How did Donnie Darko really end?

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AMHmovie's Avatar
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WHY SO SERIOUS
08-01-15
I just watched the movie a while ago. Its a good movie. I'll give this an overall score of 8/10.

I don't really understand the ending. Was the earlier part of the film just a dream or some sort of a premonition, but I think its too complicated, because Gretchen and Donnie's mom was, I think, familiarizing each other as if they knew each other, even so, I don't remember Gretchen and Donnie's mom meeting earlier in the film (or maybe I just missed it?), and even if they did met, that means they were connected to his dream or if its a premonition, why did Donnie let himself killed, and why was he laughing?

Or maybe time travel? But how? Maybe by reading the book, but I really didn't gave my full comprehension. I was just reading it, without understanding, just to pass and let it fade. Were there hints or important messages that could explain the ending?

Or maybe he's just hallucinating, but that would defeat the movie's labeled genre.

Where did the airplane's engine came from in the last scene? So when her mother was on their way home, their plane crashed and I presumed that was the engine that fell from the first scene. Wait no, that doesnt add up, different timeline. So ... Maaaaybe theeere's a portal? That connects both timeline? Or maybe alternate universe? I'm beginning to sound stupid. Then where did the last scene's engine came from? And why was he laughing? Is he mocking me?

And what was Donnie's doctor going to say to Donnie's mom? Did the doctor presumed Donnie was planning to kill his family or someone? But that doesn't make any sense since they ended up discussing athiesm and agnosticism from their last session.


Lastly, is it just me, I felt like Drew Barrymore and the science teacher somehow knew something about Donnie's inside.



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A system of cells interlinked
08-01-15
The key is to watch closely and think about the two films that are shown at the movie theater double feature. The first film is The Evil Dead, and the portal appears just as the clock stops in that film, giving us the hint that this is a time travel flick. The second film, which isn't shown, but we see the title, is Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. In that film Christ lives out an alternate version of his life in a fleeting fever dream on the cross after he is crucified, coming to the conclusion that he must sacrifice the life of a normal man - a life with a wife and child - in order to save humanity. In essence, this can be considered time travel, with Christ traveling into the future, living out the events, then returning to the past and deciding to live a life and death of sacrifice to save everyone else.

Donnie Darko is basically a loose homage to that film. Noah Wiley and Donnie have a conversation about time travel and God's path, which is another clue the refers to this concept. Donnie travels into the future when he lives out a month of his life in a tangent universe, observes the problems his continued existence creates, all in the few seconds leading up to his death. He then decides to sacrifice himself to destroy the tangent universe possibility, saving the world/universe. A sort of "my life flashes before me" fever dream.
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AMHmovie's Avatar
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WHY SO SERIOUS
08-01-15
Originally Posted by Sedai
The key is to watch closely and think about the two films that are shown at the movie theater double feature. The first film is The Evil Dead, and the portal appears just as the clock stops in that film, giving us the hint that this is a time travel flick. The second film, which isn't shown, but we see the title, is Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. In that film Christ lives out an alternate version of his life in a fleeting fever dream on the cross after he is crucified, coming to the conclusion that he must sacrifice the life of a normal man - a life with a wife and child - in order to save humanity. In essence, this can be considered time travel, with Christ traveling into the future, living out the events, then returning to the past and deciding to live a life and death of sacrifice to save everyone else.

Donnie Darko is basically a loose homage to that film. Noah Wiley and Donnie have a conversation about time travel and God's path, which is another clue the refers to this concept. Donnie travels into the future when he lives out a month of his life in a tangent universe, observes the problems his continued existence creates, all in the few seconds leading up to his death. He then decides to sacrifice himself to destroy the tangent universe possibility, saving the world/universe. A sort of "my life flashes before me" fever dream.
Hmm... Wait, so he was already in the future when Donnie followed Frank outside (from the first scene)? BTW, who/what is this Frank? If Frank helped or gave the opportunity to travel, to observe the effects of his continued existence, why did Frank influenced his actions. Is it not Frank's existence that will cause problems? So it is really literal that the world will end, why it will end?



AMHmovie's Avatar
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WHY SO SERIOUS
08-01-15
Originally Posted by AMHmovie
Originally Posted by Sedai
The key is to watch closely and think about the two films that are shown at the movie theater double feature. The first film is The Evil Dead, and the portal appears just as the clock stops in that film, giving us the hint that this is a time travel flick. The second film, which isn't shown, but we see the title, is Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. In that film Christ lives out an alternate version of his life in a fleeting fever dream on the cross after he is crucified, coming to the conclusion that he must sacrifice the life of a normal man - a life with a wife and child - in order to save humanity. In essence, this can be considered time travel, with Christ traveling into the future, living out the events, then returning to the past and deciding to live a life and death of sacrifice to save everyone else.

Donnie Darko is basically a loose homage to that film. Noah Wiley and Donnie have a conversation about time travel and God's path, which is another clue the refers to this concept. Donnie travels into the future when he lives out a month of his life in a tangent universe, observes the problems his continued existence creates, all in the few seconds leading up to his death. He then decides to sacrifice himself to destroy the tangent universe possibility, saving the world/universe. A sort of "my life flashes before me" fever dream.
Hmm... Wait, so he was already in the future when Donnie followed Frank outside (from the first scene)? BTW, who/what is this Frank? If Frank helped or gave the opportunity to travel, to observe the effects of his continued existence, why did Frank influenced his actions. Is it not Frank's existence that will cause problems? So it is really literal that the world will end, why it will end?
Ohh.. I get it now. So, there has been a tangent universe made. Right after it was made, everything is now set in the tangent universe. Right before Donnie met Frank.

TU is an exact copy of our universe. But it is unknown why or how a TU is formed. During the copy session of TU an object will have two copies in TU, and in this case the engine. Because of this extra copy of an object, TU will begin to collapse, in this movie, 28 days.

To avoid the destruction of the real universe, a person will be picked and grants him supernatural abilities to send the extra object from TU to the real stable universe via portal.

Frank is a, let say, a future ghost. He is a ghost before he gets killed. Thats what happens when someone in TU will get killed, they'll become a ghost and guide the chosen one to fulfill the mission. Gretchen will die too, but she chose not to show to Donnie as a ghost because it would confuse him. And everyone around is actually doing their own roles to help Donnie. I think its limited to those people he knew or will know.

Actually, Donnie dont have to die.

I read the explanation, and it made sense.



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Diet Doughnuts
08-01-15
Donnie has a superpower to change the past. He uses this power to make himself die instead of others.

If you really are curious and want to understand this film then I suggest watching the directors commentary as this explains everything going on throughout the entire film. You'll get a much more accurate and detailed description than anyone will provide you with here!