Review of "The Butterfly Effect" (2004) DVD

When The Butterfly Effect was released in theaters in late January 2004, it bore the brunt of scathing reviews and dismal box office. Dismal box office by blockbuster numbers, anyway; the movie did make its budget back -- and then some -- on opening weekend. Audience interest steadily declined from there on out.

For whatever reason, I missed The Butterfly Effect the first time around. Since I'd heard mostly terrible things about the movie, I slipped the new DVD into my player with some trepidation.

Here's a basic rundown of the plot: Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) is a young man struggling with his fragmented, disturbing childhood memories. The most crucial incidents of his life have disappeared into a wormhole in his mind, concealing terrifying and distressing things he cannot -- or will not -- recollect. But such memories won't allow themselves be suppressed (especially in the movies!).

Evan devises a technique of traveling back in time to inhabit his childhood body with his adult and knowing mind, in an effort to change the events that have led to his present-day despair. But he finds that every journey back returns a different verdict on the outcome of his life and those around him, enticing him to make a devil's bargain and go back again and again in an attempt to repair the damage he keeps creating.

Switching back and forth in time, the characters live out several different scenarios. Evan's childhood sweetheart Kayleigh Miller (Amy Smart), her disturbed brother Tommy (William Lee Scott) and their timid best friend Lenny (Elden Henson), all go through several shocking and violent scenarios, each lifetime affecting them differently as adults. (By the way, the matching between the child, teen and adult versions of each character is amazingly well-realized. Kudos to the casting director, Carmen Cuba.) One thing that doesn't change is Evan's mother's (Melora Walters, who is only about 10 years older than Kutcher) deep concern that he might have inherited his father's dangerous insanity.

The Butterfly Effect is over the top at times (but in keeping with the writer/directors' style -- Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber also wrote Final Destination 2). However, it's a truly engrossing story and it's obvious the actors are all really into their characters. Some critics at the time of the film's big screen release laid into Kutcher with personal attacks, the least of which mercilessly derided his acting skills. Personally I can take or leave Kutcher as an actor and a personality, but I do feel the bad reviews were out of line. Kutcher does a very fine acting job here given the intense, sometimes frenzied material he has to work with. Besides, how do you know how a person would react in a totally fictional situation like this? This is one of those movies with an outrageous premise that you just have to suspend disbelief for, hang on, and go on the ride. If you let yourself fall into the rabbit hole of a situation, then you really can't help but like The Butterfly Effect.

There is no science involved in the time-travel aspects of the movie. Evan pretty much just wills himself back (ala "Somewhere in Time") and away he goes. A nice touch in these time-space journeys is the attention to detail in the alternate realities: changes and modifications in color, tone, and feel ring true enough.

I can definitely see one big reason that the movie bombed at the box-office: the ending. It's been proven in studies and polls that no matter how much an audience enjoys a movie throughout, if the ending is disappointing it then mars the entire experience in the mind of the viewer. The theatrical ending (on Side B of the DVD) is indeed really, really bad. It makes you feel like a fool for sticking with the whole complex story. The ending on the directors' cut is much more in keeping with the heavy, dismal subject matter and is as a result more satisfying and, um, "believable". Definitely do yourself a favor and watch the director's cut first.

The "InfiniFilm" special edition DVD has lots of great additional release material. The director's cut features additional scenes, plus that (better) alternate ending, and optional commentary. Bress and Gruber are entertaining enough to listen to, and they offer some interesting insight into the experiences of first-time directors and what it's like to be part of a directing duo. There is also a "fact track", which is where InfiniFilm really shines; here you can do some virtual time traveling of your own as you watch the movie, going off on tangents to see what went on behind the scenes onscreen.

The extended director's cut notwithstanding, there are still a few deleted scenes on the DVD. These also feature optional commentary, which explain why the scenes never quite fit in with either version of the film.

Featurettes include one on the "Creative Process" and one on "Visual Effects". Both are pretty standard fare, but it's interesting to see how the writer/directors and the actors approached the material and how it all came to fruition.

There are two documentaries: "The Science and Psychology of the Chaos Theory" and "The History and Allure of Time Travel". These are appealing in their subject matter, but not so much in their presentation -- mostly it's just pretentious talking heads (Ph.Ds and psychologists, mainly) yakking about the topics and flaunting their psycho-babble.

There are also Text/Image Galleries, and Storyboards. DVD-Rom Features include: Script-to-Screen; Link to Original Website; Exclusive On-Disc Rom Content; and Exclusive Content at Infinifilm.com.

Review by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com