The Butterfly Effect

The ending is weak, and may be the result of the filmmakers writing themselves into a corner and not wanting to conclude things in a burst of nihilistic excess. Yet, even though it's a cheat, it retains a degree of resonance.

With a surprisingly unhappy, anti-Hollywood ending that will appeal to those who like things dark.

Kutcher's performance isn't terrible, but the brilliant, bewildered, increasingly desperate Evan is the film's center, and grounding its flights of fantasy in rock-solid emotional reality is more than Kutcher can manage.

So, here's the problem with The Butterfly Effect: It's silly.

You have to, if not love, at least not mind a movie in which the very act of Ashton Kutcher reading is enough of a cosmic trauma to rip a hole in the fabric of space-time.

If you approach this movie in the right frame of mind -- that is, with total contempt -- you can still enjoy it as a comedy.

Inhabited by a genuine spirit of cruelty, both toward its characters and its audience.

"The Butterfly Effect" is a riveting psychological thriller that delves into the complexities of time travel and the consequences of altering the past. Starring Ashton Kutcher in a departure from his typical roles, the film follows the journey of Evan Treborn as he discovers his ability to rewrite history through his childhood journals. With each change he makes, Evan inadvertently sets off a chain reaction of unforeseen events, leading to increasingly dire outcomes. The nonlinear narrative keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, while exploring themes of fate, free will, and the fragility of human relationships. Director Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber craft a thought-provoking story that challenges perceptions and leaves a lasting impact. "The Butterfly Effect" is a captivating exploration of the butterfly effect phenomenon, leaving audiences contemplating the intricate web of cause and effect that shapes our lives.

Nihilistic ground hog day style movie follows an adolescent teen explore his power to revisit his own childhood through memories in his journals and adjust them relies on overly violent/dramatic consequences to accentuate the difference choices. It was almost like watching someone play through life is strange or watch the different endings in heavy rain. The dialogue is very cheesy and the nihilistic ending and themes of suicide felt inappropriate given the fickle nature of the adolescent phyche and how little the film explored anything outside Evans world. Do others even matter? "Oh right they matter more than me so why should I even exist" seems a bit extreme to me. As a sci-fi fan though it was entertaining to watch the directors cut and see all the choices play even as I cringed through some of the corny lines. All the steps where Donny darko got it right, butterfly effect got it wrong. All that said I definitely had fun watching along the rollercoaster we are on and it definitely felt like a massive inspiration to life is strange videogame series for sure.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

this movie is probably the only one with this huge **** between critics and user... I do not agree with either ... the movie is not as bad as critics portrait it but it's also not good... just ok, I could watch it til the end and somewhat enjoyed it... story is not bad...

there's dead loop in the story. Evan can travel time only if he has his diaries. But the reason he wrote diaries is because he suffered from memory loss when he was a child. And the reason he suffered from memory loss is because the future-him travelled back to the past-him's body. So imagine the original case: he grows up without memory loss, then he has no reason to write diaries, therefore he won't be able to time travel and cause himself a memory loss.