The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Ashton Kutcher turns his hand to serious acting after years of acting like himself and getting paid for it, and is surprisingly quite capable.

Kutcher plays Evan Treborn, an average student who discovers that he has the ability to re-visit his past and change the future by reading his childhood journals, which he was advised to write by his doctor after a string of strange experiences.

However as the tagline states if you 'change one thing' you 'change everything', and not always for the better.

I have to say that whilst I did enjoy the film, I was expecting a lot more from it, mainly due to the fact that writer director team Eric Bress and partner J Mackaye Gruber, who wrote the excellent 'Final Destination 2' were full of praise for their film.

The idea has been used before but does act as a good basis for a story, although the film does rely a tad too heavily on the hopes of audience belief, because if you don't accept the rules created by the film, then you will undoubtedly find all sorts of flaws and plot holes (as many critics have).

The film does have moments of real power such as a traumatic experience involving the ever filthy (characterwise) Eric Stoltz, which acts as the set up for all of the problems later in the character's lives, and some very good effects work.

I did start to lose interest by the time Evan's mother ended up in hospital as it was in danger of becoming comical, but the film rather quickly sorted itself out and provided a satisfactory conclusion.

The cast give very good performances, especially Jesse James as a young Tommy and the conclusion does bring a tear to your eye. Although, in saying that, the conclusion is merely a more dramatic version of anything you've ever seen in a Wishmaster movie. You know, the moment when our hero realises what they have to say to make everything come undone.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Unfairly bashed by the critics, but not without it's problems, The Butterfly Effect is a good film and has the potential to become quite a cult movie by those viewers who choose to believe in it's scientific aspects.