I think I finially figured it out!

[shand]

okay... ive watched this twice and i have the basic premises of the movie plot however there are some things im unsure of :
1)in the beginning of the movie wen Donnie first gets called by Frank is he in the present day or
is he getting a glimpse of what his life would be like if he hadnt died from the engine
2)if it is in the present day why does Frank want him to do all those things...to make his life even worse (i.e- meeting gretchen...eventually she dies)
3) why is Donnie laughing in the very end of the movie in his bed?
if anyone can answer these questions for me that would be great please try to keep ur answers as simple as possible lol Thanks a bunch

[Twitchmonkey]

1. I think he's in the present day

2. Because donnie isnt supposed to exist in the tangent universe that was created and he has to die or return to the primary universe.....thats the best I can do right now

3. Perhaps because he thinks he'll be in heaven or perhaps because he knows he's saving his family and gretchen....

these are just a few of the hudreds of intrepretations though

[ontologyofdarko]

A lot of it seems to just deal with Roberta Sparrow's The Philosophy of Time Travel...The whole manipulated living and dead and the person who is meant to "fix" the tangent universe...Donnie wasn't supposed to live, everything that happened to him, all the bad things seem to be what would have happened if he had lived. Maybe they are the reasons that he was supposed to die, so that those things would not happen. The only thing that gets me is why the primary universe and tangent universe are dependent upon one another. And how in one senario the tangent universe would form, but not in the other, b/c Donnie's death occurs b/c of the existence of the Tangent universe, but if he dies then the Tangent universe doesn't form and he won't die...Confusing...

[Twitchmonkey]

I think the tangent universe has always existed but a rip occured in it and a piece of the tangent universe fell into the primary universe and he had to repair the rip

[renee]

ok, i understand what you guys are saying, and most of the plot, but i have two big questions:
first, how does donnie eventually feel about "God", "God's channel" and so on.
second, the philosophy of time travel mentions artifacts and everything... so does that mean donnie had to return the jet engine to the portal at then end of the movie? is it implied but not seen?

[IIVII]

renee: You can assume that Donnie has made his choice how he feels about God in the end of the movie. He no longer fears death. You see the portal open up and the engine fall back in it at the end of the movie.

[reignman]

Guest-shand said:

okay... ive watched this twice and i have the basic premises of the movie plot however there are some things im unsure of :
1)in the beginning of the movie wen Donnie first gets called by Frank is he in the present day or
is he getting a glimpse of what his life would be like if he hadnt died from the engine
2)if it is in the present day why does Frank want him to do all those things...to make his life even worse (i.e- meeting gretchen...eventually she dies)
3) why is Donnie laughing in the very end of the movie in his bed?
if anyone can answer these questions for me that would be great please try to keep ur answers as simple as possible lol Thanks a bunch

1. yep.

2. darkomovie.proboards24.com/index.cgi?board=ending&action=display&thread=1088095680

3. Because Donnie is killed by the tangent universe plane engine, he will never go out with Gretchen, and she will never be killed by Frank, and Donnie will never kill Frank. God created the wormhole so Donnie could sacrifice his life to save Gretchen and Frank's lives. Donnie also found out there was a God when he dreamed about the tangent universe. Donnie's search for an answer as to whether or not there is a God ended and he was no longer afraid of dieing, and he would have to die eventually. "I know that when the end comes there will be so much to look forward to."