The ability to conjure up memories from the past and change what went wrong seems like a gift that anyone would love to have. After all, no one is ever entirely pleased with every part of his or her life. However, this kind of power has its drawbacks.
\The Butterfly Effect,"" starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart, attempts to use chaos theory to tell a story about a boy who discovers that whenever he remembers something from his past, he can enter the memory and change the course of events. The lesson he quickly learns is that altering the past has grave consequences.
Evan Treborn, played by Kutcher, is forced to deal with the fact that he erases all traumatic events from his memory. The film itself starts out with the very dark events of his childhood, most of which he cannot recall. Treborn's childhood friends include Kayleigh Miller (Smart), her overbearing brother Tommy Miller (William Lee Scott) and Lenny (Elden Henson).
The disturbing part is that Treborn's friends are left with these disturbing memories of what they did as kids, and he is not. Once he begins to remember what happened, the producers let the audience in on why he blocked out the memories in the first place.
The film has a strong start as the characters are introduced and as Treborn discovers what he can do. Unfortunately, the specific details as to how he actually enters the memories are never provided.
Kutcher's character discovers that his friends' lives have been ruined due to a traumatic childhood event. In an attempt to mend things, he begins entering his memories in his young body, but with his current mindset. For example, he gives Kayleigh's pedophile father a piece of his mind to help fix her life. Unfortunately, changing what happened to a person also changes who they were as a person. What he does not think about is that by fixing a part of one person's past, he ends up changing the lives of everyone else involved as well. His meddling begins to cause progressively worse outcomes as a result.
Kutcher's performance in the film may not gain an Oscar nod, but he clearly breaks away from his stereotypical roles by playing a more serious part. He makes for a believable character who finds himself in relatively unrealistic situations. At any rate, this role will provide Kutcher with a smooth transition into more mature roles throughout his career.
All in all, ""Butterfly"" is heart-wrenching journey filled with many twists and turns. Although the film proves what a difficult task it is to use such a complicated theory as the chaos theory as the basis of a movie, the producers did their best to avoid a hokey plot. One obvious truth is made clear: If you change the past, you had better be ready to deal with what happens to the future.
