This is a film made by people who made X-Files, or maybe that's what they'd like you to believe, but also Quantum Leap, and every other good science fiction show of the '90's. Anyways, my point is this. This movie is trying so hard to be serious, and Ashton tries, he really does. But even though the performances are worthwhile, this film is ridiculous. The premise and outcome make absolutely no sense, and the rules that apply to the gimmick of the "Butterfly Effect" don't even apply logically, just only when called for. It's also a little sad because I read the movie as something for trauma-victims or just people who have been "victimized" to watch. Some of the content in here about younger victims and sex and violence verges on cheesy exploitation, both in narrative, and exploitation of the actors who had to perform the scenes on film that served no purpose to a film that could have thought of a billion different ways to shoot something and didn't. I just think this film has a little bit of a "Final Destination" quality to it that it shouldn't have. Sure, trauma and violence is real, but this film plays both like they are candy to be consumed, glossy entertainment products with "shock value" that will actually produce laughter instead of sympathy for the characters involved. It tries so many things. It does a "Stand by Me" thing with all the kids. It does a "Final Destination" thing with all the shocking violence. It does "Kiddie Porn Dungeon Sequence" that's just TRYING to make you squirm(this is the exploitation of which I speak), it does the spoofy sci-fi gimmick that has been around forever. What it doesn't do is stop for a moment for it's characters to reflect, and I think with a certain amount of reflection, the main character would have committed suicide a long time before the chronological time line that this film started in.
Review of The Butterfly Effect
