Would you change your past?. Review on The Butterfly Effect Movie

Ashton Kutcher of That 70's show and Dude where's my car? fame stars in this film, which is touted as his big leap from idiot comedy to serious drama. However, this movie is basically a teen thriller, so I don?t think it was that much of a stretch for Kutcher. He does get to show various levels of emotion ranging from the comic to the traumatic but fails to impress.

Amy Smart's role as Kayleigh demands more from her as her characters undergoes severe changes throughout the film. Fortunately, it's not the acting that endears the viewer to this film but the theme of the movie.

The concept of the movie has evolved from Chaos Theory. What is Chaos Theory? ?The flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done.

So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to happen, does.? Basically, it means that a single flapping of a butterfly?s wing can trigger a tornado halfway around the planet.

The film takes this concept and adds time travel to it. We all wish we could go back and right our wrongs. What if you could undo a past mistake? Would you do it? What consequences would you face? Will it make your life better? How does a single event change your life completely? That in a nutshell, is what Butterfly Effect is all about.

The movie starts with Evan as a college student who has experienced several blackouts in his memory of his childhood. We are shown flashback sequences with a younger Evan unable to explain his actions due to these gaps in his memory. He is advised by his doctors to keep a journal to record his memories. As an adult college student, Evan dusts out his journals and is transported back in time by simply reading them.

He tries to piece together the missing blocks of his memory with this discovery. In wanting to help better the lives of his friends, especially that of Kayleigh, our hero goes back and forth in time undoing or doing a deed that drastically alters his life and those around him. Every time, something isn?t quite the way Evan wants it to be as the changes he makes to his past have unintended consequences in the present, so he keeps going back to fix it. And try as he might, Evan finds that he has absolutely no control on what transpires when he alters a memory. It?s interesting to watch the complete transformation the core characters undergo with each visit to the past. This is what drives the film, the anticipation of what?s going to transpire next.

Like most time travel movies, you realise that somethings could not have happened, at least not logically. It takes a really good script to explain everything and still manage to keep us in awe. Back to the Future movies had that quality. Buttefly effect will probably never secure a place in the annals of classic time travel movies but it?s still a good teen thriller. Banking on the backwards story telling method to add complexity to a relatively simple plot, the film does entertain successfully. As with most reverse plotting stories, new information previously untold are revealed with each journey in his time tripping escapade.

The DVD has the director?s cut which ends the movie as Evan goes back and kills himself in his mother?s womb. Fortunately, the screen version has a better conclusion and it even manages to steer clear of the cliched hollywood ending.

The special effects are simple but effective. Fast camera action shows memories and events zipping past him as he dives in and out of his past.

The film is not suitable for all audiences as there?s violence, drug abuse, prostitution, child pornography and animal cruelty. The latter two, although only implied might still be uncomfortable for some.