The Butterfly Effect
2004
**½
Director: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Melora Walters, William Lee Scott, Elden Henson, Logan Lerman, Ethan Suplee, Melora Walters
Young Evan suffers mysterious blackouts during traumatic events in his life, but as a young man he discovers that he can go back in time and change those moments. This thriller, which draws inspiration from chaos theory and numerous time travel movies, attempts to tell us that the tiniest change in the past can alter the course of the future. This results in a grim and intriguing but occasionally stupid story. The film's simplistic view of human psychology is difficult to swallow. All the characters are latent psychopaths, who seem to have no active control over their own lives. Followed by two poorly received sequels.
