The Butterfly Effect (film; 2004)

[ movie film ]

The Butterfly Effect (2004; director's cut DVD)
My rating: 4.6

Note: I watched the "director's cut" version on DVD, which is different than the version released in theaters. I have not seen the theatrical release which is also on the same DVD.

For some reason my recollection of reviews for this film were rather negative, so I began watching this science fiction fantasy with trepidation and low expectations.

Therefore I was amazingly pleased at how well done this time travel fantasy becomes.

This story begins with long development sequences of glimpses from a boy's life into his early teen years. We see a series of events, most with his school friends, where he blacks out, unable to recall what has happened. Every blackout occurs during some tragic episode - we miss what exactly happens as we share his blackout viewpoint. His single mother desperately has him examined by doctors, to no avail. One of his therapists suggests he start writing journals to try and discover the source of his problems.

Eventually we jump forward to the young man in college, it has been several years without any more black outs, he is a bright and successful student. He still writes in his journals as a habit. As circumstances evolve in his student life, he starts reading some past journal entries and begins to have profoundly vivid flashbacks to the blackout events. Only this time he sees what happens when he was blacked out. These disturbing "trips" back to his past cause him to seek out his past school mates, to try and verify what he is seeing, or is he hallucinating. One of these visits to a girl he may have loved causes the woman to commit suicide, which crushes him totally.

In a wild, desperate guess he uses his journal to "trip" back to one of his blackouts and he discovers his mind has traveled back in time to possess his child's body, and he can change his and others futures. His first "fix" saves the woman from suicide, but ...

And that's the beginning of his wild ride through time as he tries to correct the unintended consequences of each of his "fixes" to improve the lives of those he loves.

The means of his time travel are never explained, being a "supernatural" phenomena, although his brain appears to be evolving with each trip, revealed by brain scans.

There are some nasty surprises, for himself and others, as he continues to try to "fix" the alternate outcomes of his time travel tampering with their past lives.

While the story has evidence that the final outcome would not have to be as tragic as it becomes, this tale decides to tell a very depressing end (with a bizarre conclusion) for the time traveler.

This tale is exceptionally well plotted, highly consistent within the scope of the story. The director's narration track (on DVD) is worth listening to, as the pair of writer/directors tell us how they brought this film to production. Listen after you've seen the film.

Really good science fiction cinema is a rarity, and this is certainly one of the better efforts that doesn't treat it's audience as if you're drooling idiots - you have to watch and think about what you are seeing. With very sparse special effects, they create a gripping and escalating thriller with an ensemble set of child and adult characters you can authentically care about. Performances by all the players is very good. They do an excellent job of matching the child versions to their adult counterparts.

The film takes it's time to set up the plot and characters, which pays off for the whole film.

If you like serious, adult science fiction speculation this is one of the best.

Very well done. Be sure to see the "director's cut".