S Darko

Directed by: Chris Fisher

Starring: Daveigh Chase, Briania Evigan, James Lafferty, Ed Westwick

Synopsis:

Seven years after the tragic death of her brother Donnie, Samantha Darko is still mourning him and the loss of the loving family that fell apart after he died. Her home life in shambles, 18-year-old Sam impulsively decides to join her rebellious best friend Corey on a cross-country drive from Virginia to California in the hope of becoming a professional dancer.

When their car breaks down outside tiny Conejo Springs, Sam and Corey are stranded in the hot and dusty town with little money and no connections as they await the arrival of a new water pump. Wild child Corey quickly finds a friend in Randy Holt, the town bad boy, but Samantha is restless and has no interest in socializing. The morning after the girls arrive, a meteorite destroys a local farmer's windmill, leaving a huge crater in its wake.

Plagued by weird and prophetic dreams that spill over into her waking life, Samantha searches for some kind of meaning in the people around her. But she finds only the fanatical cliches spouted by Jesus freak Trudy Potter and Pastor John Mellit of the Born Again Church, the heedless partying of Randey and his friends, and the petty suspicions of small town gossips.

Sam and Corey have a bitter falling out that ends in catastrophe. Without realizing it, they become links in an invisible chain that connects them to a missing child, a disturbed Gulf war veteran and a dangerous hole in time and space. Only a sacrifice of the highest order will return the universe to its proper time and place, and the clock is ticking.



Review:

If like me, you enjoyed Donnie Darko because of it’s almost Lynchian approach to a coming of age story then you too might have wondered why it warranted a sequel, a DTV sequel at that. I mean, it’s hardly franchise material is it? Had Richard Kelly been at the helm I would have been a little more excited. I’m one of the few people I know that enjoyed Southland Tales and I’m looking forward to Kelly’s next movie; the Box. However, with S. Darko I did keep an open mind when sitting down to watch it.

Unfortunately, the movie managed to bore me senseless. Once again we have a sequel to a fairly unique movie that learns nothing from the first movie as to why it was successful, or at least liked. Ok, one thing it does share in common is a good choice of early 90s songs from the likes of Dean Can Dance, Catherine Wheel, Whale, and Cocteau Twins. This coupled with a superb, laid back score from Ed Harcourt are the only real plusses in this mess. Chris Fisher’s direction isn’t a problem and I just hope he proves his worth in future projects.

What proves to be a problem is that the movie isn’t anywhere as good as its predecessor. The same themes turn up in the plot; time travel, the CGI Abyss-like tentacle, fate, creepy religious figures, but the whole thing feels cheap. It’s a good looking movie so it’s a shame that this is the case. The ending of Donnie Darko is peppered throughout this movie like a reminder as to why the original worked. It’s almost like a more expensive fan movie than a serious idea for a full feature, yet at 103 minutes, you feel as if time has stretched and three hours have passed.

Daveigh Chase plays Samantha with a bit of depth, but the rest of the cast come across like they’ve been plucked from some bad 80s US TV shows. None of the performances stood out for me and Chase couldn’t carry the movie on her own.

Everything that had purpose in the plot of the original is used in S.Darko to no tangible discernable effect.

Summary:

It’s a pity that time travel couldn’t have been used to reverse the decision to make this pointless sequel and save people’s time and money. What concerns me is that for every Splinter there’s a few S.Darkos ready to put people off watching DTVs. I hope that this isn’t the case, because there are some great movies out there that deserve to be watched.

2/10 (Wayfarer)

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