Where did Frank come from? (Spoilers)

[Steve]

I've seen this movie plenty of times and formed my own opinion on the story and ending, but there's one thing I can't figure out.

When Frank wakes Donnie up at the start of the film and meets him at the golf course, where has he come from? Is that the same Frank who dropped Donnie's sister off earlier, or is it Frank sent from the future or something?

I don't think it could be Frank in the present time, firstly because he wouldn't know he had to save Donnie, and secondly because at the end we see that Frank had not made his rabbit suit yet. So it must be Frank from the future... So are there two Franks?

Apologies if this is obvious to everybody else, it's just never appeared clear to me.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Steve

[Frenzal]

Yeah there's a Frank in the primary universe, and then there's a time travelling Frank from the tangent universe.

[CenterSun]

frank is dead in the future and is a messager for god.

frank is used to make donnie relize the stiuation he is in and how to fix it.

what frank gets out of it is being able to live again by not being shot by donnie as donnie is dead aslong as frank is sucessful in getting donnie to stay in bed.

the problem some of you may pick out of my story is " but why doesnt frank just let donnie sleep?" the anwser is because the disturbance in the timeline of god was caused when donnie sleepwalked. so frank had to wake him so that donnie would owe his life to frank and so frank could get donnie to do anything he needed him to do.

[Frenzal]

The disturbance wasn't created when Donnie sleepwalked, it was created when the artifact crossed universes.
And Franks the manipulated dead sent to guide Donnie to the point where he sends the engine back to the primary universe to save existence blah blah blah.

[ElHeftismo25]

Actually, in the Director's Commentary, the Tangent Universe starts at the stroke of midnight on Oct.2nd in the Primary Universe. So, it does start pre-engine falling. But seriously, I'm not obsessed or anything!!!

[just another fan]

also, in the commentary, they mention that frank is not getting donnie to stay in bed to die, when frank drives away at the end of the movie, after letting elizabeth off, he toots his horn, telling donnie that they did it, they changed the future to fix things. he's actually trying to get donnie out of bed, but he refuses and in the end dies.

[Daniel Romero]

i think your right

[Syx]

Is this something that was only showed in the director's cut? I can't remember Frank trying to get Donnie's attention, and that idea doesn't seem to coincide with the 'waking up after the dream sequence' that shows Frank feeling around his eye. That suggests Frank doesn't have much of a lucid memory of it - certainly not enough for him to warn Donnie about the engine falling. And if what you're saying is true, then normal universe Frank now has memories not only of Donnie shooting him in the tangent universe, but also of the work (as a... ghost) he did with Donnie guiding him through the tangent universe.

[Dave M]

If the jet engine keeps crossing universes how does anything get repaired? The Jet engine is still an "artifact" the 2nd time it crosses over at the end of the movie. I believe that it was Donnie's fate to die that night. When he veered away from "God's Plan" he crossed over into the tangent universe. That's why God used the living and the dead to manipulat Donnie to pull the jet engine off and go back in time to his room the night he should have died. The conversation W/ his science teacher deals with the dangers of escaping your own fate. I heard the Director comment on Frank trying to warn Donnie about the engine but it doesn't make sense and the director acknowledges that the script doesn't have difinitive answers because it's a time travel story and it can never make complete sense.

[Syx]

I guess what was really confusing me about it was, wouldn't this put realworld Frank right outside the house when the engine hit too? Or at the very least driving away when it happened - I'm sure he would've heard it and went back to see what happened. After an incident like that I find it hard to believe he could just go home and go to sleep. (assuming he has his dream sequence AFTER the engine falls)

[Zarathustra]

I think the Frank Donnie`s communicating with doesn`t really exist, only in Donnie`s mind. Many people think schizophrenia (I`m not sure that`s the correct spelling, but english is not my native language, so please forgive me for any mistakes) is the ability of some people to see into other timescales or dimensions. If Donnie IS indeed sick (gifted?) as the doctor thinks he might see the future and this takes him off his determined path of fate: he doesn`t die the night he`s supposed to. But he also sees his alternative future in the form of Frank, who lives in his "future memory" with his eye shot. Of course as a poor 3 dimensional being Donnie doesn't fully realize what these signs mean (remember: he doesn`t know the engine is about to fall on him, he just FEELS he has to get out of his room). He needs to walk all the way down his new path to understand, his fate is to die on October 2nd. I agree that he comes to an understanding about him not dying alone (God is with him), and when he understands that he is able to use what he learned and what he has a talent for, travel back in time to that moment and face what he feared so much earlier. That`s because he sees that things aren`t supposed to be in a certain way because God or somebody just wants it so, but they are that way because otherwise...hmm... let`s say "bad things" happen. I only saw the movie once (I still haven`t seen the first 20-30 minutes, just read about it), so I might be wrong, but according to what I saw (and what I read in other comments) that`s what I think. Anyway, everybody`s free to disagree. Na viszlàt!

[valo03]

in my opinion the movies about faith.....
The whole thing is set up to teach donnie faith. He kills frank in the first cycle and its gods plan to send him back in time to teach this to donnie. Frank goes back in time to guide donnie on the steps of this process and to apologise too donnie for killing his girlfriend. So there would have been two franks in the world, the frank who is creating the costume and while ultimatly kill donnies gf and the one apologising for the events that the other will ultimatly do....

[Alex Naylor]

In my opinon the Jet engine is symbolic in the fact that it means that the film from when the first jet engine crashed to the second actually happened ,i.e the jet engine is the link proving that Donnie is a true super hero for saving the world. He did wreck the school ,he did burn down jim Cunninghams house and the theory of time travel also exists as well. The jet engine is the entire poit to the film ,it relates to the realism in the film ,that is the reason why it is sooo good

[Papa Piper]

I think that at the beginning of the movie, donnie wakes up from a dream, of what will happen to him in the future, when he gets out of bed and doesn't die. He then manifests Frank as an evil rabbit in his mind, knowing that he will eventually kill Gretchen.

[reignman]

Guest-Papa said:

I think that at the beginning of the movie, donnie wakes up from a dream, of what will happen to him in the future, when he gets out of bed and doesn't die. He then manifests Frank as an evil rabbit in his mind, knowing that he will eventually kill Gretchen.

I disagree. POTT never mentions primary universe dreams in the tangent universe. Frank may be imagined, but then Donnie would have to already know everything that he has to do in order to save the world. Donnie didn't know who Frank was either.