The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 psychological thriller film with a second and third part (although, after watching this I would be so dissatisfied to see a remake of it because it was really great in my opinion).
Basic Plot (this is what's on the back of the box, I think it sums up the movie pretty well, much better than I would have):
A young man struggling to get over disturbing memories from his childhood discovers that he is able to travel back in time and alter events in his past. However, every change he makes transforms his life and that of those around him, often to unexpected and disastrous consequences.
Ashton Kutcher as Evan Treborn (I've never been so amazed by a character since Holden Caulfield!!! I mean really great acting. Ashton never ceases to amaze me.)
Amy Smart as Kayleigh Miller
Elden Henson as Lenny Kagan
William Lee Scott as Tommy Miller
Other than these four childhood friends, they have not only their college actors, but their teen and child counterparts.
Melora Walters as Andrea Treborn (her voice annoyed me so much)
SO...I think I just watched one of the most amazing movies ever! So I see online that some websites give it really bad reviews and some give it decent reviews. I'll tell you why I think it's so amazing. I felt like I was there. Really good movies differ for me, but it's usually almost always good for me if I feel like I was there with them experiencing things as they were happening. Because I felt like I was there in the movie, everything was really sad to me. To be honest, it's a really depressing movie! You see all the problems these four kids have and it makes you really hurt. I think this movie has got multiple themes, probably many more than I was able to find! It's a great movie to have a talk about with someone. I think people can take a lot of things from it.
The reason why people probably give it a bad review is because this. We see all these problems that occur and eventually Evan grows up of course, but it's one of those movies where when he goes into the alternate reality, you say, "What just happened?" I did, too. When it happened, I said to myself, "This was so good. Please don't let this be one of those movies that tries to blow your mind by confusing you." Those movies are stupid. This movie was not. The continuity of the alternate realities was clear and flowed well all the way to the end. Which great ending by the way, but I have no idea if I saw the normal ending. My DVD had two options, 'Director's Cut' or 'Theatrical Version' and I chose Director's Cut, so I think my ending might have been different. Let's not take that into account though. The ending I saw was really good and although it made me very sad, it only made sense for the circumstances the film was in.
I think what everyone can take from this is that everyone has problems. Everyone goes through things, maybe even perhaps (and I think this is especially true), everyone has a mental illness. It can be minor, but in this movie, all the kids were really messed up and that's what the main focus is on really, which brings me to my next point.
Once Evan is older he sees that all the things that happened were due to all of these horrible things going on in their lives. He wanted to change it for the better. Very sweet in perspective, but you can't change what's already happened. It's a very universal theme, "You can't change history." That's exactly why the film got it's name. The butterfly effect is that even changing something small can make it turn into something big. Evan was only thinking of how he could change things for the better, not realizing what it could do. I feel like people can look at this, especially people who are fatalists, as a way to say, "Everything happens for a reason."
Two biggest things I could take from it, there's one at the end, but I would spoil it for you by talking about it. Also, I still have no idea if I watched the normal ending or not.
Other than what I took from the film, the acting was really good, like I said Ashton never ceases to amaze me, but the other actors, too. They were great. I think it also deserves to be in the genre of thriller, because a lot of that stuff was making me just want to take the characters out, because I was in suspense to what would happen next. I was either saying, "no don't do it" or "I can't believe it" or "oh my gosh, how horrible." I was even cringing at times. This is typical of me while watching movies, but just the way the movie made me feel...it definitely left an impact.
I have nothing more to say except please watch it and if you do or have please tell me how you feel about it while it's still fresh in my mind. Oh, I also give this movie an 8.8/10
Here's the trailer! I didn't watch the trailer fully, but the beginning makes it look sucky, in fact the whole stereotypical movie trailer narrator voice makes it look sucky. lol, don't pay attention to the trailer, just watch it!
