Movies: "The Butterfly Effect"

When I went to go see the movie, it looked good, so I wanted to see it. When it was over, I was mystified. The movie was much better than I had expected.

Story
This movie is about a man who had many troubles as a kid and when he grows up he finds a way to change the things that happened to him in his past by reading the journals he kept as a child. The problem is that each time he changes something for the better, something else goes wrong. The way it is delivered is brilliant and when I got out my mind was racing because it gave me so much to think about. The whole thing was a hell of a lot darker than I expected. Bloody brilliant story, bloody brilliant pacing.

Cinematography

Frigging incredible. Each time he goes back to his past his surroundings rumble and bend out of shape. Each time I watched it happen my mind bent along with the scenery and it really put me into the experience. The sound, I might add, is also quite good. I wouldn't normally notice something like sound but after he changes the past and wakes up in a different life his brain catches up and copies new memories over his old ones. The sound that is made when this happens just cuts into my very mind and causes me to feel the experience that is happening on screen. Fantasic things abound here.

Acting
To be honest, I didn't expect very much from Ashton Kutcher being that comes from mostly comedies but I got pleasantly surprised. The actors that played his character as younger ages were also quite good. The interesting thing about this movie is that each of the actors got to play much different roles in each of the different times that the past is changed. One of the characters goes from drunken overprotective hateful brother to charitable hardcore Christian student. The acting was ace and it all really put me into the whole experience.

Overall
This movie took my expectations, wrapped them in a bag, and chucked them into oncoming traffic for a ride they'd not soon forget. I absolutely love mend-bending movies that cause me to look at the world in a different way. This movie did not disappoint me in any way and I highly reccommend it to anyone who loves "thinker" movies.

10/10 here

Roger. Damn good movie.

I'm wondering about the picture though. What was it of?

I'm definitly seeing this movie now, I'll post again after I see it.

I saw it last night, and I fucking loved it. I only had three complaints, but honestly they're a bit weird. I agreed with some decisions mostly, but was also a little let down by them:

SPOILERS AHOY!

1) There were a few moments in the movie where I felt that the absolute horror of the situation could have been displayed in more detail. Example: Kayleigh as the crackwhore. It just seemed like the directors should have pushed that entire sequence a bit further than they did. It just seemed a little too brief. Although, it makes sense that it was so short, considering the fact that she was so apprehensive about having anything to do with him at all.

2) The ending. I was honestly hoping that the entire situation was in his mind, as the last reality-sequence was suggesting. My jaw damn near dropped to the floor when his doctor told him that there never were any journals, and that they were all just a product of his coping mehcanisms, like his ability to alter his past. Although, I did like how they achieved the ending. Had Evan and Kayleigh ended up together and there was a friggin' rainbow at the end (ala Matrix: Revolutions) I would have been pissed off. However, by cutting Kayleigh out of his life entirely, he did the honorable thing and sacrificed his ideal life so everyone else wouldn't have to suffer.

3) This correlates with the ending again, and this is the only major complaint I have with the movie. How the hell did Evan survive at the end? In the last reality-sequence his brain had suffered innumerable and inescapable amounts of damage, and in the end he's doing fine? I figure that maybe because he cut all of those horrible moments out of his life entirely by cutting Kayleigh out entirely, that he completely averted the need to alter his past at all, and thus had removed the damage from his brain completely. But, that theory is negated by the fact that he still retained all of his now-false memories after altering the present, and it's the overload of memories on his brain that was causing the damage in the first place. If anyone has further insight on this one at all, it would be greatly appreciated.

SPOILERS NO MORE!

Aside from those three things, only one of which was anything close to "major", I thought it was fantastic. All of the acting was superb (including Kutcher), the story itself was great and it will certainly have my brain working overtime for the next couple of weeks.

Well, looks like my inital thoughts on this movie was correct. Now I definitely have to see it.