Everyone has those moments in their lives they want to go back and fix. For instance, once while sitting front row at a wrestling event, I sat down and my cheap wooden chair shattered, sending me clear to the floor in front of a few thousand people. Yeah, I want that back. Evan Treborn has a few bigger issues than that he has to deal with in the "Butterfly Effect," a unique thriller based off some real scientific theories.
Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) blacks out during some rather awful moments in his life. When he comes back, he cannot recall anything that happened. As he grows up, he learns that by reading a journal he kept since he was seven, he actually has the ability to change what happened on that day. Unfortunately, it doesn't just change him, but everyone else's lives around him, sometimes with disastrous results.
As with any time travel film, the plot holes are huge if you stop to think. "Butterfly Effect" doesn't really give you that time. It's relentlessly paced, especially as the climax nears and things really start falling apart for Evan. It's intriguing to think just how one act, regardless of how important it may have seemed, can change everything. That's interesting enough to draw you in early and keep you right where the filmmakers want you.
Really the key to enjoyment here is the ending. Depending on which version you watch (this disc has two, the director's cut sporting an alternate ending and six additional minutes), the ending has a completely different feel. The director's cut is atypical of the usual Hollywood fluff and it works so much better. It keeps with the rather dark edge of the film and it's a refreshing change from the norm.
Kutcher is fine in this role, though many others have bashed his performance. He looks terrified when he finally realizes what exactly it is he can do and not much else is required. It makes the absurd yet engaging premise as believable as it can be.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
great review Matt. i have to say, i found the film utterly awful. Incredibly enjoyable, though, as only the truly awful can be.
2 - Matt Paprocki
Ok, there are rules. You can't post a comment like that without giving a reason. I totally bought the premise and got sucked right in. Going on movie logic, it works.
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
It wasn't neccesarily the thinking behind the film that i found risable, more the utterly shitty, shambolic, vacant application of such. Nobody had a clue how to convey any emotion of any sort. It played the same game as Aronofsky's Requiem For A Dream, ie, every tragedy piled on top of the last one just made me laugh at the absurdity of it all. How much more tragic can it get??? It was hilarious. it had all the substance of an especially shitty pop promo. and everyone seemed to think they were acting in Dawsons Creek or something. Even Eric Stoltz couldn't save it from utter gut-busting unintentional hilarity.
4 - dan
i agree that the particulary tragic circumstances the protagonist Evan sees himself in are nearing comical, however i found them more frustrating; the way it sometimes looked to all 'be right' in the flashbacks and some act of 'fate' would ruin everything and we would have to see a 20min consequence and explanation of it all. Still a good film though.