Good, with some flaws

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2009)

The Butterfly Effect is the sort of story I love - a romp through alternate realities, seeing the effect that minor changes have on the course of events. Evan uses an ability to revisit the past in order to try to make right all the things which go horribly wrong, and this story holds your attention throughout: the film tells the story well.
I have two reservations. One concerns colour saturations which, at times, seemed to lend a garish air to the movie. I don't know if this was a deliberate production design decision, but I found it distracting. My second reservation concerns Ashton Kutcher who, to be frank, I found quite poor in the lead role. He never convinced me, which is a shame because the other cast members were all very good, especially Jesse James (shame on you, Mr and Mrs James!) who played Tommy at age 13 with a feral intensity which was quite unnerving.
Kudos for going with an ending which is not what one might hope for. It goes to show that an ending needs to be a satisfying resolution, not necessarily a conventional happy ending.