Great movie

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2005)

This is the first time I feel compelled to comment on a film because it is in my opinion underrated.
Like many others I also immediately noticed the similarity with Donnie Darko. I watched that movie some years ago and frankly it left me with a very unpleasant aftertaste. There was a certain darkness to its ending that I could not appreciate AT ALL. Nevertheless Donnie Darko has 8.3 points in the database.
The Butterfly Effect has the same theme and in my opinion the same quality, but did NOT leave me with that unpleasant aftertaste. I enjoyed every minute of it and even liked the ending, although sad and not very surprising. Btw, I watched the directors cut. There seem to be different versions with different endings. The Butterfly Effect gets 7.5 points in the database.
There are many negative comments to this film. Most of these people seem annoyed with the fact that young people will boast about having seen a 'deep' movie, when this film is actually quite fast paced and easy to watch. What's the problem with that? I liked the fact that it was easy to watch, and I also liked the self-sacrifice theme which I personally don't consider 'deep' but I can understand that younger people do. Perception of depth depends on age and experience. Furthermore, this is a universal theme. There are loads of good movies where the hero sacrifices him/herself for the benefit of others and, when properly executed like this film does, this moves the general audience.
Concluding, in my opinion this film is underrated. Donnie Darko on the other hand is overrated. If you haven't seen this movie yet, but are in doubt because of the bad comments, then go and watch it anyway. It's a good flick.
-- Lex Vogelaar