The Butterfly Effect, an average film, whose cons almost outweigh its pros

Rating: 6/10 (18 October 2008)

***MILD SPOILERS***
The butterfly effect is a film directed by two men whose names don't sound familiar to the average movie goer such as myself. But that's beside the point, because talent doesn't always come with fame. And I don't even need to give an example for that. The world is filled with those kinds of people. Anyways, my point is these two directors are putting tremendous effort into writing and directing this movie and I give them credit for that. And now let me get to the actual film and its pros and cons.
The butterfly effect is far from being a bad movie. It has its fair share of thrills with a somehow enjoyable plot. But it fails to be a stable and centered film. One thing I couldn't stand in the film was its redundancy. The scenes were a replica of each other. Kutcher's character would go back in his thoughts and fix something and he would do that a million times in the movie. What I am saying is show me something new. Also show me something orderly. It was hard for me to tell where the climax is and if it already happened or if it's yet to happen. In other words it was hard for me to keep up with the film.
Another thing was the casting; I mean come on Ashton Kutcher I mean after such a comedy as Dude where's my car I didn't expect to see him in a psychological thriller. Not that I'm saying he was bad in the movie but I could see somebody else playing the role a whole lot better, (Edward Norton would have been my first choice if I was the casting director, or maybe Jake Gyllenhaal), anyone with the capability of setting a dark tone, but Ashton Kutcher is best fit for a comedy role. But whatever.
Although I say all these negative things, I did like the movie to some extent. One thing I did like was the fact that the film is filled with high tension and constant chills. Not knowing how Evan's life is going to turn out is the best feeling I had in the movie. And till the very end that's what I wanted to know. Is Evan going to fix the mistakes he made in life? Is Evan ever going to live a stable life? Or is Evan going to share his father's destiny? Those were the questions I asked while watching the film. The questions were partially answered but the film remains to be a watchable but not a wonderful one.