Cinematography:
Matthew F. LeonettiComposer:
Michael SubyCast:
Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Melora Walters, Eric Stoltz, John Patrick Amedori, Elden Henson, Kevin G. Schmidt, Kevin Durand, William Lee Scott, Ethan Suplee (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
A young man struggling to access sublimated childhood memories finds a technique that allows him to travel back to the past. Occupying his childhood body, he is able to change history. But every change he makes has unexpected consequences. (New Line Cinema)
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Reviews (13)
The psycho beginning aside, this is a nice and sensual film. However, I was quite confused in the first few minutes and had absolutely no idea who was getting the beating. Then it got clearer and I couldn't stop staring. Ashton Kutcher played like we haven't seen him before and Amy Smart was a great partner for him. I experienced that killing feeling of helplessness with them to the maximum. And it scares me just to think that someone would sacrifice themselves for me like that without me ever knowing about it. I even shed a tear at the end. Nice, 4 stars.
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This film’s numerous visual tricks, incredibly high-octane plot and mysterious atmosphere, supported by a beautifully mysterious and emotional soundtrack, will captivate you and give you a powerful and moving experience. But if you use your head more actively, you will repeatedly get tripped up. Some of the twists are solely for effect and diminish the sense of what happened before (why didn’t he return more times to that one moment and shape the circumstances so that everything would be perfect?!). Actually, the whole film is a less sophisticated version of Twelve Monkeys, but revolving not around the end of the world, but around love.
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I was definitely expecting more from this film, at least based on the reviews, the word of mouth and the audience reviews. But after it was over, I thought it was pretty obvious how this was going to end, so what's so bombastic about it? It's definitely a good subject, but they could have gleaned a whole lot more from it.
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Where its genre brothers (for instance, 12 Monkeys or Donnie Darko) in their complexity are just starting to warm up they’re wheels of logic, The Butterfly Effect with its “plot based and time paradox" line are still standing at a red light. Even so, it’s still a good movie, especially in the first half. After that the screenwriters (and, because they also directed it, the directors too) start running out of breath and ideas, while Kutcher runs out of talent. The whole movie starts to sink into the waters of mediocrity, with one cliché after another, and only thanks to the timely ending it didn’t sink even lower.
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Unlike Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Butterfly Effect impressed me much more with its atmosphere, amazing momentum and brisk direction. On the other hand, the sophistication of the love line is weaker. The idea of changing memory is in fact identical, and its elaboration probably deserved more depth (I will judge it after another viewing) and fewer TV crayons for the love scenes. However, the game with causal lines is done very clearly, cleanly and breathtakingly. The constant twists, the editing machine gun fire and changes in space-time perspectives literally froze me and forced me to watch this unconventional love sci-fi conspiracy whilst holding my breath. Of the actors, I was quite interested in the young boy version of Evan, who resembles Danny from The Shining, and not only visually. His transformation into his adult self-reflection gave me a pleasant chill. The two directors created a very significant and successful film. The Butterfly Effect is one of the top sci-fi dramas made in the USA. That is also why I forgive it for the happy ending...
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