Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's creepy, it's crawly, and it's twisted beyond recognition. That bunny suit scares the crap out of me, but it also deeply intrigues me.
So tonight I got really excited when I saw S. Darko on Netflix! Users only gave it a 2-star rating, so that lowered the bar a bit - but maybe not enough. I was still expecting the awesome flavors that Donnie Darko left lingering oh so long ago.
The outcome? I spent the first half of the movie thinking "God, this is so lame" over and over. There were moments taken from first movie and cheaply imitated in the second for the sake of tying the two together. As though the producers were grasping for reoccuring themes to make the sequel seem legit.
I kept watching, because I liked the cast. The two girls were each a less-crazy adaption off Megan Fox's role in Jennifer's Body (or actually any of her roles, for that matter) and it was VERY entertaining. After I deemed this a horrible sequel, I let all of my expectations go and was finally able to enjoy the movie.
The ending tied everything together, and once I started following the movie as an independent work and not a "sequel", I thoroughly appreciated it. This revelation was reminiscent of what a really close friend said to me recently. When I was frustrated and upset, my trust betrayed by someone close, he told me: "People never fail to disappoint, that's why I keep my expectations so low".
At first this statement seems intensely negative, and perhaps unhealthy. But in all honesty, if I could keep my expectations low I would never be disappointed. And when you invest too much into a person, an idea, a movie even - you will likely get left high and dry! BUT IF you can refrain from harboring expectation, you just might be able to find satisfaction in everything at face value. Like S. Darko. Like the flawed people we encounter in our lives.
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