Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
I liked this trailer. This is one of the few things that kept me from slashing the screen with a razorblade when I was subjected to the mind-numbing misery of the TEXAS CHAINSAW remake on opening night. I look forward to checking this one out, especially because I think Kutcher might have something more going on than people have given him credit for so far. Here’s what one spy had to say on the film...
Hi Harry & Friends – Brewster Baker back from the races to report on New Line’s The Butterfly Effect.
Now going into this film I have to say that I was skeptical at best. I knew that the butterfly effect in chaos theory was the notion that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world could cause a tornado someplace else (or every action has a reaction) – this I found intriguing. I also knew that the film starred Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart – this I didn’t find so intriguing. Personally I’ve only seen Ashton playing dumb in romantic comedies, and like so many other people I think his publicist is doing a great job of killing his career. He went from cool Kelso on that 70’s show to Demi’s tiger beat boyfriend. Needless to say I entered with low expectations, and left pleasantly surprised. Here’s my re-cap - spoiler free.
The Butterfly Effect was written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber; the same guys that wrote final destination 2 (don’t hold it against them). I’m not sure if these guys have directed before, but they really do a great job of hooking the audience from the beginning, and jumping back and forth between time frames. I not only enjoyed the pace of this film, but everyone in the screening jumped at the right times, and seemed thoroughly hooked on the gimmicks they set up (look for a nice homage to Halloween with a young boy holding a kitchen knife). This film is NOT a kid’s movie. It deals with heartaches ranging from abandonment to pedophilia, and is gut wrenchingly intense at times.
Ashton does a good job playing Evan Treborn, a college aged boy being raised by his mother who suffers from memory loss and blackouts. As we see Evan at different crucial moments of his childhood, we learn that he blacks out and can’t remember the details from the moment prior to the event to the moment immediately following. This leads to Doctors speculations that Evan is blacking out traumatic memories as a way of escaping the problems he’s facing. Evans psychologist suggests to his mother that she should encourage Evan to keep a journal, and that perhaps this will not only control his black outs, but help him to piece together the memories he has lost. This journal becomes Evans key to coping with the future and dealing with his past. The real stand-outs of this film though are Logan Lerman (the Patriot and Riding in Cars with Boys) and Kevin Schmidt (Taken) playing Evan at ages 8 and 13. Both boys give haunting performances and add an eerie darkness to what could have easily been a light film. Amy Smart also puts in a powerful performance as Evan’s childhood friend Kayleigh and look out for Eric Stoltz in his slimiest role ever.
The Butterfly Effect is the kind of film that to talk about the story is to ruin it – it’s literally one big spoiler that leads to a series of unfortunate events. The whole notion that one small action from our childhood could affect the entire outcome of our lives is a hard pill to swallow. The premise of being able to shape these actions after they happen is a dangerous power to possess. This is the type of film that you either enjoy for the entertainment factor buying into the gimmick, or you will hate it. Personally I bought it and enjoyed it. It also made me raise my level of respect for Ashton and hope that he keeps looking for darker more complex roles.
If there was anything that I didn’t like about this film was that it did seem a little long. Once you get the gimmick you want resolution, and I thought that maybe one of the flashback scenes could have been cut – that being said, I think it’s a small price to pay for an entertaining film. The exciting part for me now is to see how other people react to it. I’ve been dieing to discuss the plot points, but I don’t want to ruin this movie for people. All in all, it’s worth the price of admission. It’s not as groundbreaking as The 6th Sense and not terrible like The Time Machine (remake of course). It’s a really nice balance about a young boy a girl and the power to change the present by re-shaping the past. I guarantee that even those who don’t like this film will be truly moved by the performances of the young actors and will jump at least once!
One last note – I just saw the trailer in front of TCM and it looked awful. They make it seem like a romance story, and I have to say I actually jumped more in this film then I did in TCM. Hope they cut a darker looking trailer and don’t “over-kutcher” this film.
Until next time - Brewster Baker OUT
Thanks. Seems like a pretty balanced reaction, and he certainly seemed to like a lot about it.
"Moriarty" out.
