Review of The Butterfly Effect (2004) by Elana — 24 Mar 2020
The movie starts off with all the events leading up to the main character Evan’s discovery that he can travel through time. At first, it was okay. It was pretty average, but not too unremarkable. Then it kept switching between different scenes and I started getting a bit confused. “Did the movie mean for it to seem random and sudden, or is it really just that bad?” After the meeting with Evan’s father and the scene where Tommy loses it at the cinema, I was laughing at how ridiculous and exaggerated the events were and how they just rushed those events by without ever stopping to think about how that’d affect anything. The interesting parts start when Evan reads journal entries he wrote when he was younger, and discovers that by reading them, he can travel back in time to when these blackouts occurred. That was fine, though it could have been better. The writing could have been more imaginative. Why is it that every time Evan saves Lenny, Lenny ends up as his roomate? Why is it that every time Evan saves Kayleigh, she ends up with him? Why is it that every time Evan saves Tommy, he ends up a nice religious guy? How could Evan’s empty threats stop Kayleigh and Tommy’s father from being a pedophile and abuser? Why didn’t Evan get charged with self defense in the first place? The movie tries to make their characters seem real and deep or whatever, but the script changes too fast and provides way too much mood whiplash that it ends up being confusing and frustrating. This contradictory writing is a great source of unintentional hilarity.
The ending of the movie is something I can appreciate. It was probably the most well-written part in the entire movie, and certainly the only part I can’t find any glaring or aggravating problems about.
All in all, the most I’d give this movie a 6/10. The hilarious way it goes about trying to be dramatic and meaningful keeps the movie from being unremarkable, but it’s still not simething I’d watch again nor recommend to others.
This review of The Butterfly Effect (2004) was written by Elana on 24 Mar 2020.
The Butterfly Effect has generally received positive reviews.
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