By Chris Snellgrove | Published 15 seconds ago Most people associate the science fiction genre with things like interplanetary travel and exotic star systems. But nearly a quarter century ago, we got a mind-bending sci-fi masterpiece that was surprisingly set in suburbia and featured a troubled teen rather than little green men. That film is Donnie Darko, and you can now stream this unforgettably weird cult classic on Netflix. The premise of Donnie Darko is that the titular protagonist gets a warning from a talking rabbit man that the world is going to end in 28 days. That night, a jet engine crashes into his room while he’s gone, with no explanation of where it even came from. Soon, Donnie’s eerie dream visions and bizarre waking life begin to converge, and unless he can figure this mystery out, it may mean the complete and utter end to life as he knows it. A Mad World of Actors The cast of Donnie Darko includes two actors who were later nominated for Oscars: Jake Gylenhaal (best known for Nightcrawler and Brokeback Mountain) plays disturbed teen Donnie Darko, and Maggie Gylenhaal (best known for Secretary and The Dark Knight) plays, conveniently enough, his sister. The cast also includes Jena Malone (best known for The Neon Demon and the Hunger Games movies) as Donnie’s quiet love interest and Drew Barrymore (best known for Charlie’s Angels and 50 First Dates) as Donnie’s supportive teacher. Rounding out the cast is Patrick Swayze (best known for Dirty Dancing and Ghost), playing wonderfully against type as a motivational speaker with a sinister secret. When Donnie Darko came out, it was a modest success, earning $7.5 million against a budget of $4.5 million. The movie eventually got a sequel, S. Darko; it focused on Donnie’s little sister and was made without any involvement from Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly. Interestingly, Kelly claimed he was working on a “much bigger and more ambitious sequel” to the original film in 2017, but there haven’t been any updates since 2021, which is when the director revealed he had written “an enormous amount” of material on the new sequel’s script. Dropping An Engine On the Critics Donnie Darko took some serious creative swings, and the critics decided that most of them connected in a big way. On Rotten Tomatoes , the movie has a rating of 88 percent, with critics praising Richard Kelly’s directorial debut for its originality, intelligence, and style. They also singled out Jake Gyllenhaal for his career-defining performance as a troubled character whose mental breakdown might just save (or quite possibly end) the world. When I first watched Donnie Darko decades ago, I was blown away by how mysterious and inscrutable its lore is. This actually works to the film’s advantage, as I found myself trying to figure out what the heck was going on in scene after scene, even as Donnie was doing the same. And the theatrical cut never properly explained itself, which I later realized was a blessing…after all, what’s the point of seeing how the magic trick works when you’d rather sit back and be mesmerized? When Questions Are Better Than Answers Eventually, Richard Kelly released a director’s cut of Donnie Darko that helped to answer fans’ burning questions and explain this film’s unique approach to concepts like time travel and parallel universes. Some fans loved the added explanation, and that cut is now a foundational text for countless YouTube videos that try to explain this movie’s otherwise indecipherable lore. Personally, I found the director’s cut a much worse film (mostly because it was obsessed with providing explanations to things that should have been left a mystery), and I’m happy to report that Netflix is only streaming the far superior theatrical cut. REVIEW SCORE Will you agree that Donnie Darko is the most mind-bending movie in sci-fi history, or is this one timey wimey tale that you’d rather drop a jet engine on? Well, I’m gonna doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion unless you find out by streaming this film on Netflix. Come for the catchy needle drops and stay for the bizarre climax that you’ll be trying to figure out for the rest of your life! Related Topics: Source: https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/donnie-darko-review.html