Review of The Butterfly Effect (2004) by Filmqueen — 27 Oct 2015

The idea behind this sci-fi is interesting, that's why I gave it a 7. However the execution of the idea is not the best, I think. The film obviously tries to be realistic showing all the coincidences that can alter our lives and turn it from better to worse, while the protagonist's supernatural power is only a tool. Until a certain point it could even have been an option that he is indeed mentally ill and none of the impossible stuff has ever happened. But of course that's not what happens in the movie.

A good science fiction concept is although actually unbelievable, you forget about that fact while watching the film because it is made to seem very realistic and logical in the setting of the story. But this story utterly failed to be realistic, in my opinion they exaggerated Evan's bad childhood in such a level that it failed to be believable, it was a very clichéd freudian excuse and it's not just Evan but the rest of the characters as well. I couldn't even really care about him because even though they tried to portray him like this nice, good kid, at the same time he is blowing up people's mailboxes with his friends. My point is, the film failed to present it's message, because I could not believe that their future turned out bad every single time because of the butterfly-effect and unpredictability despite them trying hard, instead I think it turned out the way it did because they were looser who didn't try hard enough. Evan had plenty of opportunities, truly. First of all, he killed a guy, like what was he thinking? Certainly not "Maybe I should stop hitting the brother of my girlfriend, he is passed out and covered in blood.He might die.She might hate me for it. I might rot in jail for the rest of my life." Yeah, that's definitely not what he was thinking.. Also why did he stop right next to the mailbox, he shouldn't have to loose his arms if he had been more clever, he knew it was about to blow. Also I just can't believe that someone is so self-sacrificing that he is trying to fix the lives of everyone but when he is sitting in a wheel-chair without arms, he wouldn't fix his own life, not until he sees his mother's condition. The girl was very stupid from the start , she suffered all that abuse because she liked a boy, that's ridiculous. Her brother was such a stereotypically bad kid that it's impossible to blame his behaviour just on his abuse, more like he was plain evil. Whatever, my point is if someone more apt had possessed Evan's "gift", he/she might actually have been able to make things right. Of course this film has multiple endings, so in the theatrical version Evan can make things right, too. However in the director's cut he just sacrifices himself, like his mother's previous babies did, kind of dumb, he has no reason to do that since he can fix everything just the way he did in the theatrical version. Still, all in all, this is not a bad film, as a whole I quite liked it, but I had to point out the things I disliked. Also it's a quite overrated film.