The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect starts so with a tense scene about Ashton Kutcher hiding under a table with a notebook.  We then rewind to his childhood and teenage years to discover he’s been having blackouts and terrifying visions all this time. It doesn’t help that one of his teen friends is a psychopath. After a particularly traumatic event, he leaves his girlfriend behind with a message to her “I’ll come back for you”. Fast forward to college, and we’re off to the races.

You know, I have always despised Ashton Kutcher – I’m not a fan of the sort of dumb shaggy pretty boy he usually plays. Unexpectedly, this is different. Haunted by the memories, and clinging to his journal, Kutcher displays a greater range than I’ve ever seen him show in any other role. There is genuine fear and despair as he remembers those terrible things that happened during his blackouts – things chronicled in his journal. And as he concentrates on the memories from the journal, suddenly…  something in that memory changes… and when that happens, everything changes.

As horrifying as it is, as much as it feels like a thriller, this film is science fiction and not really horror. It’s brilliant and has laid the groundwork for a lot of things we have seen since– especially for those of us who watch the Flash. It’s everything Donnie Darko wishes it could be. The end was heart wrenching and now I want more… I understand why we got to sequels.

But is that a good thing? We’ll see shortly.

Advertisement