8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval, Beth GrantDark humor | 100% |
Mystery | 78% |
Psychological thriller | 73% |
Drama | 73% |
Surreal | 63% |
Supernatural | 49% |
Period | 43% |
Coming of age | 39% |
Teen | 34% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 0.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: Arrow is continuing with its arguably kind of odd decision to market its 4K UHD releases without offering 1080 Blu-ray discs
included.
This release basically features new 4K UHD versions of the 4K restoration of Donnie Darko that came out on 1080 discs a few years
ago, and which I reviewed at the time. Therefore, this
review repeats information from that review, where appropriate.
Call me cynical (and get in line, please), but I’ve sometimes wondered if the duration mentioned in the title of Danny Boyle’s post-Apocalyptic
thriller
28 Days Later might have been “inspired” by a similar four
week timespan mentioned in Donnie Darko, a film which appeared a year before the Boyle effort. Donnie Darko might in fact
have
been titled 28 Days Later, or frankly even 28 Days Before, given the film’s rather mind boggling take on time travel issues.
Certainly one of the most distinctive independent features of the modern film era, Donnie Darko offers an undeniably dense narrative that
features Jake Gyllenhaal as an extremely troubled youth who may or may not be experiencing delusional visions and who is convinced the world is
coming to an end in, yep, 28 days, due to a warning he receives from a menacing giant rabbit. If that brief overview isn’t enough to pique
your interest, Donnie Darko also features a kind of snarky take down of both high school cliques and (just for good measure) motivational
speakers of the Tony Robbins variety, along with "little" diversions like, you know, the space time continuum. Bizarrely freewheeling in terms of
tone, Donnie Darko is an intentionally hallucinatory viewing
experience and is open to any number of interpretations, two things that have no doubt elevated it to the apex of cult viewing offerings.
Donnie
Darko has received several previous Blu-ray releases including
Donnie Darko, Donnie Darko and Donnie Darko (as well as some other retailer or packaging
exclusives), none of which received very high marks for video quality in our previous reviews. Now Arrow has assembled a typically handsome
package that presents both cuts of the films in new transfers with a host of new (and returning) supplementary material.
Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's previous 1080 Blu-ray release. Per my comments above, this is another Arrow 4K UHD
release
without any accompanying 1080 discs. Because there are no 1080 discs included with this release, the 2K video score above is
intentionally left blank.
Note 2: Several of our members have reported some pretty serious playback issues on the Theatrical Version on certain players. My Oppo
203 encountered no such anomalies, but for those interested, I highly recommend perusing some of the comments in our
Forum Thread devoted to the release.
Donnie Darko is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with 2160p transfers in 2.35:1 for both the Theatrical Cut and the Director's
Cut. The handsome hardback book included with this release has the following information on the transfers, which has only been slightly amended
from the original 1080 verbiage (including the removal of an incorrect assertion that 2.0 audio was also included):
Donnie Darko has been exclusively restored for this release by Arrow Films. Both the theatrical cut and the director's cut versions of the film are presented in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with 5.1 audio.Donnie Darko lives up to its kinda sorta title in terms of being a pretty dark film, both literally and figuratively, and that tendency works both for and against this 4K presentation. I was immediately struck by the improvement in shadow detail from the very opening shot of Donnie lying on the dirt road next to his bicycle, where you can make out quite a bit more detail on his pajamas in this version than on Arrow's 1080 release. HDR and/or Dolby Vision allow for some really inviting nuance in highlights, and it seems to have generally improved shadow detail across the board, though my hunch is some viewers may not like the kind of shrouded overall appearance of this presentation. There are also a number of times where the encroaching shadows can at least temporarily mask fine detail; I found some of the interior schoolroom scenes especially notable in that regard, though it's interesting to note that a lot of these scenes tend to be more brownish rather than blackish in overall color temperature. To my eyes this version looks just slightly more blue-green than Arrow's 1080 version, but within the context of the film's obviously at times surreal visuals, the palette is robust and "normal" in appearance. Arrow's previous 1080 release was already pretty grittily grainy, and that aspect is probably only increased with the superior resolution of the 4K version, a roughhewn quality that is probably even further emphasized by how dark things are so much of the time. Grain looked a little more yellow at times in this presentation than on the 1080 version to me, and a few isolated scenes, especially those with brighter skies in the background, can look just slightly noisy.
The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pin-registered 4K Lasergraphics Director scanner at Deluxe Media, Burbank. Although the original 35mm camera negative served as the primary restoration source for both the theatrical and director's cut versions, a 35mm digital intermediate element was scanned for some sections unique to the Director's Cut.
The film was restored in 4K and graded in 4K HDR/ Dolby Vision and SDR at Silver Salt Restoration, London.
The original 5.1 audio mix was transferred and supplied by Lakeshore Entertainment.
This restoration of Donnie Darko has been approved by Director Richard Kelly and Director of Photography Steven Poster.
Both versions of Donnie Darko feature a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (though the mixes are different for the different versions, as the commentary on the Director's Cut gets into). To my ears, there's no significant difference in fidelity or surround activity between these versions and the previously released Fox versions, with really good low frequency response (the opening thunder is nicely evocative, as are many subsequent effects) and a generous supply of immersion both due to those effects and the use of source cues. Dialogue is rendered very cleanly and clearly and is always well prioritized in both versions.
Disc One — Theatrical Cut
- Commentary by Richard Kelly and Jake Gyllenhaal
- Commentary by Richard Kelly plus Cast and Crew features Sean McKittrick, Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval
- Sacrifice (HD; 00:32)
- Darker (HD; 00:32)
- Era (HD; 00:32)
- Cast (HD; 00:17)
- Dark (HD; 00:17)
Donnie Darko has a lot of metaphysical hoohah (a technical term) about the connectivity of "it all", and in that regard it's kind of interesting that the film spends a goodly amount of time on the 1988 presidential election which featured Michael Dukakis, and just as I was preparing to push this review live, a Variety alert came across my news feed that Michael's Oscar winning cousin Olympia has just died at the venerable age of 89. That may be just an irrelevant coincidence, something that Donnie Darko might suggest never really happens, but the fact that a news item like that can refract a viewing experience (or vice versa, as the case may be) probably offers more than enough evidence of just how weirdly provocative this film can be. Arrow's 4K presentation is excellent if different from Arrow's prior 1080 version, and while this release doesn't have quite the non disc swag of Arrow's 1080 version, it offers all of the on disc supplementary material along with a few other "goodies". Highly recommended.
Collector's Edition
2001
Ultimate 2 Disc Edition
2001
10th Anniversary Edition
2001
San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Exclusive
2001
2001
Remastered | Limited Edition
2001
Remastered | Limited Edition of 2,000
2001
Remastered
2001
Remastered
2001
2009
2017
2017
2012
1980
2010
1995
2014
2004
2011-2012
10th Anniversary Edition
2009
2018
Director's Cut | 20th Anniversary Edition
2000
2018
2017
1999
Warner Archive Collection
1973
Paramount Presents #46
1999
2022
10th Anniversary Edition
1999