S. Darko (2009)

The story picks up seven years after the first film when little sister Samantha Darko and her best friend Corey are now 18 and on a roadtrip to Los Angeles when they are plagued by bizarre visions.

Director:

Chris Fisher

Writers:

Nathan Atkins (screenplay), Richard Kelly (characters)

Stars:

Daveigh Chase, Briana Evigan, James Lafferty

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daveigh Chase	...	Samantha
Briana Evigan	...	Corey
James Lafferty	...	Iraq Jack
Ed Westwick	...	Randy
Walter Platz	...	Frank
John Hawkes	...	Phil
Bret Roberts	...	Officer O'Dell
Jackson Rathbone	...	Jeremy
Elizabeth Berkley	...	Trudy
Barbara Tarbuck	...	Agatha
Matthew Davis	...	Pastor John
Nathan Stevens	...	Jeff
Ryan Templeman	...	Mike
Zulay Henao	...	Baelyn
JJ Neward	...	Co-Worker (as J.J. Neward)

Storyline

July, 1995, the time is out of joint. Two teen girls, Sam and Corey, have left Virginia for L.A. to start over. Sam's brother has died and her family's shattered; Corey's too wild. They have car trouble in a small desert town, where Corey immediately starts her partying ways, where a meteorite strikes a windmill, and where a burned-out Desert Storm vet predicts the end of the world in four days. Sam hallucinates while sleepwalking, young men have disappeared from town, and cars come out of nowhere to cause accidents. Time travel may be possible, but it takes courage and resolve. Is the addled war veteran right? If he is, can Corey or Sam make things right?

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Plot Keywords:

time travel | sequel | second part | period in title | direct to video sequel to theatrical movie | 

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Taglines:

It's Time To Travel Forward

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some violent content and brief drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 2009 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Donnie Darko 2

Filming Locations:

Delle, Utah, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Silver Nitrate, Newmarket Capital Group, Adam Fields Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was made on a 25 day schedule, for under $4 million.

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Goofs

The matinée lists Twelve Monkeys and Strange Days as the films currently showing, but neither film was showing nationally as of July 1995 when the story is set. Strange Days premiered in October of 1995 and Twelve Monkeys came out in January of 1996.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Corey: Only two more good mornings.
Sam: Only one more day.
Corey: We're so perfect.
Sam: Immaculate.

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Connections

References Twelve Monkeys (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Alive Alone"
Written by Tom Rowlands, Ed Simons
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
Published by Universal Music Publishing Group
Courtesy of Virgin Records Ltd./Astralwerks
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

How does one suck a F***?

As soon as I had heard about this hybrid sequel (and it is a sequel), I immediately thought that they had gone and done it again, I thought they just couldn't help themselves, I thought that it was just another money spinner and it was produced to simply draw in the gradual pulse of Donnie Darko fans.

After watching it though, it really didn't disappoint, my initial gut instinct was right. This film follows in the footsteps of other previous solo films that they just couldn't leave alone.

This film has so many Donnie Darko cliché's, it's unbelievable, the visual effects (which I could have done myself), the stylised music of the time, the time lapse scenes (which are OVERUSED), the times caped school scene (with Tears for Fears)... Everything... Everything that made Donnie Darko the artistic and visually spectacular film it was, has been transposed to this and it has been transposed, woefully.

They have even cast a couple of Jake Gyllenhaal lookalikes for some of the parts, and there is NO way this is an accident, because they act so badly, they must have been cast on their uncannily resemblance to J.G.

It's a bit like when Dennis Leary, Ripped off Bill Hicks, it's rather sad seeing someone else trying to imitate someone else's joke, you still laugh at it for a minute, but afterwards, you just want your money back.

This film is a bit poo, I can't even comment on its "plot", because, you can see "the plot", has been moulded around the model of Donnie Darko, you can see that the plot was the last thing they thought about, which funnily enough, in a Donnie Darko fashion, was probably the first thing though about in Donnie Darko.

I don't know though, for some strange reason, this feels more like a bad re-make, than a sequel, and people probably will say something like "You have watch this movie, independently, don't think that it's a sequel to Donnie Darko, try to see it for what it is.", okay, that would be a fair thing to say. But as soon as you release a movie, with one of the same actors from the original, with the same title as the original (nearly), with the same freaking emblem as the original, pfft... well... You can't cook a cookie from a recipe and say it's your own.

Now, let's get to the acting. The acting is awful, there really doesn't seem to be any interACTION, between the actors, it just feels as though they are saying the lines to each other, it really does, there doesn't feel like there is any co-character development, there doesn't seem to be any rapport at all, and more importantly, there doesn't seem to a distinguishable emotion, throughout the movie, honestly, watch it... The best actor throughout, is one of the actors who hardly has a scene John Hawkes, from, From Dusk Till Dawn and Identity.

There are also 2 shady looking characters in the film, who don Men in Black attire. They look like two bloody elephants in a fridge, they really do, they look SO out of place and so uneasy on the camera, that they were probably just picked from the town that they filmed in, either that or they are two tecchies from the production team.

As I've said before, the production looks shoddy, it really does, the effects from Donnie Darko, looked much better and that was.. what? 8 years ago? And 8 years, is a long time in technological terms. Even in one scene (this is supposed to be set in 1995), you can see post 95 produced Cars in the background, and an up to date Budweiser sign.

(I wish I could do the time travel thing and go back in time and NOT watch this film.)

All-in-All, this film is bad, I suppose my advice could be to watch it with an open mind, but I would be misadvising you, this film is obviously aimed at making a few quid from Donnie Darko fans and with that in mind, I just can't get past the audacity of the reason for this film. It is a much asked question of films, especially sequels, but I am going to ask it anyway.

Why?

I have given this film a 4/10, and that is primarily because I think that the lead is hot, she walks around a hot state, with practically nothing on most of the time and the fact that she looks like Jessica Biel, that is how skin deep I feel, after watching this film, which is no doubt, how the producers thought throughout the process of making this film.

If you are thinking of buying this on DVD for a present for someone you know who is a Donnie Darko fan, then don't, A. It will disappoint them and B. It will only spur on, more crap like this.

And as for one KILLER line in the movie...

"Like... Drugs and Anus Sex!" Best line in the whole movie.