More Enjoyable Than That Other Similar Time Travelling Film

Rating: 7/10 (10 June 2007)

It seems that word of mouth has affected peoples' enjoyment of THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT with many comments reflecting bitter disappointment . In many ways these feelings sum up what happened when I saw DONNIE DARKO , a similar type of movie featuring teen angst and time travel . The main difference though was that I'd heard all the lavishing praise thrown at DARKO while I'd had no knowledge of THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT until the credits started on Channel 4 last night
It's not a masterpiece of course but many of the complaints can be dismissed that it's utterly depressing featuring scenes of animal cruelty , sex , violence etc but would you have preferred a film with Michael J Fox going back to 1950s High School ? Much of the film works simply because protagonist Evan finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place and despite the criticisms of casting Ashton Kutcher by some people you really can believe that a good looking pretty boy would find them self popular in prison for the wrong reasons
The screenplay by Gruber and Bress does raise an interesting point that destiny will always win out in changing the past . You might be able to stop a bad thing happening to someone but you'll never stop something else terrible happening to you or someone close to you by changing a big bad event . The plot might be full of mystic mumbo jumbo but it's a film that is much easier to follow than DONNIE DARKO which makes it a superior film