The outcome of a life is the result of character, not events

Rating: Null/10 (30 August 2004)

[Possible Spoiler] The Butterfly Effect is built on an entirely false premise: the assumption that the outcome of a person's life is determined more by what events befall him was opposed to his character. If you adhere to the opinion that the decisions you make in your life are not as important as the reasons WHY you make those decisions (i.e. character), the foundation on which the obvious fiction that drives this film is built falls apart. Though I can suspend judgment to believe in "The Butterfly Effect," the theory that an extremely small changes to the past can have major impact over time (re-read H.G. Wells's Time Machine for the sci-fi origin of this idea), I can't accept that people who are inherently non-violent will commit acts of violence simply because they have a weapon in their hands, or that basically well-adjusted people can be said to automatically become mentally unstable because of events in their past. I give the human spirit more credit than this film writers do. If this film's premise were true, a person's character would evolve over his lifetime until he became unrecognizable to himself and others. Last I checked, this was not the case.