I didn’t get round to seeing this one when it was in the cinemas[1], even though it sounded like the kind of thing I’d enjoy. Anyway, I eventually got round to buying it on DVD and watched it last week. Ashton Kutcher stars as Evan Treborn, a young man whose life has been plagued by mysterious blackouts. One day, he starts to read the journals he has kept since childhood and finds that he can move back in time and change what happened. The tagline of the movie is “Change one thing - change everything”, and that’s what happens to Evan and his friends. As he keeps trying to make things better by changing the past, a new present is created, each worse than the last. Eventually, he makes one final, drastic change to his past…
What’s interesting about The Butterfly Effect is the way the main characters change each time Evan changes the past - the actors have the challenge of playing something like four different roles each, and make a superb job of it. Each time Evan wakes up, he has to adjust to a new reality - some more disorienting and disturbing than others.
The movie is visually impressive, as well as being rather more intelligent than the average Hollyweird production. There are brilliant effects for Evan’s journeys back in time, and for the memory flashbacks he experiences when he wakes up.
Thrilling, intriguing, thought provoking. A good movie that I’ll need to watch a few more times, as I’m sure I missed some details the first time. If you liked Donnie Darko[2], you should like this too.
[1] This happens a lot 
[2] And if you didn’t, what the heck is wrong with you? 