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 The Butterfly Effect 

What grade would you give this film?
A 33%  33%  [ 3 ]
B 56%  56%  [ 5 ]
C 11%  11%  [ 1 ]
D 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
F 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 9

 The Butterfly Effect 
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College Boy Z

Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:40 pm
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Post The Butterfly Effect
The Butterfly Effect

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Quote:
The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American drama/thriller film written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. The title refers to the metaphorical butterfly effect, a popular principle in chaos theory which states that in any dynamic system, small initial differences may over time lead to large unforeseen consequences.

Kutcher plays 20-year-old student Evan Treborn, with Smart as his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh Miller. He finds he has the ability to travel back in time to inhabit his former self and change the present. Having been the victim of several childhood traumas aggravated by stress-induced memory losses, he attempts to set things right for himself and his friends, but there are unintended consequences for all. The film draws heavily on flashbacks of the cast's lives at ages 7 and 13, and presents several alternate present-day outcomes as Evan attempts to change the past, before settling on a final outcome.

The film received a poor critical reception, but was nevertheless a commercial success, producing gross earnings of $96 million from a budget of merely $13 million. The film won the Pegasus Audience Award at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film at the Saturn Awards and Choice Movie: Thriller in the Teen Choice Awards.

Two largely unrelated sequels followed: The Butterfly Effect 2 in 2006 and The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations in 2009, using the same basic plot device as the original.


One of the better surprising movies of 2004. I never wanted to see this film, but ended up loving it. Ashton Kutcher is great here.

A-


Last edited by zingy on Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Sun Dec 05, 2004 12:53 pm
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One of the most surprising movies this year, liked it a lot. And the cast was actually good, including Kutcher surprisingly. I may have to watch it again, but my grade for now is...

A-/B+


Sun Dec 05, 2004 1:33 pm
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The Director's Cut is MUCH better than the theatrical release.

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Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:07 pm
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I've only seen the director's cut and have no interest in the theatrical version.

The bad: Ashton Kutcher is completely unconvingcing in the role, the movie make little sense most of the time, and everything about the plot is a poor excuse to move from one ridiculous twist to the next.

The good: IT still make for a pretty entertaining movie, and I liked this ending much more than I probably would have had I seen the original theatrical version.

B-

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Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:45 pm
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I saw it back in theaters and was mildy impressed. C+


Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:34 pm
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its very good, but weird.......

B


Sat Feb 26, 2005 2:56 pm
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I needed 2 viewings to fully appreciate this masterpiece. Kutcher is surprisingly very good in his part as is Amy Smart, which is just one of the cutest actresses ever. Absolutely LOVED the ending, way better than the Director's Cut one. I am so glad I gave it a second chance and bought the DVD. A

Could someone please tell me if the Director's Cut contains more additonal footage beside the alternate ending??


Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:42 pm
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Post 
Loved it. very clever, and visually beautiful.

B+


Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:13 pm
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A-


I went into this movie without any expectations. I have never been a big fan of Ashton Kutcher and I haven't even bothered to see the movie's trailer before its release. The premise seemed weird, but not exactly intriguing. What I witnessed was one of the most surprising and disturbing movies I have seen in a long time. I was completely taken aback by how much I liked the movie. To top it all, I actually thought that Ashton Kutcher was surprisingly good in this serious role as was the guy who played his roommate.

Undeniable, the movie did have some weaknesses in the department of character development as well as in the logic, but it did take a very original and dark spin on the topic of time travel which reminded me a bit of Donnie Darko. The Butterfly Effect is certainly more of an entertainement movie and by far not as layered as Donnie Darko, but it shares its dark view on time travel with that movie. I thought that the development of the story was pretty unexpected and very original. I was surprised by hos disturbing and unsettling the movie actually got at times, with some good suspense scenes and nice twists throughout. The storyline took unexpected spins on the time travel plot.

I was also happy that the movie cop out and take a happy ending route, but much rather let this movie end on a good, but rather sober note. One could call it an entertaining movie, but it is also a somewhat depressing film, in my opinion. I think it will remain a cult favorite among fans of the genre for a long time.

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Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:56 am
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Post 
F

One of the worst movies I have ever had the displeasure of seeing at the theater, and one of the few times I gave serious thought to leaving (another one that comes to mind....Monster-In-Law).

Ludicrous subject matter that doesn't doesn't jive witht the dark, dank final product. Terrible performances. The 'blow job' scene finally pushed me over the line from 'i wanna get out of here' to 'wait, maybe this is funny.' Didn't last.

And the title is stupid. "The Butterfly Effect." I get it. Small things can have a huge impact. But the movie shows us Kutcher's character going back in time and altering the KEY MOMENTS in his life. Not small things. HUGE things.

I went to see this because a romantic liason of mine told me it was one of the most moving films ever made. We broke up later, not because of the movie, but that fact sure made the transition easier.

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Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:03 am
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A-/B+

Very very good. Lost a bit on it's second viewing, but it was still quite awesome.

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Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:45 am
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Simply okay. Kutcher is better than I thought he would be, and the premise is interesting enough, but the screenplay is poorly written and the acting is sub-par. The overall plot is too far-fetched, even within the realms of fantasy. They could have done a lot more with the idea than they did, even if some of the stuff they did was intriguing. A mediocre science fiction film.

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Last edited by trixster on Sun Nov 12, 2006 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:09 am
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The theatrical cut feels like a complete copout.

The Director's Cut gets a B from me.


Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:13 am
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Post Butterfly Effect: "Choose Your Memories"...
My skin is still crawling after seeing this very creepy psychological horror movie. Anyone who tells you gore = horror, only needs to experience this twilight-zonish story of alternate realities. This kind of story is rarely done as well as this, and here it is very well done - from casting to story logic to direction. I won't write anymore because this is the kind of movie you want to read almost nothing about before seeing it...

5 out of 5.


Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:58 am
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Surely not a masterpiece. Good entertainment, but let's remember this IS an Ashton Kutcher movie released in January...I think some are jumping the gun in praising it so endlessly. He did a decent job in his role, and the film definitely had my attention from start to finish, but that did not mean I ENJOYED it from start to finish. Not enough plot here, really all they did was try to explore to most intriguing scenarios possible and strung them together in ascending order. Good popcorn flick, didn't really make me think much though.
B-


Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:42 am
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Can anyone tell what is the alternate ending?


Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:02 am
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the french man wrote:
Surely not a masterpiece. Good entertainment, but let's remember this IS an Ashton Kutcher movie released in January...I think some are jumping the gun in praising it so endlessly. He did a decent job in his role, and the film definitely had my attention from start to finish, but that did not mean I ENJOYED it from start to finish. Not enough plot here, really all they did was try to explore to most intriguing scenarios possible and strung them together in ascending order. Good popcorn flick, didn't really make me think much though.
B-

Oops, sorry - I was just rating the movie itself - I forgot to take into account it's release date and reputation of it's lead.


Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:03 am
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The alternate ending is:

[spoil]Ashton goes back to his birth, and strangles himself in the womb. He is never born, everybody else leads their normal lives.[/spoil]

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Sun Apr 16, 2006 3:28 pm
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Post 
bradley witherberry wrote:
the french man wrote:
Surely not a masterpiece. Good entertainment, but let's remember this IS an Ashton Kutcher movie released in January...I think some are jumping the gun in praising it so endlessly. He did a decent job in his role, and the film definitely had my attention from start to finish, but that did not mean I ENJOYED it from start to finish. Not enough plot here, really all they did was try to explore to most intriguing scenarios possible and strung them together in ascending order. Good popcorn flick, didn't really make me think much though.
B-

Oops, sorry - I was just rating the movie itself - I forgot to take into account it's release date and reputation of it's lead.

Not a good way to express why it wasn't a masterpiece, but I was just noting it appears that you threw the word masterpiece out there a little too easily...There's not a lot of plot or story or character development here just the most amusing scenarios they could come up with strung together...Shoddily written.


Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:16 pm
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Wow, just got to seeing this film. (Late, yes.) I was disturbed, moved, and entertained all in 2 hours. All the different possible lives Kutcher could have had were so moving, and how single events in his life can change everyone. I thought the Director's Cut ending fit better with the tone of the movie obviously, but the Theaterical Cut isn't bad either. I liked how the whole blackouts were actually Kutcher taking over himself in time, very cool. The movie I thought didn't have to go to such stretches to be dramatic, overabundance of unneeded langauge, but whatever. My only minor gripe of the movie. Kutcher was fantastic, he was a realistic guy, some of his little things he did were so hilarious (like that wheelchair move) and it didn't feel out of place.

Grade: A-


Wed Jun 21, 2006 12:37 am
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Post Re: The Butterfly Effect
I just watched this for the first time since I was fifteen and I was surprised how much I still enjoyed it. I remember seeing it opening night in theaters and I fell in love with it. I then watched it multiple times on DVD and it because one of my favorites at the time. It was nice to revisit it. Kutcher and Smart are both really good in their roles and the movie itself is captivating and very entertaining. I forgot how dark it was (the explosive scene... holy shit). There are some minor quibbles, like the actress playing Kutcher's mom was just TERRIBLE but it doesn't ruin it. It's not a great movie, but it's a dark, entertaining one and it was kind of nostalgic to watch it since I haven't seen it in years.

8/10

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