Overclocked On Caffeine v.1.1

The Butterfly Effect - Director's Cut

115 minutes

If you know me, you know that love my mindfuckery. Seriously, I thrive on the stuff. Nothing better than a movie that plays with the audience, twisting their perceptions, forcing you to re-evaluate the entire plot, or a film with a storyline twisted like a coiled rope. Welcome then, to The Butterfly Effect, a film best described as Quantum Leap's troubled younger sibling.

Ashton Kutcher, better known for his part in Demi Moore That 70's Show plays Evan Treborn. As a boy, he suffers from frequent unexplained blackouts. His father suffered from the same blackouts, resulting in his being committed to a mental asylum. He is encouraged to keep a journal to try and jog his memories of these episodes. While going through them as an adult, he finds he is able to travel back to certain moments, enabling him to essentially redo or retcon moments of his life. When his childhood sweetheart commits suicide after he asks her about some of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and brother, he tries to use this ability to set things right with his friends' lives. Of course, dicking around with the timestream, as we all should know by now, is a shortcut to fucking things up royally, and Evan's good intentions lead him to redoing the events over and over again, trying to make things 'perfect'.

The Butterfly Effect was Kutcher's first major dramatic role, and he handles it well. It's easy to think of the film as a vanity project, a vehicle solely to show off his range, especially since Kutcher himself stumped up the cash to produce it, but, contrary to expectations, it's a surprise to learn he can do drama as well as idiot comedy. Evan comes across as a likeable guy, and his frustrations as his good intentions keep tumbling down around his ears are believable. There's one moment where he seems to have achieved his goal of a perfect world - his sweetheart, Keyleigh, is fine and happy, her brother isn't a sadistic monster, having turned to Jesus Christ and his best friend, committed for an accident involving a stick of dynamite, is stable and in love with the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, that girl is Keyleigh. And Evan's mother is dying of cancer. And he's got no arms. As he tells his mother he can fix everything, with a look halfway between hope, helplessness and insanity, you start to wonder how noble his goals actually are. His aim has been fulfilled - everyone's happy and bright, but it's not perfect enough, despite the fact that, considering some of the other realities included suicide, drug addiction and prison rape, this one is idilyc. IS the fact that his mother is dying his reasons for taking another trip back? Or is it that he didn't get the girl this time?

The storyline too, is solid, playing its cards close to its chest, revealing them at the right moments to greatest effect. The revelation of moments like the picture he drew as a child take on a whole new significance once you stop and realise exactly what the implications of that moment actually mean. And then there's the ending. The original version had a 'happily ever after' ending tacked on at the studio's insistence. Everyone involved went ballistic at the suggestion, as it flies in the face of the dark tone of the film. Unfortunately, the studio brought its foot down, and the movie was released with said crappy ending intact. It's weak, it's sappy, and it just feels wrong. It's be like if Fight Club ended with all the people from the Narrator's support groups coming in to stop him blowing shit up with the power of Love and Peace (oh, wait). The Director's Cut thankfully changes it back to the original ending, giving a horrific spin to a single throwaway line in the middle of the film. And dear God, it works. It's bleak in a way, oddly optimistic in another, but I guarantee you will remember it.

As it was originally released, The Butterfly Effect is a decent, but forgettable film. With the tweaks and additions, the Director's Cut is a fantastic film that hints of great things for Ashton Kutcher, both as an actor and a producer. If he knows to back a few more winners like this, he might just atone for leaving the cast of That 70's Show when it needed him most.

Topher Grace? Blonde Laura Prepon? Take notes. You two are still in the bad books.