An Intense, Chaotic Story
Normally I wouldn't like a movie like this, due to it's pure violence and often disturbing scenes. If it hadn't been for a great story and compelling characters, I'm sure I would have hated this one. 8MM is a great example of a movie like this. It delved into the underworld of pornography, which is a place I'd rather not see unless it's for a damn good reason. Unfortunately, there was no good reason in that movie. The Butterfly Effect is different, as it uses these disturbing scenes to build (and break down) the characters.
Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) suffered from blackouts during his childhood, all coming at a crucial peak of stress or action. He's waiting for a blockbuster to blow apart a mailbox, the next minute he's seemingly running for his life through the woods. His mother decides it's best that he leaves the town, where he leaves behind Kayleigh Miller (Amy Smart), though he promises to come back for her. Well he does, many years later when he's in college. Evan questions her about a particularly bad memory, to try and fill in the blanks. She erupts, and kills herself the next day. Evan is heart broken, but remembers his promise to come back for her. As Evan reads childhood journals, he finds away to go back in time, and change things the way he sees fit. Maybe if he can change certain events, he can bring back Kayleigh into a better life. What follows can only be described as a nightmare. Evan shifts through multiple realities, only to mess it up every time. Is it possible to bring Kayleigh into a better life, or is he wasting his brain power, which is being overloaded every time he shifts. The ending felt like a cop out, mainly because it wasn't consistent with the rest of the movie. It may leave you with a good feeling, but you get the idea that Evan didn't learn anything from what he did, therefore, his character never goes as far as it should.
For his first serious role, and for a person widely regarded as a jackass, Ashton Kutcher does a rather good job. He shouldn't be nominated for any awards, but it's not as bad as I'm sure many expected. His character here is about as far from Kelso as you can get, there isn't a single trace of slapstick. It's a good movie that raises some good questions, but really doesn't answer many. For a non-horror movie, it's much more frightening than anything released in the past few months.