I hate anticipating a film and then being absolutely repulsed by what is presented to me either in the theatre or at home on some format of either DVD or Blu-ray. Now I’ll admit that S.Darko is not something that seemed like it would be a blockbuster to me or anything, but I was hoping that playing of off the unexpected success of Donnie Darko would produce something. You have to know that something has gone horribly wrong and your expectations will not be met when you begin making fun of the simplest of things going on when you’re no more then six minutes into the film.
It has been seven years since Samantha Darko experienced the very unexpected and strange death of her brother Donnie. She is now more of a free spirit and far removed from her days of being a member of Sparkle Motion. On the way to Los Angeles for a road trip with her friend Corey; their car breaks down and they are forced to stay a few days in a town where nothing quite ordinary happens. The locals are just set in their ways and kind of strange. Kids are disappearing left and right with no clue as to where they are. A Desert Storm war veteran has a case of the crazies and most of the townspeople believe him to be behind the disappearance of the children. But Samantha has a lot more going on in her life and not a single one of the occurrences can truly be explained.
That doesn’t sound like too bad of a plot does it? No, not at all. That is if that is what we’d truly get. S. Darko is filled of nonsense and stupidity the likes of which I have not seen since Vanilla Sky. Plot holes galore fill the little more then and hour and a half of run time while idiocy jumps into the small cracks like silly putty. My fiancé and I got no more then about fifteen minutes in before the girls were assisted on the roadside by a young man thinking he was the epitome of cool. He was wearing jeans and a black undershirt with cigarettes rolled into his sleeve. The girls were dressed trashy and weird. That’s when this conversation happened:
Me: “Who does he think he is, Pony Boy?”
Fiancé: “Dude, you have a pocket on your shirt! And what is SHE wearing?”
Throughout the duration there followed many more conversations like the one above. And yes, each one took place in condescending tones that pretty much summed up our feelings about the film. Constant hope that it would end soon. Disappointment arose every time someone died and was brought back to life. It is upsetting to think that someone thought taking Donnie Darko and making it a second time through with different people would be successful. S. Darko did nothing make a total mockery of this now so-called franchise and needs to be forgotten about as quickly as it arrived before it does any more damage to the Darko name.
The film is shown in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and it looks fine for what it is even though the special effects really suck. I’m not going to blame that on the disc quality though but the budget.
The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it’s not so fine. There are a number of times I had to adjust the volume to hear what was being said and even rewind a bit to try and catch it because you just couldn’t hear a damn thing coming out of their mouths. Overly frustrating.
Audio Commentary – Director Chris Fisher, writer Nathan Atkins, and cinematographer Marvin Rush sit together for the commentary track that was painful to watch, and not so much because of them. They talk some about everything that went into making the film, but very little about the meaning and story of it all. Nothing too horrible here, but the painful part was having to sit through the film itself again.
Deleted Scenes – Six scenes show Samantha and Corey arguing and such during different moments. Blech.
The Making Of S. Darko – Wow, talk about awkward. The cast and crew actually talk about how stupid an idea it was to make a sequel to Donnie Darko. Nice to see someone agrees with me but never thought it would be those in the film. Not much else to see here. Moving on. (15:01)
Utah Too Much – This feature centers on filming in Utah and the score of the film. Interesting, but not overly. (6:45)
Trailers – Post Grad, Notorious, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Taken, Possession, The Betrayed, Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li, and 12 Rounds
I hate, hate, HATE this film with a passion. It is not entertaining by any stretch of the imagination and will frustrate you entirely just because you’ll want it to end after the first twenty minutes but then it drags on for eighty more. The film is boring, pointless, stupid, and just downright ignorant at times to just how overly stupid it truly is. By no means should they have slapped the “A Donnie Darko Tale” phrase onto the end of the title because it shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as that wonderful release. Donnie Darko is a great film that has grown to cult status and rightfully so because it’s an imaginative and creative piece of work. S. Darko is a cheap low budget knockoff that is trying to be its own film but painfully copying everything that worked in its predecessor while trying to make a quick buck. Don’t be fooled by the name and don’t waste your money on this piece of crap ever.
………………………………………
20th Century Fox presents S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale. Directed by: Chris Fisher. Starring: Daveigh Chase, Briana Evigan, Jackson Rathbone, James Lafferty, Ed Westwick. Written by: Nathan Atkins. Running time: 103 minutes. Rating: R. Released on DVD: May 12, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
