The Movie
A suburban family drama with some freaky twists, Donnie Darko has developed a loyal following particularly among younger viewers, or perhaps more accurately those who were young when the movie was first released ten years ago. Set in the autumn of 1988, the movie follows an American Beauty-ous wayward teen (Jake Gyllenhaal) complete with therapy and meds to help manage his aggressive behavior.
All bets are off however once Donnie starts sleepwalking, a habit which winds up saving his life when a falling jet engine crashes into his bedroom (never mind that they can't find the rest of the plane), and before long he is talking to a six-foot future-foretelling rabbit. This in turn leads to his research on time travel, poring over the text written by the white-haired former nun who lives at the edge of town.
Ordinary People they ain't, and the weirdness builds until a somewhat unsatisfying climax that answers some--certainly not all--of our questions. But the subject matter and even more so the style keep us hypnotized from start to finish. Note that the disc defaults to the theatrical version of the movie, but since it was such a passion project for creator Richard Kelly, I strongly recommend the 2004 Director's Cut, also available here.
The Picture
The movies are presented at a modest 18-megabits-per-second average video rate, necessary despite the 50-gigabyte dual-layer platter since two different versions are crammed on. This appears to be the same Blu-ray that Fox released in February of 2009 (copyrighted 2008) and so we are looking at an older transfer, wherein the colors are largely flat, blacks tend to be dull and lifeless, the contrast doesn't seem quite right and the 2.4:1 image is not especially detailed. There is also significant grain and undeniable noise.
The Sound
Watch both and you will surely notice the difference between the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtracks, as the Director's Cut received a drastic sonic redesign, largely to play up the science fiction aspects of the story. While bass per se is not profoundly amped up, moments of intended impact rock the home theater largely on their sheer volume and the aggressive use of the rears. Incidental effects are distributed discretely, while remixed the vintage pop tunes and the resonance are convincingly spread around us.
The Extras
There are thee commentaries across the two versions of the film on Disc One. For the Theatrical version we can choose between the Richard Kelly/Jake Gyllenhaal track or "Cast and Crew" including various supporting actors and producers, all of whom sound like they are having a blast. Exclusive to the Director's Cut, Kelly is joined by fellow filmmaker Kevin Smith, who acted in Kelly's next film, Southland Tales.
Disc Two is a DVD of bonus content in standard definition. A full listing can be found below. Disc Three is another DVD, offering the movie in standard definition with quite an extensive list of bonus features, almost all of which are unique to this platter. Disc Four carries a Digital Copy of the Director's Cut for iTunes or Windows Media.
Despite the quantity of extras, nothing here is new except the Digital Copy.
Final Thoughts
The dearth of new material notwithstanding, this is still the most comprehensive version of Donnie Darko that I'm aware of, pulling together previously disparate releases and throwing in a portable copy, all for quite a reasonable price. If you're not a stickler for reference-quality video, and if you have not picked up this movie before, this set is recommended.
Product Details
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