A TwilightMOM Reviews S. Darko – Part One

Posted on 15. Jun, 2009 by JulieAndJasper in News

When I sat down to watch S. Darko, the sequel to the cult psychological thriller Donnie Darko, I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. But as a fan of the first movie, I was curious how this movie would compare and relate to the original.

The answer to that original versus sequel question was both not at all and in every way possible.

S. Darko takes place a few years after Samantha Darko’s (Daveigh Chase) brother Donnie has died following a freak accident. Sam has grown up feeling distanced from her family and we find her aimlessly road tripping to California with her best friend Corey (Briana Evigan). Their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they meet the resident bad-boy (Ed Westwick), the local war veteran recluse starts seeing things, a meteorite hits the town, Sam wakes up on a park bench, a sweet science geek (Jackson Rathbone) buys the girls lunch and then things start getting really strange.

Overall, it seemed like S. Darko was trying too hard to make any possible connection it could to the original film, but in the most bizarre ways. The mythology/science of the original film was turned on its head. In the original film, Donnie sleepwalks and sees visions of Frank, who tells people to commit acts of vandalism and warns of the world’s end. In S. Darko, Sam sleepwalks, but is the person giving the orders and warning of the end of the world. Each film has a resident recluse, but they serve different purposes. There are similarities in the aftermath of the burning of a teacher’s house in Donnie Darko, and the burning of a church in S. Darko but it seems to distract from the plot in S. Darko instead of advance it as in the original film.

The minor characters in S. Darko are never developed beyond the most surface-level stereotypes, which is a shame. Characters like Rathbone’s awkward science geek, the creepy motel owner and military-wannabe town cop are more interesting than either Sam’s friend or Westwick’s bad-boy character. These three peripheral characters and the performances by the actors that portrayed them left me wanting more.

Aside from the confusing and (in my opinion, unintentionally) disjointed plot, S. Darko was successful film visually and was beautiful to watch. The look and feel of the film definitely added to the surreal world that is created and aid in the suspension of disbelief that is needed throughout the film.

Even as a fan of the original film, I probably would not have picked up S. Darko if Jackson hadn’t been in the cast. That said, I’m glad I did. Jackson’s character was equal parts endearing and slightly off-balance, and was part of what made the film enjoyable for me as a viewer.

S. Darko is currently available in both DVD and Blu-ray format. Visit the official website for more details.