The Butterfly Effect

2004

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Melora Walters, Logan Lemari, Jesse James, John Patrick Amedori, Ethan Suplee, and Eric Stoltz

Written and Directed by: Eric Bress & J. Mackye Gruber

Sometimes a film comes along that really gets you for whatever reason even if it isn’t a huge success critically or commercially. Butterfly Effect is one of those movies for me. I’m going to concentrate on the Director’s Cut here but will mention the theatrical and alternate endings found on the DVD.

It is definitely from the George Lucas school of amazing conceptual story, not so hot on all of the scripting and execution. But like the original trilogy, the Butterfly Effect soars on that concept and some fine acting.

First off, I have to give kudos to Ashton Kutcher. Having only seen him as Kelso or Dude Where’s My Car dude, it was hard to imagine him in any kind of serious role let alone this type of serious role. And yet it works. I’m not going to exaggerate and say it’s an Oscar winning performance or anything, but it is very believability.

But there are fine performances throughout. The film follows the lives of four friends from the age of 7 to the present where they are in their early twenties. Ashton plays the adult version of the central character Evan Treborn

The story centers around the fact that Evan has blackouts and lapses in memory during stressful events. He is caught drawing a picture of himself as a murderer and is caught holding a knife at one point. We learn that his father is in an insane asylum.

He has an interesting childhood with his friends, a guy named Lenny and a brother-sister combo of Tommy and Kayleigh. Evan has interest in Kayleigh even though that enrages Tommy who has a lot of his own issues. Mostly stemming from their father who is a pedophile who likes to make kiddie porn.

Over they years they all act out in various ways where it culminates in them setting off a firework in a mailbox. Although unintenional, the houseowner and her infant daughter are caught in the blast. Later on Tommy acts out and kills Evan’s dog by putting it in a sack and lighting it on fire. Lenny is sent away for awhile and eventually Evan’s mom moves him away.

We flash forward and find Evan who is now at the age when his father supposedly went crazy. When he finds his old journals he discovers that by reading them he can tranpsort himself into the past and fill in his gaps in memory.

As we get further on we also learn that he can actually change the past as he is not just reliving the memories, he is traveling there. Maybe daddy wasn’t so crazy afterall.

The rest of the film is trial and error as he goes back several times and changes things, such as standing up to Kayleigh’s father and stopping him from molesting her to trying to save the woman and her infant.

Each time he change something he goes back and has to assimilate his memories which is causing great strain on his brain. He also finds that no matter what he does to fix things he ends up making life worse for someone else. Thus the title, the Butterfly Effect.

We get to see an analogy of what ifs for the various characters which is interesting. We also learn some interesting tidbits along the way such as the fact that Evan’s mom was pregnant three times before Evan and each resulted in a still birth. A psychic reveals to Evan that he has no lifeline and thus no soul. He shouldn’t be here. Also we learn that Kayleigh chose to stay with her father to stay close to Evan whom she had met.

At the end, Evan realizes there is only one way he can fix everything. Unfortunately the last alternate universe he created, he never wrote his journals so he fears his way back is gone forever. But when he demand that they must exist, his doctor relates the fact that his father was the same way about a supposedly ficticious photo album, Evan realizes there are other gateways back. So he gets an old home movie of his birth and transports back and while in his mother’s womb and strangles himself.

Thus everyone else lives happily ever after. Touched by a great score, the scene is beautiful and about the ultimate sacrifice one will give for the ones he loves. It works extremely well.

Unfortunately the suits wanted a more Hollywood ending for their film but I was glad to see that the writer/director team was able to find a somewhat decent compromise. Although I still wholeheartedly believe the director’s cut was the way to go, the theatrical version had Evan going back to his birthday party where he met Kayleigh, and he walks over to her and tells her he hates her and that if he ever sees her again he’d kill her whole family sending Kayleigh off running. Evan then sadly and quietly says goodbye.

We see the same basic happy scenes but the flash forward eight years and see an adult Evan walking down the streets of New York pass by an adult Kayleigh. They both hesitate and at different times turn back to look at the other as if they possibly know each other but then move on.

It still keeps the integrity of the film’s sacrifice theme without killing off the main character. It isn’t as powerful as the director’s cut though.

There were two other alternate endings that would have been awful. They both follow the theatrical ending, but in one Evan turns to follow Kayleigh as if he never learned his lesson. And even worse they both stop and turn and begin talking together giving the audience a true happy ending that the two loves would get together afterall but it totally destroys the film in my opinion.

Overall it is a great film that if you look past some execution and some not quite connecting parts, the film is vague enough in areas to let the concept shine through.

A