DVD
The Butterfly Effect 2

Starring: Eric Lively, Erica Durance, Dustin Milligan and Gina Holden
Icon Home Entertainment
RRP: £17.99
ICON10108
Certificate: 15
Available 23 April 2007


After his girlfriend, Julie, and two best friends are killed in a tragic car accident, Nick struggles to cope with his loss and grief. Suffering from migraine-like seizures, Nick soon discovers that he has the power to change the past via photographs. However, his time travelling attempts to alter the past and save his one true love have unexpected and dire consequences in the present...

I have to admit that I haven't seen The Butterfly Effect, but I think it's fairly safe to assume that this sequel is just more of the same. In this movie Nick discovers that he can travel back in time through photographs to change the events of the past. But, once he's changed that reality he is forced back into a body that only remembers the original reality. Sounds like a bit of a paradox to me. Come on, he'd have to travel along the same timeline to get to his future self, so therefore he'd remember everything that would have happened in this new reality. But common sense doesn't prevail here and so what we have is a movie of half-baked ideas that never really come to anything.

Being a bit of a nit-picker I was curious to know why the first time Nick goes back in time and changes the past - with the result being that he ends up sharing a flat with Julie - did they not have a child? Was it killed in the car accident? Doubtful as it was only a skid. And why, without spoiling too much, does Nick break up with Julie later in the movie? How is that going to change things? Surely a better solution would be to say he wants to make a commitment to her (i.e. ask her to marry him) and then let her go to New York. He could even agree to go with her as he already knows his life is a washout if he stays in his current job. And his final actions seem a little strange too. Wouldn't he simply be able to slot his car back in between Julie and the truck?

Fans of Stargate: SG-1 will no doubt recognise JR Bourne, David Lewis and Andrew Airlie (who played Lantash, Cameron Balinsky and Dr. Carmichael respectively in SG-1).

Extras include Altering Reality - On the Set of Butterfly Effect 2 (15 minute featurette that goes behind the scenes to talk with the cast and crew. Probably the most impressive aspect is the accident scene. There's also a scene that was cut from the final movie, where Eric goes back to the scene of the accident and places flower tributes and Julie's necklace on a rock); Cast and Crew Interviews (2-3 minute interviews with the director and all four of the main cast); Trailer; and trailers for other releases. What's missing is an audio commentary with director John R. Leonetti and co-producer Michael Stirling which is promised on the press release.

While this isn't a terrible film it's not particularly good either. There are so many clichés revisited here that it's a little embarrassing after a while. The "shock" twist at the end has been done so many times before that it's unintentionally funny. But then when you consider that this was filmed in only 20 days it's a miracle that it's watchable at all.

Nick Smithson

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£10.98 (Amazon.co.uk)
   
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£10.99 (Play.com)
   
£10.99 (HMV.co.uk)
   
£11.89 (Sendit.com)
   
£11.99 (Bensons-world.co.uk)
   
£12.22 (Thehut.com)

All prices correct at time of going to press.