Donnie Darko (2001) MOVIE REACTION! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

Another favourite for us to watch was Donnie Darko (2001) starring Jake Gyllenhaal. We hope you enjoy
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#DonnieDarko (2001)
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[@jenniferhaake9818]

I saw this movie with my roommate years ago and then went to bed right after. In the middle of the night she woke me up saying some guy was in the backyard trying to talk to us. I thought she was prancing me but then I heard a man’s voice ask us to let him in. We looked down from the second floor and it was just a shadowy figure. We freaked out and threatened to call police and he disappeared. The next day we asked the neighbors if they saw anything, but it turned out they had a party that night and a guy they were friends with got drunk and couldn’t wait in line for the bathroom anymore so he’d gone to pee outside and got lost in our backyard. He thought we were his friends messing with him and we thought he was Frank the bunny guy.

[@redfieldson]

omg I love it haha

[@joshuacoldwater]

🤣🤣🤣

[@jesusramirez4537]

trippy.

[@Mandibularmenace]

The best plot theory I've managed to find: At some point, an alternate timeline (referred to as the Tangent Universe) is created when a jet engine from a plane accident hits Donnie Darko's room and misses him when Frank's reanimated corpse shows up. Over the course of the movie, Frank is used by the universe to manipulate Donnie into fixing the timeline, forcing him to do various things in order to lead to the closing of the parallel universe (i.e flooding the school, burning down Cunningham's house etc.). This eventually leads to the final part of the film, where Donnie kills the real Frank so that his corpse self can be manipulated to go back to the Tangent Universe's start to complete the loop needed to close the timeline. As this happens, the plane gets ripped apart in the wormhole, the jet engine flies through, and Donnie wakes up and dies in the main timeline to close the Tangent one completely. The residual effects lead everyone who has interacted with Donnie to experience feelings from the Tangent universe, hence why Gretchen waves familiarly to Donnie's mom.

[@Lizard-xu5lj]

or donnie just has schizophrenia

[@StevenRice]

It's about tangent universes - if a fourth dimension gets corrupted a tangent universe is created but has a limited life span (a few weeks). When Frank wakes up Donnie, and when the jet engine crashes we're ALREADY in the alternate tangent universe. Donnie was chosen (at random) to be the one to make sure the Tangent universes artifact (the jet engine) is returned back to the Prime Universe. Donnie is given special powers as the now Living Receiver chosen to save the entire universe. Frank the bunny is whats considered to be a "Manipulated Dead" - someone who DIES in the Tangent Universe (who wouldn't have died in the prime timeline) who is chosen and sent back to the beginning of the tangent universe to guide the Living Receiver (Donnie) through the process of destroying the tangent universe and returning stability to the Prime Universe. The others Donnie interacts with such as the Teacher, The Chinese Classmate, His girlfriend - they're all a guiding force known as the Manipulated Living who also help guide him, subconsciously, towards saving the prime universe. At the end, Donnie knowing his purpose uses his powers (Telekinesis for this event) to rip the engine off the plane and send it back through the portal to the prime universe. He wakes up in the prime universe thinking the entire Tangent Universe was a dream, he laughs and smiles and goes back to sleep thinking it was just some crazy dream not knowing the truth. Others who were Manipulated Living and Manipulated Dead had the same dream about the tangent universe and have residual memories of all of the events - which is why Gretchen and Donnie's mom wave to each other, its why Jim Cunningham is crying (knowing what he is doing and eventually kills himself 14 days later), Frank the Bunny covering his eye, etc. Donnie saved the universe. Roberta Sparrow was a Living Receiver herself for a DIFFERENT Tangent Universe which is why she wrote the book (philosophy of time travel)- and also serves as proof that living receivers don't need to die in order for the Prime Universe to be saved after a corruption. If Donnie got out of bed for a drink instead of going back to sleep, the universe would still have been saved - but because he thought it was a dream he died.

[@tadzio30]

My god! What a great explanation/interpretation. I have seen the film several times Just because I liked it. This comment completes a cicle 👍🏻

[@JMulvy]

Thank you for this!

[@sirjohnmara]

Great explanation, I understood a lot of that by watching the movie multiple times. But missed out on some things like Roberta Sparrow... Thanks.

[@Chris1632]

"Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?" "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?"

[@adgato75]

It was the name of my father , and his father before him. I'm so sorry.

[@Johnny_Socko]

Jake Gyllenhaal's best performance to date IMO was in *Nightcrawler* -- just the perfect depiction of a sociopath. I think it's one of the best films of the past 10 years.

[@tfpp1]

Basically, most of the movie takes place IN the alternate universe. That's why the acting seems a little hyper-real or "off", or just...a little unnatural or askew. When he resets the universe and he kills himself, the montage at the end (Mad World), illustrates all of the characters (in the "REAL" world) having some sort of "subconscious" awareness or epiphany of their alternate lives. They don't understand it on a cognizant level, but they feel it. That's why the Cunningham character is sobbing (because he's a perv in another dimension), that's why Frank touches his eye (he has a subconscious memory of getting shot), and so on...

[@eliascrooker7773]

Thanks

[@dickychip]

The best explanation I’ve heard.

[@scottv9667]

Well put

[@adgato75]

Cunningham is a perv is the real dimension too. He just hasn't been caught. He is crying from self-loathing. That is also why the teacher fan of his looks horrified. She subconsciously remembers him being one as well.

[@tfpp1]

@@adgato75 It's been a while since I've seen the movie. Can you remind me what actions he took "in the real dimension" that indicates pervy behavior, specifically?

[@Augustus_Imperator]

"Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?" "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?" most definitely my favorite quote in the movie, too bad it was off screen

[@001rockergirl]

Well Donnie was supposed to die, and when he was saved earlier on in the movie it created a wormhole. In this alternate timeline, he comes to realize that he has to die to save his family, and girlfriend. It’s a great movie

[@mercurymachines4311]

This is exactly the right reaction after a first viewing of Donnie Darko. It will only get better with each viewing :)

[@dlweiss]

In simple-ish terms: a random wormhole opened up, tore apart an airplane, and sent the plane engine back in time several days. By landing on Donnie's house, this artifact from the future created an alternate, divergent timeline. But that alternate timeline is unstable, and will soon collapse, destroying both itself AND the real, primary timeline. In order to prevent this, the universe gives Donnie powers to manipulate spacetime, allowing him to reverse events and prevent the alternate timeline from existing in the first place. But in doing so, Donnie is killed by the falling engine.

[@louispacetime1576]

Excellent explanation mate

[@MikeSmith-qg3bf]

I love the whole Tears for Fears "Head over Heels" montage. Not to mention Echo and the Bunnymen. Also Sparkle Motion needs a shout out.

[@m.e.3862]

It's one of the best soundtracks 👍😊👍

[@jamboshangotherandymolesmo5913]

Awesome soundtrack

[@jondorsey2043]

Same. Love Tears for Fears. That somber rendition of Mad World gets me every time still too. And, as absurd as it is, my fantasy football team's name is Sparkle Motion Football Club.

[@tempsitch5632]

@@jondorsey2043 There are a few official remixes of that version of Mad World out there. Check them out. I highly recommend this entire soundtrack.

[@damanhammerar154life7]

I love this movie, it's my favorite Comedy🤣

[@BH-2023]

I've always seen this movie as a metaphor for survivor's guilt

[@Henrik_Holst]

Cellar Door is a JRR Tolkien reference, he was the "famous linguist" that said that the word was the most beautiful English word.

[@pewburrito]

Actually it was Edgar Allen Poe, but you were close

[@Henrik_Holst]

@@pewburrito Edgar Allen Poe was not a linguist, Tolkien was. And the notion that Poe liked the word comes from his use of Nevermore in The Raven, Poe never wrote anything about his like or dislike for the word Cellar Door in particular so that connection is still unverified (and in any case he was not a linguist so not the reference from the movie). This is a quote from Tolkiens 1955 lecture English and Welsh: "Most English-speaking people ... will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."

[@Aroreiel08]

@@pewburrito It was Tolkien, not Poe.

[@Cerenok9]

Ironic that Jake Gyllenhaal said he auditioned for the role of Frodo in Fellowship of the Ring which came out in 2001 as well!

[@adgato75]

@@Cerenok9 He was too tall

[@steveneardley7541]

You cut out one of the best lines. When the delusional teacher is at the door, talking to Donnie's mother, she says, "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!" The line is so iconic that there is now a specialty beer called "Commitment to Sparkle Motion."

[@TheSYPHERIA]

Here's the best summary EVER -- Copying a comment I made about this movie before: So, there's actually a whole book included in the DVD that explains everything, but that old woman (Roberta Sparrow) had experienced the same thing Donnnie did and her book that he read explained exactly what was happening, and they include that in the DVD. So when the engine from the plane in the future fell through time, it created a parallel universe, which is what we follow in the movie. The parallel universe is unstable. The longer it continues to exist, the closer it comes to collapse, which will destroy both universes. People who die in the parallel universe will be trapped (as Frank was). They will try to help (or trap) the person who can collapse the two universes together. Donnie is the center of it all. The only way for everything to be made right is for Donnie to die. Frank's ghost (who Donnie will eventually kill) is trapped in the parallel universe. He sets the trap that leads Donnie to the point where he must choose to die and fix the broken universe by getting Donnie's girlfriend killed (at Frank's own hands, no less). When the engine falls through time, Donnie goes back, and chooses to die, ending the paradox and stabilizing the universe, which is the only way his girlfriend will survive, thanks to Frank's trap. However in doing so, everything he did past that point essentially never happened. His girlfriend never knew him. Frank was never killed. The plane will never crash, etc. The last thing Roberta Sparrow wrote in her book is that, even after the two universes merge and are stabilized, people will still remember what happened in the alternate universe in their dreams. That's why everyone is waking up after Donnie dies. They all remember what happened. Which is why the sexual predator is crying. And why Frank reaches up and touches his eye. (PS: if you're curious about the water tubes coming out of people's chests, Roberta says that the person at the center of everything, as they gain more control over time, can see the paths people will take through time, so essentially he's seeing where people will go)

[@Justafox305]

thanks. i just saw this movie for the first time yesterday

[@jamesmiller1428]

Basically, the whole world you’re watching in the movie is not the main timeline, it’s a timeline created in order to get Donnie to do exactly what he has to do. Frank is a kind of ghost sent back in order to ensure everything goes as planned. All the characters around Donnie, including his family and friends, are all pawns set in place in order to get him to do what he has to do. At the end when the film resets, that’s the main timeline, and he sacrifices himself to let everyone live. Everything in the other timeline had to happen in order for everyone to live. Hope it kind of makes sense!

[@Flaming_penguin]

In a quick summary, Donnie Darko interacts with Frank the first time when Frank tells him to get up and follow his voice. Then the crash happens, and Donnie Darko realizes that Frank has saved his life. When he stabs Frank with the knife the metal reacts and allows him access to people's fates, future, and time. Several people are hurt throughout the film in different ways, and Donnie realizes he needs to die in order to prevent this from actually occurring, and that the only way to do so is if he dies rather than leaving his house and following Frank's voice. This is foreshadowed by the line where the girl comments his name sounds like a superhero and he says what makes you think I'm not, and when he reads his poem in class about saving the world. He was destined to save his universe, and he carried that weight on his own for 28 days. When the days reset, he's gone but not forgotten entirely, as the girl denies knowing him hesitantly. his presence in that looped universe that no longer exists will linger faintly in the world he saved...

[@icikle]

The book by Roberta Sparrow basically explains everything.

[@HooLeeYo]

Donnie does in fact save everyone, and in turn, allowing everyone a chance at self reflection. Everyone saved also seems to be aware in some sense that "something" happened to them, but can't quite put their finger on it. This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I can watch this movie multiple times and still enjoy it.

[@kevinmarques7716]

My interpretation is that Donnie was supposed to die in his room. By not, it created a parallel timeline that shouldn't have existed, therefore it was unstable and falling apart, causing bad things to constantly happen. Donnie kept having visions to fix the timeline and at the end, he realizes he needs to go back and die to save not only his girlfriend but everyone else. The plane engine is an anomaly and the only thing leftover from the parallel timeline and by correcting time, that timeline no longer exists and Donnie's sacrifice saves the main timeline.

[@bnope7963]

THIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!!!!

[@Slate-writer]

you got it !

[@ArcticVolcano]

The whole movie takes place in a divergent timeline. In a sense, everyone in that timeline will die because it will collapse on itself within 28 days. So when Frank said, "That's when the world will end," he meant that particular timeline would end. The only way Donnie can repair it is by making changes in this pocket timeline, which is what Frank is leading him towards. He flooded the school because that's how he would start talking to Gretchen. Then he burns down the house because that reveals Jim Cunningham's true nature. That leads the teacher to go defend him in court, which then leads to Donnie's mom being on the plane. Finally, that leads to the party, and everything afterwards. You see, this all HAS to happen because Donnie needs to want to make the choice to go back and self sacrifice. This act would repair the timeline, and everyone would remember what had happened in the pocket timeline. Like a splinter in their mind.

[@hayleyshackleford6387]

It's been a few years since I've rewatched it, but this is the story as far as I can tell: The movie takes place within a self-contained time loop that branches off from Donnie dying on October 2nd, 1988 at the moment the jet engine travels through a wormhole back in time from October 30th. In one version of reality, Frank comes back from the future and saves Donnie's life by taking him to the golf course the night it happens. But the problem with this reality is that it leads to the consequences we see: Gretchen's death, Frank's death, the death of Mrs. Darko and the little sister on the plane, etc. What Frank (and to a lesser extent some of the other characters like Roberta Sparrow and Drew Barrymore) is doing is guiding Donnie on the steps he has to take to close the time loop. All of these actions are necessary to get to the point where the plane loses its engine in the wormhole. This ensures that the alternate version of reality is self-contained. So when Donnie goes to bed and dies on October 2nd, he know that he has repaired the split in reality and the only one reality will go forward in which he is dead, but his mom, his sister, Gretchen, and Frank are are still alive. Did that make sense? Edit: Her name is Gretchen, not Rachel, lmao

[@Danjoker.]

And btw, this is one of those rare instances when the theatrical version is wayyy better than the the director's cut.

[@shawnac9289]

everything that happens in Donnie Darko is part of bringing Donnie to the point where he can save the universe. It's like a big cause-and-effect experiment.

[@Slate-writer]

Donnie Darko is a top movie that stays with you. I couldn't wait to see your reactions & I wasn't disappointed. 3 of us saw this when it opened at the cinema & I'll never forget my 2 mates reactions. In unison, as we left the cinema, they both said 'what the hell was that?' They just couldn't make sense of the film at all - it was so funny, cos I loved it - but your reactions were almost the same. I'm pretty sure it's a simple time loop story: Donnie got caught in a time loop and lived 30 extra days when he should have been killed by the plane engine. At the end, Donnie 'was' killed and everything he'd experienced was erased, but all the main characters retained a trace memory of what had happened.

[@oneANGRYelf]

Pretty much. Frank had to make sure most of the events were created in order to keep the timeline accurate all the while making sure Donnie ended up in his bed in order to die. Otherwise, the time loop would have ended the world.

[@infernalfemme]

Frank came to the past from the future and told donny he was going to die (the world will end) but donny has the power to change what will happen. It takes donny the whole movie to figure it out, and he realizes he must die to change all that happens. He goes home to bed knowing the plane engine will fall through the house and kill him.

[@tylerdurden343]

In case no one has pointed it out, the older sister is Jakes actual older sister.

[@versetripn6631]

Jake G. hooked-up with Heath L. in 'True Bromance'. Then Heath L. dropped Maggie G. from Wayne Tower in 'Caped Bruce-Saves-Her'. Olsen Witch vanquishes THE Joker, who is replaced by Private Joker in 'BrokeBat Mountain'. Bruce Wayne Actor wins award, uses altered voice to anounce 'Bale-Batin' porn project. Misunderstood speech causes uproar in DevilRectum, Wisconsin.

[@robertcartier5088]

@@versetripn6631 lol!

[@sunshinefogleman127]

Donnie should have died in his bed that morning as the plane engine fell on his house, but he slept walked that night and wasn't there. Because Donnie didn't die it set in motion an entirely different future, one where his girlfriend dies, and he murders Frank. Donnie discovered he could utilize this wormhole to go back in time and sacrifice himself to prevent that alternate future.

[@Bigdoghkkn]

Yep as a 16 year old I’m proud of myself for understanding the whole movie 😂

[@Justafox305]

If Frank hadn’t woke him up in the beginning, would everything have worked better?

[@blackeuropean4700]

Neither the plane engine nor Donnie Darko being alive are the reasons this alternate timeline is created. The whole movie until the ending takes place in this tangent universe, which is due to a corruption in the fourth dimension (time). This is stated in the book Philosophy of Time Travel.

[@marsmartin]

😎 Challenge accepted...... The plane hits a time portal and the engine is ripped off. It travels through the portal, back 28 days earlier, and falls from the sky. Because it's time displaced, the moment of its arrival causes a split-off tangent universe to be created. However the tangent universe is doomed to collapse as it just shouldn't exist. Donnie does have powers kind of, because whenever this happens, the universe corrects itself by selecting someone to set things in motion to destroy the tangent (every small thing, like burning that house down, flooding the school etc contributes to the mother and daughter being on the plane and the plane being at the exact right moment to hit the time portal). Because Donnie killed Frank in this tangent universe that shouldn't exist, Frank's soul is also displaced and out of time - he can guide him, and in doing so, will save his own life. When the tangent universe finally collapses, Donnie is able to travel back too when the portal opens - and in dying 28 days earlier instead, he doesn't set all of those events in motion, preventing the tangent from occurring and stabilising reality. Everyone who experienced the tangent universe have a sense that it happened, but it's like a fading dream. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ movie!

[@matthewpollock9685]

The Directors Cut clears a few things up, for instance, the philosophy of time travel book mentions "the manipulated dead". The manipulated dead is a deceased person who should not have died and is being used by God (or fate/space time/whatever you believe is trying to right the wrongs of history) in order to guide the hero in his journey to fix things. This is why Frank is helping Donnie along the way. Watch the directors cut then reply to this comment if you want further discussion, I'm happy to help... if I can.

[@Horrorlover1978]

I’d rather things not be explained to death in movies. Love the ambiguity of the actual cut of the movie.

[@adgato75]

There are several hints in the Director's Cut that it is not anything so mysterious as God/whatever. It is actual intelligent beings in the Primary Universe reaching into the Tangent through technology.

[@Julku13]

You guys should watch the German show Dark. It is the deepest and most detailed time travel story, I've ever seen. And they have a lot of references to this movie and other pop culture. Including one of the time traveling characters wearing a Donnie Darko sceleton suit.

[@jekkabean]

I love watching people watch this for the first time. I think if you watch it, then the director's cut, then spend an afternoon going down the immense rabbit hole of a website, then watch the normal version a few more times... you might sort of get it. I"m still always finding new things in it. For instance, it strikes me today that the scene in the movie theatre, that incredible background song is "For Who the Bell Tolls", and in that scene we have the three characters for whom the bell does, indeed, toll. For Frank, who has died. For Gretchen, who will die. For Donnie, who must die.

[@callumcowan7047]

Thanks to this reaction I've only just realised the possible foreshadowing of this quote. "Well I'm really glad school was flooded today." "Why is that?" "Because you and I would have never had this conversation." And in the end when he reverses time, they never did get to have that conversation. That line sort of sums up the whole movie, how little segments of time and circumstance can affect everything.

[@thoso1973]

Donnie Darko remains one of the most impressive films I've ever watched by a debuting director/writer.

[@Aroreiel08]

Boy sacrifices himself to save the world. One of my favourite movies. Subscribed.

[@Julku13]

I love this movie. We watched it in high school and then spent 2 hours just talking about, what the hell we just watched.

[@bobcharlotte8724]

Seen this movie many times and this is the first time I connected with Frank in the cinema apologizing for killing Gretchen before it happens.

[@Corn_Pone_Flicks]

It nicked that bit from Twin Peaks, wherein a spirit guide character who also has a normal, human form says "I'm so sorry" to the main character in reference to a death he does not yet know about. For some reason, the line was removed from the Director's cut.

[@lukewood4339]

Donnie realised that alive he had affected all these live for the bad, and sacrificed himself. I know its alot more scientific, about tangent universes but I like the simple answer lol.

[@w1975b]

reminds me of The Butterfly Effect, he realized the same thing

[@wileyjdraws7594]

Sums it up nicely

[@krashd]

@@w1975bDepends on the cut, there is the happy ending, the sad ending and the tragic ending. I'm assuming you must be referring to one of the latter two endings.

[@w1975b]

@@krashd I only saw the ending where the main character in The Butterfly Effect jumped back and let himself die, so whatever ending that was, that's what I saw.

[@007wars6]

If you guys haven’t seen Nightcrawler or Prisoners, I would 100% recommend. Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic in both of those films. I mean he is in all of them, but those are some of my favorites.

[@macantonioc]

Zodiac as well 👌

[@devakibhagwat6146]

he's honestly such an underrated actor

[@ffffffelipe]

Nightcrawler is sooo good, I hope they watch it

[@MrFrosty_1]

The needs of the many outweighs the needs of one. His sacrifice is for everyone else not only the ones he loves but the entire world otherwise the fabric of time and space would tear apart and destroy everything.

[@MrFrosty_1]

Enjoy your videos, thoughts, and reactions. The horror series was fun and the Sci-fi is shaping up to be a fun as the horror too. Can't wait to see what's next.

[@simonfil2]

The Director's Cut tries to explain the whole mythology of the film more clearly. Weather or not it succeeds is debatable. You can find the time travel book online and that might clear up somethings or confuse you even more. It's a really dark coming of age story of a troubled boy who basically sacrifices himself to save the world. He does so by resetting the tangent universe created by him avoiding his supposed death in the beginning. Frank is guiding Donnie through what he must do to reset everything. I don't remember every step but, Burning down that guys house causes him to get arrested, Causing the teacher to stay, Causing his mother to go instead, Causing them to be on that specific plane at the right time, and so forth.

[@dannykent6190]

Certainly, someone in 991 comments has pointed this out, but I don't see it in my scrolling so just in case... Frank is the guy Donnie's sister goes out with at the very beginning. Just a normal teen.

[@LOVEchristHEwasVEGAN]

oooh i never realised that even after loads of times. thanks

[@mercurymachines4311]

I’ve watched Donnie Darko so many times. It’s absolutely on of my favourite films of all time.

[@serpentsepia6638]

The old lady is a time traveler who gave Donnie more time to live his life before accepting death, while having him perform tasks that would make others realize the consequence of their actions.

[@pOOTERgOBLiN]

The sequel might change your thoughts on this.

[@pop2uno]

@@pOOTERgOBLiN Dude, I just had shivers from this explanation and now you go and destroy my seconds of long awaited fulfillment by saying it might be wrong. Just evil.

[@serpentsepia6638]

@@pOOTERgOBLiN Is the sequel good? I've been meaning to see it.

[@RUNTHROUGHDATAPE]

Quick explanation they created a new timeline or tanget universe by accident when Donnie lived. See Donnie was supposed to die and so when he didnt he put both universes in jeopardy and it would have destroyed them both if he continued to live. The people from the future have the ability to speak through people in the past. Thats why all of his advice is coming from people around him about what to do. Later he came to the conclusion that in order to save the world he had to die which made him laugh. So they tried to save him but saving him would destroy everything, so yes he had to sacrifice himself to save the universe. Making him a hero.

[@DrThrax4]

I actually prefer the theatrical cut, because it is SO open to interpretation. Not many films can have so many viable theories and still keep you satisfied.

[@adgato75]

That was what pushed the cult status of it at first , to a large degree. Vigorous online debate , discussion with friends , etc. Or just personal liking for a particular interpretation or just liking for ambiguitiy.

[@uNkLeRaRa4]

This movie has one of the BEST soundtracks of all time!!

[@3DJapan]

13:20 Fun fact, the linguist who talked about "cellar door" was J. R. R. Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings.

[@Justafox305]

i just saw this for the first time yesterday and went to reddit to look up info. One guy explained, it's like "it's a wonderful life" but in reverse. He realized almost everyone's life will be better, if he died.

[@ChristopherMcCullah]

Donnie Darko is a misunderstood superhero of a sort, who is given a chance to expose hypocrisy around him, and that through the shared experience, the people who interacted in some way with Donnie are given the chance to change their lives through his act of sacrifice.

[@ericwincentsen587]

Since you asked everyone, I'll throw in. He evades his death at the beginning, but he was supposed to die in the base timeline. Since he didn't die he started a second timeline where all the events in the movie happened, but that timeline was unstable and began to collapse in on itself. Frank was never supposed to die in the base timeline, so his death in the alternate compounded things, and that's why he was contacting Donnie: one was supposed to be dead, the other not. What's sad is that Donnie's girlfriend, since she was unaffected, is probably going to die in both. One aside that is not part of your asked-for explanation, but to clarify for others: Frank knows that Cunningham is a pedophile. That means that, even without Donnie there to expose the fact, something happened prior to Halloween 1988 that exposed him. Donnie just ends up being the hero of his own timeline, but most of the major events likely play out in the regular one without him.

[@mnomadvfx]

Yes, but by definition that jet engine only landed on his house and room because of time travel that brings it there from the future. This was never explained and kind of breaks everything once you realise it. It's like there's a Dark style time device somewhere in or around that town which created the whole mess - unless they are implying that Donnie's mental problems themselves caused the fracture, his mental problems are only touched upon after the fact, and his psychiatrists assessment is likely colored by Donnie's interpretation of the events happening around him in the tangent universe.

[@laurel3088]

Don't waste your time with the Director's cut, listen to the commentary on this version. Also the writer/director wrote this in jr. high/high school, which is wild, and why it is set in the 80s. Donnie Darko is stuck in a time loop, which has played out multiple times prior to the movie even beginning; that's why he is on the hill top at the beginning, avoiding the plane turbine. Until Donnie accepts he has to die in order to close the loop, it will continue. The repeat of this loop is what gives him these "super-powers". Eventually he accepts he has to die and close the loop for time to continue, and the movie to end. You are correct with the dream like atmosphere, because everyone lived it with him, but will have only hazy fragments of memories of it.

[@EmlynBoyle]

When Frank says the world will end, he means Donnie's world -- aka his girlfriend getting run over by the car. By being in his bedroom (this time) when the plane engine crashes into the house, he dies and never meets her. Thus saving her life. When she says his name sounds like a superhero name, she is technically right. Like a superhero, Donnie has the ability (superhero power) to foresee what will happen (the path of time), and thus stop her from being run over. At least that's what i took away from it? This is the only movie i ever saw again in the theatre (in order to figure out what was going on). And it definitely gives your brain a workout. Great reaction!

[@sirjohnmara]

Still so Good = 10/10. In 2002: A girl working at the reception desk of the Ad-agency I worked at, asked me if I had seen any good recent films. Her boyfriend and his friends had spent weeks of their free time trying to write Movie Scripts. I had just bought and seen "Donnie Darko" on DVD. So I gifted them this movie and told her that: This is the best Director/Storytelling debut movie I've seen, since "Reservoir Dogs". Apparently the guys watched it 3 times in a row the next weekend. On Monday she gave me back the DVD (although it was a gift) and disclosed that after seeing this - those ambitious guys just gave up. I just wanted them to have some good inspiration, wich they had asked for - Not to destroy their dreams. Anyway - she was happy that her boyfriend spent more time with her.

[@ChemicalCrash]

“I know I’ve got a beautiful face.” I mean...he’s not wrong. 😁

[@Stoney_17]

Watching it back after seeing it for the first time after knowing what you now know will make the world of difference. You could also realistically say that it induces some real life time travel to a certain extent. Reliving the film again to fully understand what’s going on, knowing what is going to happen in the future. The “future tunnels” that lead people about is to show that life is predetermined, that whatever happens is going to happen, people’s paths are set. Which helps Donnie make the decision to change the past and die, knowing that if he lives, these events are unavoidable. Frank is the equivalent of the ghost of Christmas future, showing him what will happen and how the world, his world will end. It’s a fantastic film, one that I frequently go back to every once in a while.

[@jamesoblivion]

There's a Director's Cut that answers a lot of questions, but for me, it ruins a lot of the film's appeal, which lies within how much it leaves unanswered and open to interpretation.

[@macantonioc]

Agreed, I saw the theatrical cut first but later saw the director's cut and loved it as well.

[@krannok]

I disagree. The directors cut is actually a different story. Like, it changes everything, the character's motivations, even the autonomy of some characters.

[@80Jay71]

The cinema-scene is just out of this world! The music. The dialogue. Everything!

[@CinobiteReacts]

At the end, he realised the only way to save Gretchen from dying was to die himself, that way they'd never meet and she'd never be run over. So he stays in bed waiting for the engine to crash through and crush him. If you looked this, you need to watch The Butterfly Effect, but it MUST be the directors cut.

[@Zenicka]

THIS. Totally agree with the directors cut.

[@krashd]

Yeah, Butterfly Effect is a fantastic little mindfuck of a film.

[@diogenesagogo]

I keep forgetting just how good this film is. It got me from the first frame. I can't pretend to understand it. I don't need to or even want to. Literally fabulous.

[@767wattsy]

This is such a wildly bold and original film. There is a director’s cut which makes far too much of the plot easier to understand - but this original cut is still the best IMO.

[@legochickenguy4938]

Yeah the problem with the director’s cut is they couldn’t keep all the sick music

[@KeeganRusz]

15:55 gooooosebumps, the whole chainreaction of yalls realisation is why I love this reaction channel. Amazing. The silence and awe is telling. This movie man, this movie..

[@davidgraham5359]

Donnie Darko has the ability to time travel, creating worm holes, but by doing so he's endangering the universe, so at the end he travels back in time to die, at the moment he's meant to, to save the universe collapsing into it's self, and the moment he dies, the people he's interacted with in the future, where he didn't die, wake up realising they need to change and put wrongs right or believe in themselves as they've been shown the future Donnie Darko created by living and his death has given them a future unknown, that can be a better one.

[@pantlessreactions]

"I don't know what this film is" It is A total mind fuck

[@RamóhanMercader97]

“Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion” a quote I use a lot in my day to day life

[@werdlederdle]

I haven’t read all the comments so it may have already been said but this movie was overshadowed by September 11th. In the US it was pushed back and I’m not sure it even got a full release. It got it here though, a little delayed and I went with uni friends. Definitely underrated but possibly missed by Americans. Top video.

[@Jprager]

It wasn’t exactly an international released film. But it’s was released at Sundance in Jan of 2001. It had a limited release here in the US. But much like Fight Club this movie was very difficult to market. And due to the plane crash subject matter the producers couldn’t stress so much on the action. They even edited out the Arabic font on all the promo materials. Except for the opening credits

[@JsscRchlDrsy]

When you figure it out you will love everything about it.

[@dickietwentyman9012]

Mulholland Drive - same year as Donnie Darko, left me at first completely perplexed and needed another view. Great you don't read up beforehand....stay that way..

[@DannX68]

Mulholland Drive is such an amazing movie

[@stevemccullagh36]

This is a film that only gets better and better on subsequent viewings.

[@stevenmiller3567]

Run Lola Run Run Lola Run Run Lola Run Run Lola Run A movie like no other. One of my favorites that randomly has popped up in my consciousness since 1998 and so easily comes to mind when asked of favorite films. It is a must see 👍

[@BeRadMH]

The Director's Cut has scene transitions that show excerpts from Roberta Sparrow's book. It helps to fill in some of the blanks as to what exactly is going on with Donnie specifically and what affect he is having on the world around him.

[@johncase2408]

Read the Philosophy of Time Travel and it will make sense. In regards to the subject of time travel, we're for the most part conditioned to think of it in a linear manner. Whereas in Richard Kelly's 'Donnie Darko' world, time travel isn't just about forward and backward but thought out and conceived in multiple planes like the fabric of the universe. It's a brilliant movie that never ceases to amaze. Great review and reaction!

[@TheNraveles]

Hands down my fave movie of all time

[@canadianscratcher7834]

Donnie Darko is one of my favorites. I got it on blu ray last year. Enjoy you guys. The scene where Donnie is laughing in his bedroom as he accepts his fate as he has to die. Earlier he went through a wormhole back to the night of the accident. I didn't understand it at first til my friend explained it to me and why "Frank the Bunny" was an important piece of the puzzle. Donnie knew he had to accept the inevitable which was death.

[@aintwurfnufnifitaintfree2853]

DD appears to be unconscious lying in the road and is woken by the sound of thunder, yet there's not a cloud in the sky. There’s a note: "Where is Donnie?". He's right there... isn't he? These are among the several clues that from the opening scene we’ve been in a state of unreality. All part of DD’s last dream. This final dream goes on to become a series of visions - dreams within a dream - guided by a sort of angel who reveals to him not only that he’s about to die, but if he were to live he would set in motion a series of events that lead to the deaths of a number of people including the mortal antecedent of the angel himself, and his own parents and younger sister in the jet that loses the engine that’s about to kill him. In the dilated time scale of a dream the fraction of a second that occurred between hearing the thunder of a massive engine crashing into his house and his death an instant later was 28 days, the entire time scale of the film.

[@pOOTERgOBLiN]

Watch the sequal. It will change your theory.

[@alchemypotato]

Like a lot of people I had a period in the early 00s where I was obsessed with this film. Such a cool and original film. Love when I watch a movie that doesn't feel like something I've seen before. I've cooled a little to it over the years but would probably give it something like an 8.5 today. The Director's Cut is controversial. While it does better explain what's going on, most feel it goes too far, removing the mystery to the film. I think it's ok but prefer the theatrical cut. Donnie Darko is a film about divine intervention. Without getting too deep into the weeds, the plot is about parallel universes caused by an unstable timeline where some divine force (God or whatever, it's unclear) intervenes to get Donnie Darko to repair the timeline by sending an artifact (the jet engine via telekinesis) back to its proper universe, killing himself in the process. Again, watching TDC will explain in explicit detail, if you really want the mystery spoiled for yourself. It's fine if you do, but not everyone likes that.

[@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames]

It’s funny how sometimes a DC can completely save a film (like Kingdom of Heaven), and sometimes, like with DD, it can spoil things.

[@alchemypotato]

@@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames Yeah. I'm a fan of alternate cuts in general and as long as the original cut still exists I don't begrudge them too much.

[@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames]

@@alchemypotato Totally agree, well said!

[@AnthonyLaMastra]

If you like time travel type movies, I highly recommend The Twelve Monkeys!

[@thomasrippert5827]

Good/fun suggestion!

[@el34glo59]

Absolutely BRILLIANT MOVIE. A masterpiece that can be watched 20 times in a row and broken down. You could write a thesis on it. One of my favorites of all time. It's in my top 10 of all time. In no particular order these are my top 20. As of now. Btw you cut out the the tears for fears scene. I still get goosebumps during that song and scene. Absolutely brilliant. What an ending! Donnie Darko The Shining Godfather II Goodfellas The Crow Unforgiven High Fidelity Three will be Blood True Romance Seven Stand By Me Fargo Inception Heat Platoon Pulp Fiction The Big Lebowski The Master Trainspotting Rosemary's Baby Best shows of alll time. In order The Shield True Detective season 1 Game of thrones up to season 6

[@jerrisgilbert5256]

Oh my god, I was so glad you guys didn’t get it either. You sounded so confident throughout the film, I thought I was a moron. Then the ending hit you as hard as it hit me, roughly as hard as that engine hit Donnie, and I felt so relieved 😅

[@Supernova--88]

I don't think anyone fully gets it the first time. Then you watch it the second time and you're like, wow.....

[@tyger166]

It's worth a 9/10 for that soundtrack alone, lol So many amazing parts to this movie - like the girls doing the awesome talent show piece and everyone only caring about the dancers - and the interaction he had with her.

[@MICKEYISLOWD]

Sparkle Motion..lol

[@andbrittain]

IMO wether the director realized it or not, this film in part is a modern dark reimagining of a film from 1950 "Harvey" staring James Stewart "The story centers on a man whose best friend is a puca named Harvey, a 6 ft 3+1⁄2 in (1.92 m) tall white invisible rabbit, and the ensuing debacle when the man's sister tries to have him committed to a sanatorium"

[@RocaBibaby]

For me it's displaying the butterfly effect. Just Donnie dying saved the world, that one little small thing. In the end "Every living creature on earth dies alone" and his sacrifice will never be known. He is a superhero.

[@J_.222.]

My favorite movie of all time.

[@Dinkdownn]

First time I saw it I was super confused and super in love. And every time I watch it, I love it even more 🥰🥰

[@DrumL3000]

19:25 He saves more than one life. Mother,daughter,frank,"girlfriend" or also the teacher not going to quit now... and obviously some other good outcomes. Back in the day this were once of the first movies i watched when it came out that introduced me to those kinds of movies where you have to pay attention, to think and also to leave you with questions and can debate your theories with friends etc. For that i will always hold this movie very dear to me. Although maybe seeing it now for like the 6th time not perfect. Its still an easy 9/10 for me.

[@sammurphy3343]

He died at the end because his girlfriend would never have met him and live.

[@yoda2661]

This movie is my absolute favorite.

[@philrob1978]

Tom's face during the cinema scene - yep, that was me on first watch. Drenched with impending doom, yet achingly beautiful at the same time, it's a scene that loses none of its power on re-watch. Probably too late for this but never watch the Director's cut, it ruins the intensity of that scene, and also generally ruins the mystery of the movie and kills it. For me, anyway, others will no doubt disagree.

[@dickychip]

Donnie Darko was the reason the universe was coming to an end because he was removed from his bedroom, eventually he became a kind of super hero saving his girlfriend and ultimately the world, I’ve seen this movie so many times and have different interpretations every time I watch it.

[@KeeganRusz]

If you decide to delve deeper in this type of cinema, be ready for a huge rabbithole. You both are legends for reaction to this movie.

[@amandaevans7908]

Jake Gyllenhaal really is so very talented! This movie is a masterpiece! So happy y'all watched it!

[@richlisola1]

Oh, my theory on this is, that Donnie was meant to die, him surviving the jet engine crash in the beginning wasn’t meant to happen, and this event splits the universe off into the tangent universe. The future jet engine-I think God is definitely paramount in this film. The tangent universe is wrong, Johnny’s death was predestined and his living sent things askew. But the beauty of the film is everything he experiences is meant to guide him to his destiny. To return to the beginning and die, thus setting the timeline right and resetting the universe on its proper path. I believe that God gave Donnie the gift of giving him the choice to sacrifice himself, he ultimately chose to save the universe. Perhaps God knew he would, and guided him to do so. But in the end, Donnie Darko chose to sacrifice himself to save everyone, save Gretchen. Frank, Gretchen, his teachers, Grandma Death, his therapist. Every around him guided him to the truth. I heard Drew Barrymore was the executive producer, she believed in this film, and Chris Nolan is a massive fan. He pushed for the theatrical release.

[@decristal48]

Indeed, Frank woke him up that night and save his life. Probably cause' the tangent universe already existed and he was trying to make Donnie save everyone else (of course sacrificing Donnie in the process), and therefore the reason he gave to Donnie to save the world... was killing the girl she loves.

[@el34glo59]

Exactly. Absolutely brilliant movie. And I'm not surprised at all that Nolan loved it. He would have loved to make this movie. It's a masterpiece

[@ryanje8147]

Interesting that Jake's real life sister (Maggie)plays his sister in this movie. Both are very good actors.

[@erikjohnson3859]

This movie is basically about determinism and fate. The main character is struggling with this concept and this is why it is not clear if he's dead or alive. This confusion builds the existential problem of solipsism (the matrix struggle). It's meant to be intentionally confusing as to whether or not Donnie is hallucinating or not because this would not be known truly to the person who is suffering. The director was asked if Donnie was in a dream the whole time and he responded, "Life could be a dream."

[@rsthilaire]

This is in my Top 3 of all time, absolutely never gets old. You guys are killing it right now! Keep it up!

[@Emburbujada]

This is one of my favourite films. And yes, the soundtrack is great. Watch it again, it will start to make more sense ;)

[@adgato75]

All of these events happen in a tangent universe , that is temporary and unstable. Donnie has to die to close off the tangent universe. Everyone else alive in the film is unconsciously acting to help Donnie do this , or by MANIPULATING him to die. Frank is able to act more directly because he is "the manipulated dead" - someone who has actually died WITHIN the tangent universe while it is running. The whole point of everyone's actions are to make Donnie decide that t is worth sacrificing himself. How is he convinced ? By making him meet , and fall in love with Gretchen , then making sure she dies. The only way to save her is to sacrifice himself. That way , he will be dead in the primary universe , but she will live ( as will everyone - the primary universe would have been destroyed itself if the tangent were not shut down). This version is the theatrical release. One reason it became a cult classic was that it is ambiguous and needs dissecting and discussed. The Director's Cut is much more clear - it includes a more precise narrative that shows the exact reasons and actions that explain the plot that the the theatrical does not - unless you had done research or read materials outside the film - the "Philosophy of Time Travel" on the film's website , for example.

[@shainewhite2781]

The ending actually represents Donnie living in an alternate reality, and sees what the lives of those around him would be like, and he how drastically changed everything, whether to make their lives better or worse.

[@hashtagfilm]

The thing I love about this movie is that to this day, I'm still trying to decipher it. My understanding is that the movie cuts between alternate timelines, and we never know which one they're showing. This is evident when (might only be in the directors cut) the bully terrorizes Donnie in the bathroom and cuts his neck with the knife. Yet much later in the movie we see Donnie return to class looking unhappy, and Gretchen asks him what's on his neck. But still, I don't know. That's one of the joys of Donnie Darko - will keep you guessing forever.

[@alanrose5603]

The director's cut spells out the plot much more clearly, but I still prefer this version.