|
|
|
|
| About Review |
Reviewer
RumbleWolf4
Review Date
8th July, 2004
| |
| Movie Credits |
Directors
Eric Bress
J. Mackeye Gruber
Cast
Ashton Kutcher
Amy Smart
Elden Henson
William Lee Scott
Ethan Suplee
Screenplay
Eric Bress
J. Mackeye Gruber
Tagline
"Change one thing, change everything."
Country
USA
Classification
R
Year
2004
| |
| Errors |
| If you have found any errors in this review of the DVD, please tell us about it via e-mail. | |
| DVD Cover Art |
 | |
| DVD Information |
Format
NTSC
Region Coding
1
Aspect Ratio
1.85:1
16x9 Enhanced
?
Running Time
114 mins
120 mins (director's cut)
Year Released
2004
Packaging
Keep Case
Extra Features
Audio Commentary
Director's Cut Version
Alternate Ending
4 Featurettes
Fact Track
Storyboards
Theatrical Trailer
DVD-ROM Features
| |
|
|
The Butterfly Effect
The Plot
All throughout his life, Evan has been afflicted with an odd nueral disease that causes him to have frequent blackouts, particulary after a traumatic experience. To help him cope with his memory loss, his mother persuades him to keep journals of his exploits. As he grows older, Evan discovers he has an uncanny ability to re-visit his youth, by reading the journal. He takes advantage of these opportunities to change the disturbing events in his younger days. What he does not realize, is that every alteration he makes, affects the outcome of his present life...mostly in dire and disastrous ways.
The Movie
This film reminds me of Donnie Darko. Both deal with time travel in a dark and depressing way as opposed to the more whimsical adventures of the Back to the Future films. But his movie in particular simply blew my mind. The direction is brilliant. Using saturated colors and odd visual effects, the viewer is kept on their toes and even experience the film through the eyes of the main character. At certain points in the film, one docile scene will suddenly jump to a disturbing scene and we are left wondering what events bridged that gap. This technique is the perfect emulation of Evan's blackouts and it is a great tool to get the viewer to really care for him and his affliction. The acting is also great. Seeing as how the film changes tone and feeling quite often, all of the main characters make the appropiate shifts in personality. Ashton Kutcher is very impressive in his first foray outside of comedy, delivering a broad range of emotions.
Another thing that makes this film great is it is very gutsy. the film deals with serious issues ranging from child abuse, animal cruelty, child pornography, suicide, prostituition, drug addiction, prison rape and physical handicaps...all in graphic and unsettling detail. This film may simply be too much for the average viewer as the plot does get confusing. The ending throws us a big Identity- style twist...but then seemingly counters it as an alternate reality itself. I know it's confusing, and this, plus the fact we are never given a proper explanation for Evan's ability are the only downfalls to an otherwise incredible movie. Oh yes and i must point out the awesome ending, both tragic, sad and uplifting at the same time.
Brilliant.
The DVD
Like any Infinifilm DVD from New Line, this one is packed with good features. We get the average commentary track and storyboards and trailers. Also are 2 factual featurettes dealing with TIme Travel and the Chaos Theory and 2 production oriented featurettes. The main standout features are a fact track (basically a ticker of interesting trivia that runs onscreen at key moments) and a full directors cut edition with 6 minutes of deleted footage. One more subtle feature is that there are multiple menu themes that are chosen randomly when you load the disc. I've seen the Cemetary, Cerebral, Notebook and Projector themes but there might be more. They all come with their own transtions and music so you have a unique experience almost every time you watch it!
A great DVD for a great movie, highly recommended.
| Movie Rating |
DVD Rating |
| 
| |
| |
