roby2358

I have the feeling that if you watched this over, you would start to pick up on tons of depth and symbolism. The big problem is, who cares? This sequel lacks all the bizarre drama and compelling mystery of the original.

It felt like someone sat down, made notes of the mechanics of Donnie Darko, and then replicated it in miniature over and over with some good-looking robotic teenagers.

The filmmakers completely missed the point that was was happening to Donnie in the first movie was a blend of The Universe and his Mind, and it was impossible to draw a line between the two. In this sequel, there are just a bunch of too-cool-for-words teens marching through the paces the Universe is putting them through, like good little pawns on a chessboard.

Too bad, too. The original was so strange and compelling, I still think about it after all these years. Clearly the filmmakers of number two wanted to create a work of intricate mystery, but it just didn't seem to have any pull.

I insist on watching the movies on Sci-Fi because, well, I have to. I keep hoping someday there will be a hidden gem, or at least one with some cool special effects. This one was a little of both. While overgrown with B-movie clichés and iffy CGI effects, there were still some pretty interesting twists, and some genuinely creepy moments. I did get caught up in the race to defeat the -ah- monster (?), and I liked the acting of the two main characters, even if the dialog left them pretty thin. The story was a very nice diversion from the usual sort of humanoid-alien-or-zombie run wild. It was fun to watch. I thought the solution was maybe a little trite, but I enjoyed the film enough that I was OK with it. There were little glimpses of pretty intelligent writing sprinkled through the movie. It almost felt like a decent script that got stretched and produced and Sci-Fi-ized into a B-movie (C-movie?). But I think it still maintained some of the interesting parts of the premise, and played them out well. All in all, I enjoyed watching it, and it held my interest all the way to the end. I wonder why the Sci-Fi channel insists on matching cheesy special effects with cheesy acting and cheesy writing. Dr. Who is proof that good writing can carry really cheap effects. I think this movie was a big step in that direction, and I hope they go with it more.