sageb1
04-01-2004, 05:34 PM
The Butterfly Effect
Imagine if through your memories you could change your past and affect your present.
This movie takes that thought and tries to justify it by quoting from quantum dynamics.
Hence we have the movie start with the main character hiding under a desk writing what seems to be a letter.
It turns out his father is in a mental institution, and might have been doing what he is trying to do throughout the movie: change things to get it right.
Hello? Does this remind anyone of the fantastic novels of a science fiction author named Phillip K Dick?
Anyway, back to the story...
As a kid the hero has black outs.
It turns out these black outs have to do with him trying to correct his past.
He visits a real family, only to discover what a sick and twisted father Tommy and Kaylie have, but ends up missing memories.
At this point I thought the main character's black outs were caused by that incident.
Instead we get two hours treated to what-ifs that hinge around mistakes made intrying to correct earlier mistakes.
Frat boy, goth, space case - who is this guy? Why is this movie delving into real-life America do vividly?
After two hours the story is resolved by the director having the hero watch the 8mm movie of his first innocent meeting with the "perfect" family.
Each alteration of his past is done to help Kaylie, Tommy, his mother and Lenny. Finally he realizes it's safer to save himself.
So he forever alters his future by telling Kaylie at his first meeting with her as a kid what he might do to her family if they hang out together.
On first glance this movie's theme seems to be exploring quantum theory.
However, it's also sending a message that pedophilia is wrong.
It also sends the message that the opposite sex may be harmful to one's safety, like a worst-case scenario.
Then there's the sex and violence of the prison system. :biggrin:
Questions unanswered by this movie:
Did the hero's mom become a nurse to provide for her son and herself?
Are the child actors who portrayed Kaylie, Tommy and the hero now poster children for anti-pedo legislation?
Is the rationalization that psychiatrists give for schizoid personality disorder valid?
If reality is merely infinite consciousness dreaming it then when awakened, do wach of us awaken from our dreams? :)
Dick lives, is all I gotta say.
Imagine if through your memories you could change your past and affect your present.
This movie takes that thought and tries to justify it by quoting from quantum dynamics.
Hence we have the movie start with the main character hiding under a desk writing what seems to be a letter.
It turns out his father is in a mental institution, and might have been doing what he is trying to do throughout the movie: change things to get it right.
Hello? Does this remind anyone of the fantastic novels of a science fiction author named Phillip K Dick?
Anyway, back to the story...
As a kid the hero has black outs.
It turns out these black outs have to do with him trying to correct his past.
He visits a real family, only to discover what a sick and twisted father Tommy and Kaylie have, but ends up missing memories.
At this point I thought the main character's black outs were caused by that incident.
Instead we get two hours treated to what-ifs that hinge around mistakes made intrying to correct earlier mistakes.
Frat boy, goth, space case - who is this guy? Why is this movie delving into real-life America do vividly?
After two hours the story is resolved by the director having the hero watch the 8mm movie of his first innocent meeting with the "perfect" family.
Each alteration of his past is done to help Kaylie, Tommy, his mother and Lenny. Finally he realizes it's safer to save himself.
So he forever alters his future by telling Kaylie at his first meeting with her as a kid what he might do to her family if they hang out together.
On first glance this movie's theme seems to be exploring quantum theory.
However, it's also sending a message that pedophilia is wrong.
It also sends the message that the opposite sex may be harmful to one's safety, like a worst-case scenario.
Then there's the sex and violence of the prison system. :biggrin:
Questions unanswered by this movie:
Did the hero's mom become a nurse to provide for her son and herself?
Are the child actors who portrayed Kaylie, Tommy and the hero now poster children for anti-pedo legislation?
Is the rationalization that psychiatrists give for schizoid personality disorder valid?
If reality is merely infinite consciousness dreaming it then when awakened, do wach of us awaken from our dreams? :)
Dick lives, is all I gotta say.