20 Best Science Fiction Movies Released Since 2000

Once upon a time, Richard Kelly was the next big thing: the young writer-director was poised to become a major player in the US film industry, before his career faltered, hiccupped and flatlined. But while Kelly’s descent into obscurity remains puzzling to most of us, the reason he found the spotlight in the first place is not.

Sci-fi psychological thriller Donnie Darko announced Kelly’s career in a big way, setting a new standard for this kind of filmmaking on a budget, capturing the zeitgeist, and scoring awards and nominations left, right and centre. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal in his breakthrough role as the titular Donnie, a sleepwalking teenager who fatefully avoids getting crushed by a stray jet engine, and whose life begins to unfold in the aftermath as he is haunted by man-size bunny Frank (James Duval) who prophesises the coming end of the world – in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds.

What sets Donnie Darko apart is that it manages to meaningfully engage with time travel, dimensional vortices, alternate realities, premonition, fate and apocalypse, within what is essentially an indie, emo, mumblecore film. The film made Jake a star, Donnie an anti-hero icon, and while the mechanics of what actually happens take many watches to really unpack, even if you don’t understand the film in its entirety, it’s a hell of a ride.