Ashton Kutcher stars as a young man struggling with his past as he unravels a series of shocking truths about this childhood circle of friends.
'The Butterfly Effect', though it stems from an interesting idea, winds up in the end leaving this reviewer rather disinterested.
It asks the perennial questions: "What if...? What if I could change one moment in my past? What would be the consequences of these fatal actions?" and doing so the film proceeds to offer varying alternative answers for our luckless protagonist, Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher), which by degrees, become more implausible and facile.
As this film relied so heavily on the acting performances of children, the casting director ought to have been fired, as the actors in this film were at most times poor at best. Their collective performances are one dimensional, lacking any dynamics or group chemistry, not a single one has the charisma to invite sympathy from the audience leaving the crucial question any viewer must ask: "So what...?" Either they were incapable of being directed or the directing partnership of Eric Bress and J. Mackaye Gruber were incapable of directing children.
Ashton Kutcher"s performance in a pivotal and "serious" role is literally deplorable; and the presence of bohemian facial hair is not enough to give him character, or the air of a young man dealing with the psychological pressures of controlling the fate of himself and all those he loves. Judging by his performance in "The Butterfly Effect", Kutcher will most likely never shake off the character of "That 70s Show"s" goofy, bungling, dumbass "Kelso" until that particular generation has passed away - then perhaps it might be more appropriate for Kutcher to once again contemplate "serious" acting.
It wasn"t until the final credits rolled that I realized the script had been written by the same pair that brought us the turgid teen thriller sequel "Final Destination 2"; then my gnawing frustration and disappointment in the film became at once intelligible. It occurs to me that Bress and Mackaye have a preoccupation with the fictional possibilities of evading fate, or mutating one"s future by means of adulterating one"s past, but I would wholeheartedly suggest the pair comprehend the complexity of these issues in their own minds before burdening the world with their next script.
The only salient point the film actually raises is that of child abuse and childhood trauma, its aftermath, and repercussions in adulthood; but these issues are given neither the time and space nor the dignity and solemnity they demand.
Overall "The Butterfly Effect" felt less like a movie than an overly long TV episode of "The Outer Limits" or the "Twilight Zone"; indeed the film itself seems to become all too conscious of the fact that it is too long and unevenly paced to sustain itself and rushes headlong like a barrel over Niagara towards its conclusion; which is neither satisfactory nor in keeping with the film"s disordered narrative logic.
In summary "The Butterfly Effect" is an example of how an initially interesting idea with so much potential can be frittered away like the life of a seemingly insignificant butterfly, by being trampled and crushed into nothingness by clumsy and inadequate execution.
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Psychological thriller starring Ashton Kutcher as Evan Treborn, a young man who, from an early age, has struggled with his disturbing childhood memories. As a boy, Evan was encouraged by a psychologist to keep a journal detailing the events of his day-to-day life, and now, as a young adult, he revisits these journals to figure out the truth about events that ended in tragedy for his childhood friends Lenny (Elden Henson) and Tommy (William Lee Scott), and the childhood sweetheart Kayleigh (Amy Smart) with whom he is still in love. Evan makes the incredible discovery that he can use the notebooks as a vehicle enabling him to journey back into the past so that his adult mind occupies the body of his childhood self. He begins a series of attempts to re-direct history with the aim of saving his friends and loved ones from the traumas that have befallen them. But every time Evan changes something in the past, however small, he finds when he returns to the present that his actions have had unexpected and disastrous consequences. The harder he tries to make things go right, the less able he seems to create a reality that allows him and Kayleigh to live happily ever after.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Change One Thing Change Everything A young man struggling to get over disturbing memories from his childhood discovers that he is able to travel back in time and alter events in the past However every change he makes transforms his life and that to those around him often to unexpected and disastrous consequences Actors Ashton Kutcher Melora Walters Amy Smart Elden Henson Eric Stoltz Ethan Suplee William Lee Scott & Callum Kieth RennieDirector Eric Bress & J MacKye GruberCertificate 15 years and overYear 2004Screen Widescreen 169 AnamorphicLanguages English - Dolby Digital (51)Region Region 2 - Will only play on European Region 2 or multi-region DVD players
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