Time travel is often a tricky subject, as all of it is science fiction (the emphasis being on fiction). In reality, there are no right or wrong answers, but there are theories – theories that Einstein thinks are unacheivable and not scientific enough.

Chaos theory suggests an idea that the effect of a butterfly flapping it’s wings will result in a snowball effect of movement that could cause a Tsunami. Do not confuse this with 1995’s El Efecto Mariposa (The Butterfly Effect) that deals with the same theory in a more comic way.

Of course, it’s only theory, but it has some merit. I’ve often tried to explain to friends how I consider every event as important as the next, and every event can crete a million, billion other changes that will affect my future and those around me. They often stand there looking at me with a questionable smile and the word “crazy” popping out of their head.

That rather bloated example is essentially what The Butterfly Effect tries to demonstrate. Opening with a hospital patient writing a letter under pressure and seemingly chased by people, we are then taken in flashback to his wonder years as a young kid called Evan living with his mother.

Evan suffers from blackouts throughout his life growing up, often waking up when all hell has broken loose or some event has taken place which is important to his choices later on his life. In order to help with his blackouts, their doctor recommends that he keep a journal of as many things as he can while he’s awake, and this may enable him to under why or how he’s blacking out.

The lead (Ashton Kutcher) is wooden and often over the top; I wondered whether he was actually given the journals as a sneaky way of remembering his next line

As an adult, he successfully manages to study and make his way to University, acing his exams and also working on a theory about how memory is created. He hasn’t had a blackout for over 7 years now, having moved away from his childhood sweetheart and her psychotic family. He also leaves behind his friend Lenny, all of whom have had awful childhoods and do no better as grown adults.

One night, after picking up a date, and taking her back to his dorm, Evan begins reading from his journals which causes him to blackout to a point in his memory that seems quite significant. Reading the journals more, he comes up with a theory that perhaps he might be able to change the past and therefore secure a better future for himself and his friends; one where the abuse and violence does not turn them ni the dysfunctional, stereotypical youth we are so used to seeing on our screens.

Donnie Darko was not a particularly great film, it had plot holes, but it was reasonably enjoyable. I liked the ideas, and most of it was executed reasonably well, but it tended to drag on and bore quite often. The same is true of The Butterfly Effect, but by comparison, Donnie Darko explores the themes of changing the past in a far more intelligent manner. The Butterfly Effect gives us a dumbed down MTV version which is frankly offensive, and riddle with cliches, bad acting and terrible scripting.

The caption at the start of the film regarding the chaos theory is irritating, because the film seems to take a an unintelligent turn into giving us every example of a lifestyle that is typical in American life, to communicate or appeal to the trendy kids who like their films to provide the illusion of depth, but offers nothing more than empty shell of ideas that are woefully executed. Donnie Darko had brains, whereas The Buttefly Effect is that poor, inbred cousin who didn’t quite make it.

Ideas such as time travel have been explored much, much more intelligently in previous examples, such as Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys (a remake of an old French film), which provides more paradoxes and questions about what happened and why they happened. It’s a film that makes you think about the logic of it all, and of cause and consequence. The Butterfly Effect by comparison deals with an unlikely occurrence of events that require you to suspend more disbelief than normal, which is fine, but it seems to pick on subjects that would shock for entertainment value rather than provide something substantial or new to the table. It’s a child’s interpretation of the chaos theory, throwing in a love story and one of sacrifice. Much of it came across as superficial and dull.

The sad thing is, there are plenty of clever amd plausible ideas, but they’re taken down the path of predictable nonsense and familiarity

Acting, as I mentioned was quite awful resulting in even more disappointment. The lead (Ashton Kutcher) is wooden and often over the top; I wondered whether he was actually given the journals as a sneaky way of remembering his next line. It felt too scripted, to convenient, and almost like watching a rehersal. There are some unintentionally hilarious scenes, such as a run down a corridor in his mental outfit where he looks like he’s trying to scale the walls. His whole mannerism and attempt at drama is dire.

The support cast in the form of Amy Smart (Kayleigh, the girl he loves), Elden Henson (Lenny his best friend) and William Lee Scott (Tommy Miller) are equally bad, and over the top in their performance. What made amused me was their inability to play their new roles with any sense of convicton (different changes in time, different lifestyles); again almost as though this was a first take. Never convincing, and consistently dull in their attempt at acting.

There are far better films that explore the theory of timeline changes, as this is designed and created for those who watching films regarding such a topic for the first time, or live in that MTV world where substance is overshadowed by style. Sadly this film is full of the latter, and not enough of the former. The sad thing is, there are plenty of clever amd plausible ideas, but they’re taken down the path of predictable nonsense and familiarity. Had the writers tried something more original, and executed their ideas with more seriousness as well as more detailed research it would have been a good film at the very least, instead of the pile of steaming mess it is.

Verdict: A poor man’s sci-fi film.