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With the number of Donnie Darko threads that seem to pop up on this board every few months, I'm suprised this hasn't been posted yet. But the Director's Cut edition just came out yesterday and I'm curious as to whether anyone else picked it up and what they think about it.
For anyone that owns the original dvd or has atleast watched the deleted scenes there isn't all that much new. Most of the additions are those deleted scenes reincorporated into the movie. Then there are some close up shots of the philosophy of time travel book and a new added twist.
I was initally worried about how Kelly was going to work the close up shots of the book into the movie, but I think he handled it pretty well, inserting them between scene changes, and even superimposed over previous deleted scenes, that were put in for the sole purpose of showing the book while they play out in the background. He doesn't focus on them too long and still leaves out good portions of the book and parts of pages, I guess to avoid sticking it right in your face. And it works.
The deleted scenes all work really well back in the movie. I especially love anything with Donnie's dad, who I think is just the coolest character. There are a few parts of a few deleted scenes that you'll see why they were cut in the first place. Just a few bad decisions I think, but I was happy that they were all in there. And even though I had read the Philosophy of Time Travel book, and scene all these deleted scenes, I still got a very different feeling and understand of the movie. First off, it changes the pace alot. It's less frantic(which I thinked worked really well), and flows better. More of an impending doom feel that Donnie is trying to figure out and learn to accept at the same time. I only got the former part of that in the original version.
There were alot of sound effect(or so it seemed to me) and soundtrack changes in the film. I feel like they went over alot of the special effects in the film and cleaned them up, maybe visually, but definitely sound wise(or possibly, the auditory changes just make me think they also changed it visually, because it's different). They also added alot of new sounds that would occur when either Frank was around or Donnie was experiencing some sort of phenomena due to the tangent universe. And alot of the sounds seemed to have this sort of metallic sound to them. Like distorted speaking almost. One big music change is the song that plays during the opening of the movie after Donnie wakes up. I loved the way the original song worked with the scene, and while I think the new one works okay(i'm holding complete judgement for now), I miss the old one. And I'm not sure whether he took it out completely or put it somewhere else in the movie. I thought he was moving it, but I don't remember hearing it. Also, the song that plays at the party at the end of the movie has been replaced.
The completely new element to the movie, that those sound effects partly affect is the close up shots of an eye, with the pupil dilating and what looks like a computer screen(that the eye may be looking at?), with text scrolling down it. I got the feeling like it was somethin(they, them, other beings) monitoring what was going on, and what seemed like uploading and downloading of information. The very end of the movie, after Donnie finishes everything and returns the artifact(or whatever actually happens), and dies, it seems like some sort of celebration, with fireworks going off and what almost seems like cheering voices and a grid across the whole screen, making it look like a computer screen of some sort. Not very ambigious I guess. Now we know who the "they" is in "they made me do it" that Donnie scrolls on the sidewalk.
I really enjoyed the directors cut, I think I have a much better idea of Kelly's vision for that story now. And my only complaints are the lack of the old intro song, and that the cheering at the end(if that's what it is) seems kind of cheesy. Check it out, tell me what you think. I'm curious as to whether people agree with my interpretation of the eye and of the changes in general.
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I saw it a couple months ago (downloaded). I wasn't really impressed. I did notice that most of the new scenes in the movie were the deleted scenes from the first dvd, and that was kind of disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was a little more than what Kelly provided. Maybe I need to watch it again, but I'll probably only rent it.
And yeah, I can't believe he took out the Killing Moon, by Echo and the Bunnymen. That was the best song on the soundtrack.
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I agree. I haven't rented it yet, but it played in a local theater with the director's cut, I liked it.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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It's hard to pick a favorite part of the movie, but I particularly enjoy the confrontation between Jim Cunningham and Donnie in the school theatre:
Donnie: You're right actually, I'm pretty troubled and I'm pretty confused but I... and I'm afraid, really. Really Afraid. Really. But I think you're the ****ing anti-Christ.
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I love the Smurf conversation. And when Donnie speaks at the assembly. I also love the first scene at the school, when we're introduced to all the characters.
One of my new favorite scenes is when Donnie's Dad talks to him and tells him to stick it to all the idiots in the world.
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"He told me to forcibly insert the fear-love lifeline into my anus!" Is delivered with perfect timing, and the reaction of the dad is priceless.
Posts: 3564 | Registered: Sep 2001
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I liked the original one better. The director's cut does have a lot of scenes added, but most of those scenes were available as deleted scenes on the original DVD.
I love the original, so a lot of the changes in the director's cut are distracting -- some of the music is switched around, and the extra special effects aren't necessary. And I don't like the bit of the Philosophy of Time Travel book that's shown that talks about how the "Manipulated Dead" will do anything to recover their life -- that implies that Gretchen is just manipulating Donnie to get him to fall in love with her in order to get him to save the world.
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Ok, we just watched the director's cut last night.
I loved the original soudntrack. Why, oh, why did it have to change? I love that they added the scene with him and his dad sitting outside, but thought that reinserting the "it's a placebo" scene changed designates a significant change in direction for the movie. Some of the new sound effects and visuals made me think of how much I hate the rereleased Star Wars movies, but the dilating pupils did fit really well. Isn't that an image from the website? I can't exactly remember, but it had that kind of familiarity.
I'm glad we have the original on DVD since it's more likely to get replay. I just have to make sure we get it back from the guy borrowing it.
quote: The very end of the movie, after Donnie finishes everything and returns the artifact(or whatever actually happens), and dies, it seems like some sort of celebration, with fireworks going off and what almost seems like cheering voices and a grid across the whole screen, making it look like a computer screen of some sort.
First, it reminded me of the screens at some concerts I've been to. Second, this has always been my problem with the movie, if the engine comes back in time and kills him, doesn't that mean he's failed? I mean, the artifact is still there, but now he isn't there to prevent it from happening. Maybe that's why he was laughing. He realized that they were all using him and, as his dad at suggested earlier, he was telling them to eff off.
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