enjoy it mostly for the soundtrack. The storyline I do like is the ending and his desire to undo the death of his girlfriend by sacrificing his life.
shareI saw it on release and really liked it. I'm now 41, guess what ? I still really like it.
I probably watch it at least once a year, I've watched both cuts recently because of the Arrow release, I enjoy it every time.
I'm the same. I loved it back then but it now its really silly to watch. The viewer has to fill in the plot holes themselves.
Cellar Door explanation was silly as well.
No wonder the director didn't do much after this movie.
Sorry fans but this movie was too odd for me.
For me this is one of those movies that leave a first good impression but after subsequent viewings the movie's themes and plot points seem rather sophomoric in their approach. The science-fiction of time travel in this movie doesn't add up and instead of letting us suspend our disbelief it tries to explain it in realistic terms that are juvenile at best. What can be credited to this movie is the rise of lazy Sci-Fi as exhibited by writers and directors like JJ Abrams and Dameon Lindelof as they are huge practitioners of using false flags in their science fiction projects as well.
shareThere are aspects of this movie that I really like (Donnie & Gretchen, the music, all of the clues), but whenever I try to make sense of it all, I'm left scratching my head.
For example, we're supposed to believe that a jet engine falling from the sky creates an unstable Tangent Universe, and that the solution is to send ANOTHER jet engine back to the same spot?
Since when did 2 wrongs make a right? It wasn't even the same jet engine. And I've never seen anyone provide any kind of half-decent explanation as to where it possibly came from in the first place (Do they just randomly fall out of jets like that as they're flying?)
Wouldn't dropping another jet engine just create another Tangent Universe? Shouldn't there be 2 jet engines now? (creating 2 Tangent Universes?) What exactly stopped the first one from falling again?
Or are we supposed to believe that the jet engine that fell at the beginning is the same one that he sends from the future at the end? (creating an infinite loop that isn't really infinite because he only survives the first loop, so he wouldn't be around to save future loops, and therefore the world would eventually end anyway...So much for Donnie being a hero!)
I've read some people say that the Tangent Universe already started BEFORE the jet engine comes down, but if that's the case, then sending the jet engine back wouldn't solve the problem. I guess it might help, but something else must've started the Tangent Universe, and Donnie needs to figure out what that is and fix that too before he can save mankind.
But this isn't brought up anywhere in the movie or in The Philosophy of Time Travel book or in any discussions that I've come across, so I guess that I'm just thinking about it too much. Whatever started the Tangent Universe isn't important as long as Donnie gets another jet engine sent back.
That makes perfect sense to me!
But I still like this film (Just go along for the ride and try not to think about it too much, and if you ever see a jet engine fall from the sky, run like hell and let someone else be The Living Receiver!)