Review by Gary Tooze

Summary: During the presidential election of 1988, a teenager named Donnie Darko sleepwalks out of his house one night, and sees a giant, demonic-looking rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. He returns home the next morning to find that a jet engine has crashed through his bedroom. As he tries to figure out why he survived and tries to deal with people in his town, like the school bully, his conservative health teacher, and a self-help guru, Frank continues to turn up in Donnie's mind, causing him to commit acts of vandalism and worse...

Arrow Description:

Fifteen years before Stranger Things combined science-fiction, Spielberg-ian touches and 80s nostalgia to much acclaim, Richard Kelly set the template and the high-water mark with his debut feature, Donnie Darko. Initially beset with distribution problems, it would slowly find its audience and emerge as arguably the first cult classic of the new millennium.

Donnie is a troubled high school student: in therapy, prone to sleepwalking and in possession of an imaginary friend, a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days 06 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time he will navigate teenage life, narrowly avoid death in the form of a falling jet engine, follow Frank s maladjusted instructions and try to maintain the space-time continuum.

Described by its director as The Catcher in the Rye as told by Philip K. Dick, Donnie Darko combines an eye-catching, eclectic cast pre-stardom Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, heartthrob Patrick Swayze, former child star Drew Barrymore, Oscar nominees Mary McDonnell and Katherine Ross, and television favourite Noah Wyle and an evocative soundtrack of 80s classics by Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears and Duran Duran. This brand-new 4K restoration, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films, allows a modern classic to finally receive the home video treatment it deserves.
 

The Film:

Excerpt from Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times located HERE

This Blu-ray contains both the original theatrical version and 20-minute longer 'Director's Cut'. Strangely 'branching' was not used to 'seam' the two versions together in the file structure - which would have saved a lot of space - possibly improving compression*. Perhaps the cuts were too varied and difficult to weave together though - I don't know. Hence, both versions are the equivalent of single-layered transfers. The image quality does not appear dynamically sharp but improves over the existing DVDs in showing far less artifacts and much more grain. The differences can appear subtle but as the image is expanded - it becomes readily more apparent. There is no question it looks superior but the consumer advantage is more limited than in many other comparisons we have done. Colors seem a bit warmer, lean a bit blue, and are slightly brighter than the SDs - detail improvement is apparent in close-ups - but there are not a lot of them in the film. The theatrical Blu-ray rendering in 1080 may be marginally hazier than the DC. Digital aficionados will be grateful that there are no apparent manipulations to smooth out that good grain or unrealistically enhance colors or detail. 

* NOTE: Roger tells us in email: "When originally released the director's cut utilized (mostly) the same music, but different scenes utilized different cuts. The opening scene, for instance, utilized a different track. I believe the director's cut scene was also cut slightly differently, but I'm not sure of this. I hope this helps answer the why they didn't approach the blu-ray as you expected." (Thanks Roger!)

Arrow have created an amazing new package and the a/v improves dramatically over the Fox Blu-ray and all digital editions to date. Both versions, theatrical and director's cut, have their own dual-layered Blu-ray disc. It is described as a "Brand new 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and the Director s Cut from the original camera negatives produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster." I'll make a few general points:

We weren't as picky about matching the exact frame captures beyond the first few because 1) the vast improvement was obvious, 2) it was difficult as the two versions may, or may not, contain the same scene and, even if it does, it may not contain the same frame (see the children on the beds in the hotel in the third large set of captures) and 3) the Fox ratio is distorted - stretched horizontally and is marginally cropped in some sequences and shifts left in relation to the Arrow, in others.

Arrow's theatrical and director's cut transfers are both max'ed out and the quality is the same. I can see no difference in image quality.

The improvement over the 8-year old Fox Blu-ray is quite dramatic if you toggle between the full resolution 1080 captures, linked, of Donnie awakening on the golf course (look at his shirt and the grass etc.). It is even greater than the difference of quality of the Fox BD over the DVDs.

Donnie Darko looks brilliant in 4K restored - what an impressive video transfer! I'm amazed.