DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Chris Fisher
Starring Daveigh Chase, Briana Evigan, Ed Westwick, Elizabeth Berkley
Release date Out now (region 1); 6 July 2009 (region 2)

Seven years after the events of Donnie Darko, Donnie’s sister Sam (Chase) and her friend Corey (Evigan) embark on a road trip across America. After breaking down in a small town, they become caught up in events linked to a meteorite, child abduction, time travel and the end of the world...

With its mind-bending mix of time travel, teen angst and downright oddness, Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko was a true one-off. Which makes the appearance of a sequel something of a surprise. This is not traditional franchise material.

Kelly himself has nothing to do with this follow-up, and Daveigh Chase is the only original cast member to return, but S. Darko nevertheless retains many of the key ingredients of the 2001 ace oddity, including worm holes, a strange rabbit figure and that book on time travel, plus stylistic touches like an effortlessly hip soundtrack (including The Chemical Brothers, The Cocteau Twins and an original score from Ed Harcourt) and elegant visuals.

Yet all of this doesn’t quite work a second time around. While director Chris Fisher ensures that this is never less than a beautiful-looking film, the rather self-conscious attempt to recapture the magic of the original often falls flat. The cut-up plot is incomprehensible, the angsty, navel-gazing dialogue is frequently wince-inducing (“We’ve both got the same holes in the heart…”) and the shots of the beautiful cast gawking at themselves in the mirror or mooching about in slo-mo is hollow stuff indeed.

Of course, in many ways you could level exactly the same arguments against Donnie Darko (and some critics did), but Kelly managed to pull it off thanks to a strange, witty script and a charismatic performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as the enigmatic Donnie. And while Chase and Evigan are fine, their characters just aren’t as interesting or as complex as Donnie, leaving the girls’ anxieties and non-step fretting feeling little more than whiny teen angst.

As well as Kelly’s original film, you can spot the influence of David Lynch flicks and Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides here. But it lacks the deadpan comedy of the former or the atmosphere of the latter, leaving S. Darko feeling like a magic realist version of The OC. Which, to a certain audience, will probably sound awesome. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 5/10
A stylish but vacant exercise in teen angst.