Surprisingly refreshing *spoilers*

Rating: 9/10 (8 April 2004)

Wow. I've seen a lot of 'alternate timeline' movies, and still this one didn't bore me one bit.
If I'd read any of the bad reviews here before seeing the movie, or looked at the rating demographics, I might have spent my time otherwise. Glad I didn't! Hence this comment to make up for some of the slaughter going on.
I did find it a bit too theatrical at times, grotesque maybe even, but not nearly as much as, say a Matrix trilogy or pretty much any Hollywood blockbuster that requires you to suspend your disbelief for over 90 minutes.
I'll praise this movie some more but I don't know how to do it without spoiling it. So...
*spoilers*
The plot seemed sound to me, pretty cohesive for a temporal mindbender. Ashton Kutcher might have looked a little closer at the character his younger versions were portraying. Still, not bad at all. It wasn't the easiest part to play, I suppose.
The kids in the movie did an excellent job. That li'l psycho Tommy character really freaked me out, bone-chilling! Both young Evans were brilliantly cast, and I'm confident we haven't seen the last of them on the big screen.
Yes, it was a tad lengthy but it offered enough different perspectives along the way to stay interesting. As for the ending, I had a feeling they'd show us you just can't win 'em all when traveling through time. So, unsatisfying or not, I guess it's a believable ending.
As for the ultra-violence, yes the movie shocked, so it didn't let me down. Since I chose to watch a thriller I got what I wanted out of it, and then some. Luckily, it wasn't graphic to the max - even though the plot allowed for an unwatchable snuff type depiction - but it was more than enough to get my synapses firing.
No regrets here, these were 2 hours well-spent!