Donnie Darko's ending?

[Salamar]

i just loves Donnie Darko but i thought that the ending was kind of confusing, can anybody explain it clearly to me?

[redrum]

well.... i just seen Donnie Darko yesterday n i was amazed and yet confused about the ending. *SPOILERS*
Personally, i think that Donnie manages to go back into time along with the jet engine that crashed into his room at the beginning.(which was sucked into a worm hole at the end, explaining why they didnt know where it came from in the beginning seeing there was no jets with a missing engine)He winds up in his room moments before the engine crashes and knowing what will happen in the future, decides to stay in his room.

my girlfriend's theory is that he takes his medication and goes to bed and see's a vision of the future, wakes up, and doesnt leave his room.

hope that is some help for you. again this just what i got out of the movie.
later.

[Adam J. Hakari]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by redrum:
Personally, i think that Donnie manages to go back into time along with the jet engine that crashed into his room at the beginning.(which was sucked into a worm hole at the end, explaining why they didnt know where it came from in the beginning seeing there was no jets with a missing engine)He winds up in his room moments before the engine crashes and knowing what will happen in the future, decides to stay in his room.
</font>

*SPOILERS*

I'm with you, redrum. After Donnie changed everything, exposing Patrick Swayze's kiddie porn ring and all that, he sacrificed everything after his girlfriend was killed. Most likely, though, the emotional impact of his death rang through the community, leaving the citizens with hidden secrets to let them come out themselves.

[redrum]

So, next question.... can someone explain to me the reason why he seen frank the rabbit. having trouble figuring that out.

[PeskySocks]

*SPOILERS*
I saw this the other night and loved it! I was kind of wondering about the rabbit too, if the rabbit hadn't told him to do that stuff, his girlfriend, Frank, and his mother would not have died. If Donnie hadn't flodded the school, he would have never had that talk with his girlfriend and asked her out then. Plus, when the rabbit was telling him about portals, he had to go see Grandma Death to learn more, and brought his girlfriend with him. If he didn't wonder about portals and hadn't had that conversation with his girlfriend, she would have never been run over, also meaning Donnie wouldn't have shot Frank.
When he burned down Patrick Swayze's house (after the bunny told him too), the main mother of Sparkle Motion had to testify at his court proceedings on the kiddie porn, and would have gone on the trip and died in the airplane crash. But since she couldn't go, Donnie's mother had to go, so her and Samatha died in the plane crash.
What's ironic about it all is that it seems as though Frank is warning Donnie of what's to come, but at the same time, he is responsible for what's to come.
Possibly the bunny was there to show Donnie two seperate paths he could take. In one, Donnie and Samantha would die (since Samatha would have gone on the trip with her dance group anyways), and in the other Frank, Donnie's girlfriend, Samantha, and Donnie's mother would die, but Donnie would live. Donnie realizes that Samantha would die either way, and that he loved his girlfriend and mother too much to let them die.
Donnie stated that he was scared of dieing alone, and if he died in his room when the plane hit, he would still have his family, if he died after they were all dead, he would be more alone, considering two members of his family and the woman he loves are dead.
If you think about it, the ending was kind of left to your interpretation, and there are many different ways to see it. The director may not have been going for this, but that is how it turned out. The only way to really know the director's vision is to ask the director himself.

[This message has been edited by PeskySocks (edited 04-29-2002).]

[AppleHuntr]

I wasn't crazy about Donnie Darko, a very ambitious film that presents intriguing aspects but doesn't deal with them appropriately, or not at all. The ending, why I dont know, but having the AWFUL actor James Duval play Frank the Rabbit took me right out of the film. And was I the only one who thought Jake Gyllenhall just scowled his way through the film?

I did love the chuuby Asian girl! She rocked, why werent they nicer to her, the films soundtrack also kicked ass.
6/10. A solid effort, but not quite up there .

[redrum]

Just curious here. but what did u find wrong with the potrayal of Frank the Rabbit?

[spacemonkey]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by redrum:

So, next question.... can someone explain to me the reason why he seen frank the rabbit. having trouble figuring that out.</font>

So heres the deal. I heard in the audio commetary that, this rabbit is really supposed to be an angel, you can hear the director explain this in the deleted scenes section of the dvd, the extended conversation of Donnie with the Rabbit in the golf field. He is somehow sent by God to help donnie realize that, you know God cares about his creatures and so forth. But that the director didnt really want to be so obvious about it and say it so he didnt explain who this character really is to leave it up to you, he wanted sort of like an open interpretation of this character.. So you see this movie also has the "divine intervention" theme to it that really goes sort of unnoticed..

[redrum]

Thanks a lot for the info Spacemonkey.

[spacemonkey]

No prob! http://www.joblo.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[PleaseBob]

I am inclined to write my opinion on the movie Donnie Darko. I have just recently watched it and until the movie had about 15 minutes left I thought it was great. This movie had the most horrible ending I have ever seen. I do not understand the entire idea behind the bunny and the ending makes no sense and has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. I was extremely upset that it started off so great and had such a poorly thought out and developed ending. I think that any individual who has seen it could have thought of a better movie. So, if anyone could possibly explain this ending, in connection to the movie, could you please e-mail me. I give the movie a grade of an A from beginning until near end. But overall, it was underdeveloped and not worth watching again. -Thanks-

[SkizoidMan]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by PleaseBob:
This movie had the most horrible ending I have ever seen. I do not understand the entire idea behind the bunny and the ending makes no sense and has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. </font>

I fully agree with you! The movie looks badly unfinished, I wonder if the screenplay writer was fired halfway through. A pretemptious attempt, miserably failed.. I guess Drew Barrymore should stick to Charles' Angels 2, instead of trying to produce "serious" movies.
Avoid this movie, if you don't like being disappointed.

[Odd Emu]

I totally agree It had me griped all the way until the end and then the credits rolled and I said


WHAT THE FLYING F*CK WAS THAT S*HIT!!!!

[Jason Voorhees]

Ok here it is.

Donny Traveled forward in time, Remember someone saying a huge amount of energy was needed for this? When the jet engine fell through his room it fueled his journey, However because of his forward movement in time he became part of a tangent universe, One that was to collapse in upon itself in 28 days. Which is why frank tells him the world will end in 28 days, Because he travled in time to a future in which he lived instead of died in the plane crash he got to see the consequences of his actions. The Self help guy was exposed, but his girlfriend and Frank were killed. Finally at the end of 28 days the tangent universe collapsed and the falling Jet engine killed him, averting the future the film had shown us.

[Jason Voorhees]

Well, thats my opinion anyway. Fate may as well have had a hand in the events as well as Divivne intervention. Perhaps Donny was allowed to see 28 days in the future to better understand why it was his time, and Frank was his guide, his guardian angel so to speak. Perhaps the Tnagent universe collapsed because Donny was supposed to Die, and god had noththing to do with it, only Fate.

Its very indepth stuff, part of why I like the film so much, Very well done and intriguing I thought.

[Elgyn]

I liked the ending. What happened at the end was sorta the whole point of the movie - he changed things so that HE died (by being in his room when the jet-engine thing fell) but his mother & girlfreind lived.

[Bud_Fox]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I liked the ending. What happened at the end was sorta the whole point of the movie - he changed things so that HE died (by being in his room when the jet-engine thing fell) but his mother & girlfreind lived.</font>

*I couldn't agree more.*

Beginning to end this movie fucking Rocked. Its been a long while since a movie has captivated me like Donnie Darko. I mean, fuck, this movie had everything: time travel-including Back to the Future references-; romance; the classic dysfunctional family, neigbours, teachers and freinds; awesome dialogue- the smurfette and smurf's scene had me rolling-; romance; and a kick-ass 80's theme- I especially admired how the movie was clearly set in the eighties; and yet, the director used subtle dashes and splashes of music and wardrobe to tastefully and softly convey this.

Donnie Darko is a refreshingly grim movie http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif

Donnie Darko 9/10


Cellar Door


[This message has been edited by Bud_Fox (edited 05-29-2002).]

[dbl456]

ok this is kinda what i believe the ending meant.. i was just wondering if u guys agree.. ok so donnie somehow (not sure how) went into a paralell universe.. perhaps through the huge energy of the falling metalic jet engine like the professor said.. but he went into one in which would collapse in 28 days.. so anyway, for the most part, it makes sense that he saw the reason he had to die since if he didnt.. lots of others he loved would. now, it seems to make sense.. but just not everything totally makes that work.. like.. why did the rabbit tell him what to do? why did he want him to burn down the suazes house? what was the connection between the physics teacher and grandma dead? and also.. lots of people have said that his mom and sister would have died if he didnt.. but is that really true.. becuase they died in the paralell universe because the sky was opening up.. so if he actually didnt die.. and continued to live in the real world.. the real world would not have collapsed on itself.. therefore his mom sister wouldnt have died... i dont know, just kinda some questions and stuff.. just give me some feedback.. peace

[Elgyn]

dbl456

I`m not an expert on this movie or anything (I never even had a chance to listen to the commentary), but here`s my theory on the mom/sister dying on plane thing:

The 'wormhole' in the sky didn`t CAUSE the plane crash, the plane crash actually somehow created the wormhole. At least that`s what I thought.

His sister would`ve died either way, because she went on the trip with the 'Sparkle Motion' dance group.
But his mom went on the trip because the wacked teacher lady had to go to Patrick Swayze`s court trial (or something like that). So it was because of Donnie`s actions (burning down Swayze`s house, revealing the kiddie porn) that his mom went on the trip and died as well.

As for WHY Frank told Donnie to burn down the house (among other things), I`m not so sure, I`ll have to give the movie another watch.


"I have to question your devotion to Sparkle Motion"!

[Memento8291]

i just got done watching it for the second time and i love it...but if Frank was an "angel" why would he tell donnie to burn down that guys house, resulting in the death of donnie's mother?

[Kim_EZ]

I love Donnie Darko! ^o^

x.x I'm weird. The ending made sense to me. Oh wells. I loved everything about the movie. ^_^ And for sure, there will be no sequels prolly. Donnie's dead and all... Yogata!

[stevereno]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AppleHuntr:
I did love the chuuby Asian girl! She rocked, why werent they nicer to her, the films soundtrack also kicked ass.
6/10. A solid effort, but not quite up there .</font>

oh i know i felt so bad for her

i did like donnie darko and relised that it didn't matter how it ended his relation ship with gretchen was doomed

SHIVER ME TIMBERS

[Kim_EZ]

Too bad they couldn't have hired a real Asian girl to play Cherita Chen. The actress looked Hispanic. She might've been Thai but... Chut up! I love that line. ^_^

[Barnumyay]

Just one question....What's a fuckass?

lol

I absolutely loved this movie except the ending for me was all screwed up because my DVD player is a piece of sh*t. But from what I saw of it, and bits and pieies of the ending, I absolutely loved it.

[Elgyn]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Barnumyay:

Just one question....What's a fuckass?

</font>


Not to be a fuckass or anything, but I believe it went "how exactly does one 'suck a fuck'?"

[Jason Voorhees]

lol How indeed.. The world may never know. Or maybe we do know..

[The Arrow]

Moving to Past Horror

[Sam Hain]

good flick.
also loved the 80's theme.the "head over heals" scene was great.
i dont think "time travel" had that much to do with the movie.just a crazy,confused boy with an insane imagination.

[Elgyn]

Sam Hain

I loved the "Head Over Heels" scene too, it`s one of my favorite parts of the movie.

[Bishop1000]

I'm not gonna pretend I have all the answers but I've collected little bits of clues to help understand exactly what this movie is really about.
First there's the Tangent Universe which is where this story takes place. This universe is connected together to the Primary Universe by a portal which is made up of water(the hole) and metal(the vessel.) Which may be understood as the moisture of the clouds (ya well it could be =P) and the jet engine.
Then there's the Living Receiver which is Donnie. His objective is to get an Artifact(engine?...any ideas?) back to the Primary Universe.
Next is the Manipulated Living which is people around Donnie who are supposed to start to turn on him yet want the same goal, to get the artifact to the Primary Universe.
When the Manipulated Living is somehow killed they become the Manipulated Dead (Frank..possibly Gretchen) who aids Donnie with the artifact. The Dead can use something called the Forth Dimensional Construct which is made up of water. Also the Dead will make an insurance trap for Donnie to make sure he succeeds in getting the artifact back to the Primary Dimension.
Once the Tangent Universe has collapsed the Manipulated will mostly not remember anything that happened. However if one does remember they will be overcome with remorse and regret for there actions.
Hope some of this info helps and any ideas of yours are greatly appreciated.

Together we can figure out this puzzle of a movie. =D

[Sam Hain]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Elgyn:
Sam Hain

I loved the "Head Over Heels" scene too, it`s one of my favorite parts of the movie.</font>


i had a flasback to jr highschool.it was great.then i remembered how many times i got my ass kicked in jr highschool.that sucked.

[Donnie Darko]

I just wanted to clarify this for a few people who seem to think that Donnie's younger sister died even after he returned to accept his destiny (I'm not going into an analysis of it here, it's long, drawn out, and as far as I'm concerned, right). However, to clear up the misconception, Donnie's younger sister does not die at the end, because she wasn't on the same plane. Donnie's mother brought the girls back early on the late late flight because she didn't want to leave Donnie and his sister home for so long. This is supported by Donnie's mother calling and leaving the message that they would be coming back early on... the "red eye" flight.

[Elgyn]

Dude I didn`t realize that! Thanks for pointing it out. I really need to see this movie again, it`s been awhile.

[cybrid]

i dont know if anyone typed this,i didnt read the whole thread [i stopped reading when i got to peskysocks' post] but here goes...
*SPOILER!!!?*

the way i see it donnie darko is a movie about destiny. its a twisted version of 'its a wonderful life.' the rabbit is a take clarence the guardian angel. also, donnie is supposed to die and that when he didnt things got messed up [to say the least]. donnie had to die for Frank [the rabbit]to live. thats all i can think of at the moment. the movie is slightly more complex than it needs to be.

hey spacemonkey you look familiar... jeff's?

[OrbtheDeweybean]

I thought this movie made perfect sense, except for a small part of it *the rabbit* which I believe writer/director Richard Kelly II left open for interpretation.

* The rabbit was obviously a man dressed up in a rabbit costume for Halloween we just don't find out who the man is, in a less literal sense. We know his name but that is all.

I think this movie is awesome, to say the least.

[JohnnySwinger]

I got REALLY into this movie after seeing it. We had a BIG storm pass threw town and I called in sick to work and just sat on my roof and listened to the Donnie Darko Soundtrack on my headphones. Call me weird but it was really cool.
Later
JSwinger

[billie the tree]

Sorry to disapoint, but except for maybe one of you, you're all VERY wrong.


See, it all has to do with the book The Philiosophy of Time Travel. In it, it explains the jet engine, aka "The artifact", frank aka "the manipulated dead", donnie's girlfriend aka "the manipulated living" and tangent univeres. I can't go into it very deeply, but everything is explained crystal clear. If you would like to read the book, it's all on the DVD or go to the Donnie Darko website. It also has the full book. It's all there.

So no, the ending is not up for debate, it just wasn't made clear in the movie. Like i said, go to the website or look at the DVD.

[billie the tree]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Bishop1000:
I'm not gonna pretend I have all the answers but I've collected little bits of clues to help understand exactly what this movie is really about.
First there's the Tangent Universe which is where this story takes place. This universe is connected together to the Primary Universe by a portal which is made up of water(the hole) and metal(the vessel.) Which may be understood as the moisture of the clouds (ya well it could be =P) and the jet engine.
Then there's the Living Receiver which is Donnie. His objective is to get an Artifact(engine?...any ideas?) back to the Primary Universe.
Next is the Manipulated Living which is people around Donnie who are supposed to start to turn on him yet want the same goal, to get the artifact to the Primary Universe.
When the Manipulated Living is somehow killed they become the Manipulated Dead (Frank..possibly Gretchen) who aids Donnie with the artifact. The Dead can use something called the Forth Dimensional Construct which is made up of water. Also the Dead will make an insurance trap for Donnie to make sure he succeeds in getting the artifact back to the Primary Dimension.
Once the Tangent Universe has collapsed the Manipulated will mostly not remember anything that happened. However if one does remember they will be overcome with remorse and regret for there actions.
Hope some of this info helps and any ideas of yours are greatly appreciated.

Together we can figure out this puzzle of a movie. =D
</font>

This is exactly correct. It's not precise, but basically the jist of the book.

Also, like he said, it will appear as a dream to them and they will feel remorse. Hence the kick ass end scene with everyone while Mad World plays.

[Donnie Darko]

Way to just read off of the source material. Your explanation contains 0 reflection or thought about the meanings behind the film. Since you can't seem to see the forest for the trees, why don't you stop telling everyone else that they're wrong. Try reading between the lines once or twice, it's a great experience.

[billie the tree]

I like this film as much as the next man, I own it, but there really is an actual explantion for all of it. I don't see how you could consider anything else right, when a book FROM THE MOVIE, on the movie's OFFICIAL WEBSITE, and the DVD, explains it in detail. I can read between the lines, but this is one time when you don't need to.

[tvmorbid]

OK, seein as its xmas time and Mad World is the UK xmas no. 1 (!), I thought I'd check out Donnie Darko and see what it was like and OH MY GOD what a fucking great film!! I've become quite obsessed with it trying to figure out the meaning of the film. After reading all the previous posts I still aint managed to come to a conclusion! I NEED HELP!!!

[Elgyn]

Well what exactly was it you didn`t get? I`ll try to help.:)

[tvmorbid]

Originally posted by Elgyn
Well what exactly was it you didn`t get? I`ll try to help.:)

Well my main confuzzlement comes from Frank. I mean, if he was supposed to be some kind of divine intervention, why did he have loads of drawings of his bunny mask at the end of the film?

[Elgyn]

Originally posted by tvmorbid
Well my main confuzzlement comes from Frank. I mean, if he was supposed to be some kind of divine intervention, why did he have loads of drawings of his bunny mask at the end of the film?

Okay....now granted I haven`t seen this movie in a little while....but here goes:

Frank wasn`t really an angel or anything. He was Donnie`s older sister`s boyfriend [not stated very well in the movie], and he was wearing the bunny suit on the fateful night that he ran over and killed Donnie`s girlfriend.

Frank is sent back in time (perhaps through divine intervention) to show Donnie how things would be worse if he didn`t die in the accident with the jet engine. Frank wouldn`t have hit and killed Donnie`s girlfriend, and Donnie wouldn`t have shot Frank.

At the end, after Donnie decides to go back and let himself be killed in the jet-engine accident, all the various characters seem to somehow subconciously know that something profound has happened (this is when the "Mad World" song is playing). Perhaps Frank couldn`t get his mind off the bunny mask, and didn`t know why. That`s why he was painting it.

Now this is just my interpretation, I`m not a "Donnie Darko" expert or anything.:)

But I hope maybe this helped!

[tvmorbid]

Y'know Elgyn, that has actually made a lot of sense! Yeah, I like that explanation, thanx bud I owe ya:)

[Elgyn]

No prob Bob!:)