The Butterfly Effect

The Gist: Evan has suffered from blackouts since he was a little kid. As a teenager, he realizes that whenever he's reading from his old journals, he is able to travel back in time. When he does so, he can change events, which both alter the future and cause his blackouts. He tinkers with the past to try and undo the unpleasant experiences he endured as a child, but unforeseen events along the altered timeline keep messing things up in his life. Meanwhile, the ever more frequent time-traveling is causing him brain injuries. Finally, he decides to put an end to the randomness by taking a drastic measure.

The Butterfly Effect is a movie I picked because of its intriguing premise without expecting too much, and I was pleasantly surprised. The fairly standard topic of time travel informs an original mind-bender that keeps you guessing on what can go wrong next.

I actually have to hand it to cute-dude Ashton Kutcher, who doesn't really strike me as a talented actor, given that he does a pretty good job.

The Bottom Line: The Butterfly Effect turned out to be a far better film than I expected, so I would heartily recommend it. I noticed that they made two sequels, but they apparently suck, so I don't think I'll check them out, even though the leads seem astonishingly hot!

Grade: 8