Disturbing, but worth a look...

Rating: Null/10 (5 February 2004)

I was told by a number of friends to see this film because of a lot of interesting ideas.
The first 15 minutes are intense...The teacher with the conversation about Evan's (Ashton Kutcher) disturbing drawing, the pedophile scene, the meeting with his institutionalized father, Tommy, Tommy and Tommy are all psychotically intense. Hence the need for Evan to journal his life because of the many blackouts he experiences.
These first 15 minutes may perhaps lead you to ask yourself "What possessed me to see this film?"
However, what WILL grab you is the very notion of what happens when Evan decides to bravely relive his lost experiences in his journal. The first scene actually brought a smile to my face when Evan extends a brutal revelation to the pedophile father(Eric Stoltz) about the future of his daughter Kayleigh (Amy Smart). It is further enhanced by the fact that this is a very young child speaking dramatically as an adult would under these circumstances.
"Look f__k bag!"...
Other than the room and the words of Evan's journal intensely shaking combined with his bloody nose, there's really no explanation for his apparently real journeys into the past when he reads dark areas of his journal.
The concept is really interesting enough that you will continue to watch because you can't wait to find out more about how it works and what he does with it...
But as most "time-travel" concepts go, there are flaws. One in particular is the trick he does to convince a prison cellmate of his power. He goes back to his early grade class, the one where he drew the disturbing picture, just so he can jam his hands on -- well, you'll see. I'm scratching my head how the author or screenwriter actually made the judgment not just to write it in, but then to go through and direct the scene. That very act certainly sent him and a lot of his history somewhere besides the same exact prison with the same exact cellmate.
Surprisingly, The Butterfly Effect has a promising premise in that even though Evan has this power, he has to choose between being with the girl he loves or everyone's tragic future. What will he do?
While flawed, and disturbed, much of it was interesting enough to keep me awake throughout the film, which is a big mark in my book these days. Most films with all the exaggerated and overused CGI effects actually put me to sleep. Go watch it, you'll have something to talk about and you may actually grow to like Ashton Kutcher. :)