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DVDfever.co.uk – Donnie Darko 2-disc Director’s Cut Edition Blu-ray reviewDom Robinson reviews
Metrodome VideoBlu-ray: 
DVD:
- Cert:
- Running time: 113 & 134 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Cat no: MTDBD5408
- Released: July 2010
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12
- Picture: 1080p High Definition
- Sound: DTS 5.1 HD
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: BD50
- Price: £24.99 (Blu-ray); £19.99 (DVD)
- Extras: They made me do it: Art Gallery, Deleted and extended Scenes, Audio commentaries, Production diary,Director’s Cut, They made me do it too: Director’s Cut trailer
Director:
- Richard Kelly
(The Box, Donnie Darko, The Goodbye Place, Southland Tales, Visceral Matter)
Producers:
- Adam Fields, Nancy Juvonen and Sean McKittrick
Screenplay:
- Richard Kelly
Music:
- Michael Andrews
Cast :
- Donnie Darko: Jake Gyllenhaal
Gretchen Ross: Jena Malone
Karen Pomeroy: Drew Barrymore
Dr Lilian Thurman: Katharine Ross
Jim Cunningham: Patrick Swayze
Elizabeth Darko: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Rose Darko: Mary McDonnell
Eddie Darko: Holmes Osborne
Dr Fisher: Arthur Taxier
Man in Red Jogging Suit: Tom Tangen
Joanie James: Jazzie Mahannah
Cherita Chen: Jolene Purdy
Ronald Fisher: Stuart Stone
Sean Smith: Gary Lundy
Seth Devlin: Alex Greenwald
Prof. Kenneth Monnitoff: Noah Wyle
Mrs Farmer: Beth Grant
Grandma Death: Patience Cleveland
Principal Cole: David Moreland
Ricky Danforth: Seth Rogen
As Donnie Darko begins, the date is October 2nd 1988 as Dukakis and Bush Snr are running for the Whitehouse.
We see Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) waking up in the middle of the road as morning comes and he realises he fell offhis bike. Typical of most teenagers, he spends a lot of time out at night, but unlike some he’s on medication to controlhis behaviour and moods swings.
In the middle of the night, a voice tells him to wake up and that it’s been watching him. He goes out into the gardenwhere a rabbit called Frank tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds. He asks why. Wedon’t find out the answer. Later that night there’s an explosion at his house, which turns out to be an aircraft enginehaving landed in his bedroom, despite there having been no trace of a plane in the area. However, Donnie wasn’t at homebecause when he wakes up he finds he’s spent the whole night asleep on a golf course.
Another time, he’s told by Frank to break into the school at night, take an axe to the water main and flood the place,followed by buring the axe in the head of a bronze statue and spray-painting the words, “They made me do it” in front of it.
There’s so much more to come but if you haven’t seen it yet then it’s well worth a look. Just a few of the weird encountersinclude a bizarre conversation between Donnie and two of his friends about Smurfette having sex with all the other smurfs,there’s an old woman known as “Grandma Death” who stops traffic by standing in the middle of the road, occasionally andrepeatedly checking a mailbox; and this socially-inept lad even manages to bag a girlfriend in the form of new girlGretchen Ross (Jena Malone).
I watched the regular version, as I heard the Director’s Cut gives too much away, and I really enjoyed it. It was verybizarre at times but I followed what was going on and it came together very well. If I had any complaints it’s thatthere’s just too many characters trying to get in on the gig so, in some cases, they don’t really get more than a fewminutes to make their mark on the movie. However, I’d highly recommend a viewing and I was impressed on a couple ofoccasions when early song pieces, Echo & The Bunnymen’s The Killing Moon and Tears For Fears’ Head Over Heels,were accompanied by a great mix of footage at regular, slow and fast paces.
It was interesting to see Jake’s real-life sister Maggie play his sister Elizabeth, and the late Patrick Swayzemakes a great job of the slightly creepy evangelist-type character, Jim Cunningham, promising to make everyone’s livesbetter. Jena Malone‘s also wonderful as Donnie’s girlfriend, Gretchen, a girl who looks as lost in this world asDonnie often is.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic theatrical ratio, there is nothing to complain about other than a slightlyshimmering picture in the opening scene. This is the kind of thing we sometimes get from Optimum titles. Are they fromthe same source? Other than that it’s sharp, detailed and flawless.For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
Audio-wise, you get a 5.1 DTS HD soundtrack, although I had to go for the 5.1 DTS equivalent, which brillianty bringsacross the dark nature of many scenes including when Donnie gets to share screen time with Frank as well as the music,and is also functional for dialogue.
The extras on disc 1 are as follows:
- They made me do it: Art Gallery (3:11):As this extra states: 14 leading artists emerging from the UK graffiti scene were asked to complete a piece on canvas,in 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds, inspired by this film. The exhibition ran for 28 days at Dreambagsjaguarshoes,London.
- Deleted and extended Scenes (31:50):A massive 20 scenes here, but none I’d really put back into the film.
- Audio commentaries:One from director Richard Kelly and one from the cast and crew.
Disc 2, which features the director’s cut, contains the following extras:
- Production diary (40:44):A diary recorded over the course of 28 days…
Bizarrely, like the deleted scenes, the counter never moves so while you can skip through to later chapters, you can’tsee how many there are or how far through the piece you are.
- They made me do it too: Director’s Cut trailer (0:55):Shown in letterboxed 2.35:1, at this point I’ve still only seen the regular version, but this trailer doesn’t feel likeit’s given anything extra away.
- Audio commentary:From director Richard Kelly and Kevin Smith.
The menu is a set of blue-tinged images from the film set to music from the film along with Frank’s warning about howlong the world has left.There are subtitles in English only. The chaptering seems like it’s been let out to Optimum as there’s only 12. It’s aLONG film, so why skimp? This goes for both versions of it.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.