Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut Review

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a somewhat troubled teenager. His parents have been worried about him lately. Donnie got in trouble when he was a kid for burning down an empty barn and spent some time in juvenile detention. Ever since, Donnie has been seeing a psychologist, and he's been forced to take medication. One night, Donnie has a strange experience. He is visited by a giant rabbit named Frank, who tells Donnie to go outside. Donnie goes outside and is shown a vision. Then Frank tells Donnie that the world is going to end in 28 days. That same night, a jet engine falls out of the sky and crashes into the Darko home. It lands in Donnie's room. It would have killed Donnie, but fortunately Donnie's strange vision had led him outside.

Donnie's life begins to change and evolve at a very rapid rate, as he attempts to determine how to process this new information about the end of the world. For the first time, he manages to start a reasonably successful romantic relationship with a girl named Gretchen . He doesn't particularly care for school, but begins to find great stimulation and satisfaction in the ambitious class led by his English teacher, Karen Pomeror. He begins to develop a fascination with the concept of time travel. He loathes the very core of an inspirational speaker named Jim Cunningham who has been spending some time "motivating" the kids at the school. All the while, his thoughts and actions begin to become increasingly controlled by the mysterious Frank. Is Frank real, a symbol, a dream, or none of the above? Is the end of the world really coming? What's going to happen to Donnie Darko? Where is the line between reality and fantasy?

Any person that knows a thing or two about movies, and watch several of them on a daily basis, will be impressed by the master piece that is Donnie Darko. This movie is unique, one of a kind. There are no films that can compare to this film, nothing out there even remotley similiar. It's untouchable, it keeps your eyes on the screen, and it makes the wheels in your head turn even after the credits begin to roll.