A TwilightMOM Reviews S. Darko – Part Two
Posted on 15. Jun, 2009 by JulieAndJasper in News
For our second review of S. Darko, we have a guest blogger who some of you may be familiar with – one of our very own Volturi Moms, Jennifer (aka MajorWhitlock).
Donnie Darko was always one of those movies on my “to see” list, so when S. Darko came out with Jackson Rathbone, I was pretty excited, even though it was a sequel. I’d heard that Donnie Darko was “trippy” and “mind blowing” and that the sequel was not up to the original’s standard. The sequel is about Donnie Darko’s little sister Sam and the aftermath of her brother’s death. Sam and her friend Corey get stuck in a tiny town with a broken water pump when a meterorite hits and the town’s secrets as well as Sam’s own past come to plague the present.
The biggest hindrance of this film was the plot, or lack thereof. The film had a pretty good pace going for a while, but ultimately the ending left me incredibly confused. A lot of basic symbols, such as the feather and the dress, were introduced but didn’t seem to actually lead anywhere and wavered in their importance. And the final “twist” at the end really left more questions than answers. I watched the deleted scenes to see if perhaps there was too much edited and it left me even more confused, which I didn’t think was possible. Most of the time when I watch films (even supremely bad ones) the story/ plot is something I rarely pull out as just plain bad, but this plot was too confusing for its own good.
The character development was completely a miss. While the larger characters were fairly developed, there was a plethora of smaller characters that didn’t seem above the status of one-liner extras. There were at least three fairly prominent characters (Jackson’s role being one of them) that seemed unfinished and unexplained and many other connections among the characters that seemed weak.
So were there redeeming qualities? Sure! Most of the film was beautifully done and very pleasing to the eye. Wonderful use of desolate landscapes, rich colors, camera angles and artful cinematography. It immediately captured my attention and kept me intrigued enough to continue watching. It portrayed the idea of the vast West very well and used that element rather nicely. The CGI could have been better (could have been a lot worse) and the time-lapse effect was nicely used.
Overall, I probably would watch this movie again, but definitely not for the story, probably to either watch Jackson’s adorable geeky performance or for the scenery.
Jennifer (MajorWhitlock) is currently a Creative Writing major, Film minor at Texas State University. After graduating from her undergrad, she plans on pursuing her MFA in Cinematography.
