Surprise surprise

Rating: 7/10 (29 January 2004)

I'm as surprised as anyone that Ashton Kutcher has done a good movie, but he has pulled it off. The Butterfly Effect is the very violent, depraved story of a guy who has suffered blackouts his entire life in order to block out painful and traumatic experiences. When the memories start flooding back, he discovers that he can go back in time and change the future by altering events of the past, with disastrous results. This is a good, strong suspenseful movie with superb acting by the mostly reliable Amy Smart and Ethan Suplee(Mallrats represent!) and a decent performance by Kutcher. I don't think Suplee's part was big enough to warrant the starring credit he's received but that's not a big deal. About 3/4 of the way through the movie you start to figure out that the writer had no idea how to end the film, and the abrupt unsatisfying finish only proves it. Still, this is a good movie for fans who want to see a new twist on the "It's a Wonderful Life" theme.