If only I could change my past, I would have avoided this.

Rating: 2/10 (8 June 2008)

How is it possible that a film of such disastrous proportion could make both critics and movie goers proclaim it a modern masterpiece? Me? I'd rather watch paint dry. I've never been a big Aston Kutcher fan, well when I say that I do in fact mean I am an avid hater of his so called acting. Charisma, talent and likability. Those are the three vital qualities he lacks as a human being. Let alone an actor. Amy Smart does a commendable job while Melora Walters sinks into the back ground.
Attempting to make a good film out of a novel premise only manages a few unintentional smirks. Ditching the far superior Donnie Darko routine and playing it unbearably camp. There's absolutely no way you could take this film seriously therefore much like the film, its premise rolls to the back of your mind. I was really interested in seeing this movie. Not because of the actors, but because of the intriguing message behind the story. Shame then that not only did it not live up to my expectation but it managed to be worse than I thought it could be.
Final Destination 2 screenwriters Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber make their directorial debut with the sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect. Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher with facial hair) wants to free himself from his disturbing childhood memories.
As a kid, he often blacked out for long periods of time and tried to detail his life in a journal. As a young adult, he revisits the journal entries to figure out the truth about his troubled childhood friends Kayleigh (Amy Smart), Lenny (Elden Henson), and Tommy (William Lee Scott). When he discovers he can travel back in time in order to set things right, he tries to save his beloved friends.
However, he finds out that relatively minor changes can make major problems for the future. The Butterfly Effect also stars Eric Stoltz, Ethan Suplee, and Melora Walters. The title was inspired by the story A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury.
Naturally it plays like Final Destination on speed, rushing from one bad plot twist to the next. It never takes time to explore its emotions and in all feels not only generic and predictable but also extremely badly paced and therefore un-enjoyable.
Of course, Kutcher's wooden, wide-eyed, sub-Keanu attempts at 'serious' only encourage the splutters, and while criticising him for this is like slapping a baby for crapping in its nappy, it has to be done. He truly is a credibility vacuum, and even if writer/directors Bress and Gruber (Final Destination 2's scribes) had scrawled a quarter-decent script, he'd still have scuppered it. But they haven't, so the blame can be spread.
My Final Verdict? A Donnie Darko rip-off bewildered by its own metaphysical corkscrewing. And one of the most unwittingly funny movies of the year. Avoid at all cost unless you like car crash cinema at its very worst. If Kutcher's performance doesn't put you off the unbearably bad plotting and poor pacing making this the worst film of the year.