Donnie Darko

(this review contains juicy spoilers)

it was on one fateful day in october of 1988 that an antisocial teenager named donnie darko (jake gyllenhaal) narrowly escaped from a plane engine which landed in his bedroom and he received a rather peculiar visitor - a demented looking bunny-man with insanitary teeth named frank (james duval), who told donnie that the world was going to end in 28 days. never in donnie's wildest dreams did he know that he and the lives of others would be forever changed.

donnie was a troubled teenager who was sarcastic and gloomy and was living with a dysfunctional family. although he was plagued by imperfections, he was a thoughtful and curious person. after frank's visit, donnie started to question the existence of time travel and to run frank's strange errands, such as flooding the school and burning down the house of the child porn owner named jim cunningham (patrick swayze). donnie's many often irrational actions alter the lives of others in small, yet significant ways, whether beneficial or harmful, which further shows that everyone is tied together by a string.

at the end of the film, after donnie's girlfriend gretchen (jena malone) died because of him, he decided to sacrifice himself in order to bring gretchen back to life and return the universe to its natural state of being. because of that, donnie was a tragic hero.

"donnie darko" is a spectacular sci-fi film because not only does it explore the supernatural world, it also appeals to the viewers' emotions. the film effectively applies distressing and sinister music where needed, and slow motion in scenes that are significant. although the film is very open ended and the events in the film all seem to flow in a circle, it does leave the viewers room for more imaginative speculation.