S Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale DVD: Review By Brian Gallagher

It's been awhile since I've been this torn over a review before, to be quite honest with you. Also, to be honest with you, I was expecting to hate this film because, well, it's friggin DONNIE DARKO! The gall of these people trying to make a new Darko film. The sheer nerve! I was so conflicted after watching this movie that it actually took me awhile to discover that I actually kind of liked this film.

Now, before you start flaming away in the comments section already, let me be CRYSTAL clear. This is NOT a better film than Donnie Darko and cannot even come close to holding a candle to that film's original greatness. That being said, I can't even imagine such a monumental task was even what the filmmakers had in mind when making this film and this film is such an odd amalgamation of a remake and a sequel that I don't even know how to classify it. For one, screenwriter Nathan Atkins employs virtually the exact same story as the original, with some slight tweaks (and some big tweaks) along the way... with one of those tweaks being that this film takes place 8 years after Donnie's death and follows his sister, Sam (Daveigh Chase), as she embarks on a road trip with her friend Corey (Briana Evigan) to Los Angeles to make their dreams come true now that they're 18. Of course, the road to Hollywood is a tough one, as the girls find out in Utah when their car breaks down in a one-horse town and all sorts of crazy stuff starts to happen, as it seems "living receiver"-ship runs deep in the Darko family.

While they call this a "continuation" in the special features, S. Darko really feels like more of a companion film or an homage to the original. While technically it is a continuation, being 8 years later and with Daveigh Chase's title character still plagued by the events of the first film, there are SO many references, big (Sam wakes up in random places each morning) and small (a shot of someone in a mask jumping on a trampoline at a party) alike, blatantly pilfered from the first film and thrown in for the die-hard fans of the original. Not only that, but Atkins' script tells a pretty damn similar story, but sets it on the road and in a dinky town instead of suburbia. While I will give Atkins a lot of credit for some very crisp and subdued dialogue and a rather huge twist (it's so big I can't even call it a twist, I guess) to the story, a good majority of this story is way too familiar and I wish he would've gotten more into how Donnie's death affected Sam, and there are tons of different ways they could've connected the two movies, aside from just writing the same kind of script. Atkins does seem like a very talented writer, but while there is plenty in the film that makes it its own film, it does seem like they kept the original a little too close to their chest, especially in terms of the structure.

While we don't get the host of recognizable names and faces like the first film, this is actually a very solid cast with some fine acting throughout. Little Miss Darko (and The Ring creepy chick) Daveigh Chase is all growns up - both physically and performance-wise - with a terrific turn at reprising her role as Samantha Darko here. She turns in a rather complex performance here as the title character and, while she's been off my radar for a few years now (I don't watch Big Love...), but she's surely back on it now. Briana Evigan brings her super-sexy self (and that super-hot voice) to the film as Darko's best friend Corey and the obligatory bitchy friend of the flick. We also get some nice turns in surprising places with One Tree Hill's James Lafferty as the crazed Iraq Jack, a smaller but very important role, Matthew Davis as Pastor John and Elizabeth Berkeley as the bible-banging Trudy (Showgirls was certainly a long time ago, wasn't it...). I wasn't a huge fan, though, of Twilight's Jackson Rathbone as the nerdy Jeremy and Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick as the greaser/tough guy/love interest-ish Randy.

Director Chris Fisher has been directing in TV for awhile, but his last film was the dreadful Dirty (another reason I was sketchy of this film), but he really pulled together a fairly solid directorial performance. Sure, like the script, he does pull in way too many references from the first film in his direction, like constant shots of those sped-up clouds in lieu of transitions, and that whole destiny line thing (the bubbly thing that comes out of your chest that the characters follow... whatever it's called) but he does some great work with the actors and pulls together a solid turn at the helm, especially for his first feature in four years.

S. Darko is proof that there are really infinite possibilities in the world that the brilliant Richard Kelly created with Donnie Darko. Of course, with the state of straight-to-DVD sequels/remakes/whatever's these days, most are done with as little money and artistry as possible, in the hope for a quick buck. I'm pleased to say, though, that S. Darko is one of the first I've seen to buck that trend. It isn't the immediate classic that Donnie Darko was, but it's actually a pretty damn solid film.

We don't get a ton of material here, but it gets started with some Deleted Scenes. We get six scenes here, including an alternate opening that really isn't much different at all, just a different collage of scenes. There actually is some decent stuff here, besides the first few scenes, but nothing that was absolutely needed in the final print, so I can see why they were deleted. Most of these extra scenes are with Matthew Davis' Pastor John and Ellizabeth Berkeley's Trudy, with them trying to offer salvation, and such. These are only just over six minutes total, and they're worth checking out.

The Making of S.Darko is next and it's your pretty standard featurette talking about the standard things. I thought it was rather interesting how almost everyone we hear from, was rather uneasy about a Donnie Darko sequel when they first heard of it. We get some interview bits from Daveigh Chase, Briana Evigan, director Chris Fisher, writer Nathan Atkins and a few others talking about various aspects of the movie. It's an interesting 15-minute featurette that it also worth taking a look at, especially if you want to hear these filmmakers takes on this film set against Richard Kelly's classic.

Besides the Trailer, the only other thing we get here is Utah Too Much, and this delves somewhat into shooting the film in Utah, but mostly it's about this song that some of the cast members wrote while on the set. They play the whole country song over a collage of just exterior behind-the-scenes shots of Utah, etc. It's a six-minute thing that gives a nice candid look at the set and the state itself.

The disc is presented in the widescreen format, enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The aspect ratio wasn't given, as far as I know.

The sound is handled through the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound format.

Again, I got a screener disc here, but the front cover looks to be following in the first film's tradition with the front cover. The front has the big title card with Chase, Evigan and Westwick's names above it and the rest of the gloomy front features that lovely, wicked Easter Bunny head... but with Daveigh Chase in some sort of white gown appearing to be melding into the bunny's face. Creepy, and actually kind of cool. Not sure what's on the back though.

S. Darko is not a better film than the original - nor do I think it tries to be - but if you'd like to step into this world again in a slightly different way, then you might find yourself surprised to enjoy this. I know I sure was...