Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant but unbearably sad, 8 Jun 2007
This is an extremely clever, moving and well acted film, and a good antidote to the type of film in which changing the past is made to appear relatively straightforward. But it packs a major sting in the tail and is not one to watch if you want to be cheered up.
The title "The Butterfly effect" is a reference to the behaviour of sensitive systems under chaos theory, and the film starts with the famous quote about how the flap of a butterfly's wings can cause a tornado on the other side of the world six months later. The film could almost have been subtitled "Or: The Law of Unintended Consequences."
The central character is Evan, a boy whose father and grandfather died in mental hospitals and who appears to have inherited a strange condition from them. Evan is portrayed brilliantly as a young adult by Ashton Kutcher, as a 7-year old by Logan Lerman, and as a teenager by John Patrick Amedori.
As a boy Evan has blackouts at times of extreme stress when he does things which can be very strange and scary, and then has no memory of them. To try to help with this, his mother (Melora Walters) encourages him to keep a daily journal.
Evan grows up to become a brilliant student, and then discovers than by reading his diaries and concentrating he can send his consciousness, including his adult memories, back to the time he was reading about. The viewer eventually realises that the blackouts are the times he sent his mind back to.
After the suicide of his childhood friend Kayleigh (played as an adult by Amy Smart) Evan sends his mind back to one of the first traumatic events, which he correctly identifies as the start of the process which put Kayleigh on the path to despair and premature death. At first it appears that he has succeeded in transforming her life for the better - but then a side effect of his actions causes something else to go horribly wrong.
Each time Evan tries to go back to undo either one of the original mistakes of his life or the harmful results of his previous meddling, the butterfly effect - and the law of unintended consequences - means that a fresh disaster occurs. Evan does sometimes succeed in saving someone's life or happiness, but only at the price of devastating repercussions for someone else.
All three actors who play Evan bring him to life brilliantly, and the acting of the rest of the cast is also excellent. Direction, action and special events are first rate and the pace works very well: there is inevitably quite a lot of repetition but it doesn't make the film boring because you're looking out for the changes or the explanation. And this film is so much more plausible and grown-up than most time-travel movies. But it really does deliver a kick at the end.
There was a "sequel" made a couple of years later called "The Butterfly effect 2" with a different cast of characters, and in which the central character has a very similar condition to Evan. However, everyone I know who has watched them both says that the sequel is not nearly as good.
Some great extras on the disc, particularly to sequences in which academics and film makers are interviewed about Chaos theory and about why we are fascinated by time travel stories.
I can strongly recommend this as long as you're not looking for something sweet and cheerful.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Butterfly Effect, 29 Jul 2004
Despite mixed reviews prior to seeing this, I thought this film was an absolute gem. The cast were well introduced at the start and you were led thru the film with mysterious gaps which were filled later on, shocking the audience at times. Subject matter was occasionally difficult but this made it all the more believeable in our hero's responses. Anything that offers a temporal paradox allows the mind to fulfil the 'whatif' question. It gets you thinking but this movie was difficult to 2nd guess which in my view makes for a great and unpredictable film rather than one where I'm climbing the walls waiting for it to end so I can get on with my life. Enjoy!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a surprise!, 9 Sep 2004
I had actually never heard of this movie before I saw it in my local supermarket when I was living in America. I read the back of the box and got the basic idea of the storyline, but I couldn't believe any movie with Ashton Kutcher as the lead role could take itself seriously. While I've always enjoyed the other things he did, I didn't believe he could pull this one off.I was completely wrong. Kutcher pulls this one off with incredible ease, it's almost as if this is the kind of role he was supposed to play and just got sucked into silly comedy. The DVD I bought acually had the director's cut on it as well. I honestly don't know if the region 2 version has this, but if not, you're not really missing out. The original cut is quite a mind boggling experience, with the "what ifs" and the "should haves" that everybody experiences in life being shown in a context where they can be changed by Kutcher's character. He's able to momentarily travel back to a moment in his past by reading journals he's been keeping since he was 7. This gives him the ability to play God, but the uncertainty factor, or chaos theory as its more commonly known, plays havoc with his life and those of his friends. The directors cut takes this to a different plain, introducing a few shocking and disturbing scenes (especially the end), so I'd steer clear of this one. Buy this movie. You absolutely wont regret it!
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