'Butterfly Effect' unpredictable, undeniable

Pretty boy Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore's sweetheart and goofball comic relief on "That '70s Show," gains respect as an actor with his role as Evan in "The Butterfly Effect," an edgy, emotional movie examining time travel and the controversial chaos theory. Now on DVD, "The Butterfly Effect" with gritty, personal themes of taboo subjects such as youth violence and child molestation -- delivers both an intense, psychological thriller, as well as a fateful love story between childhood friends Evan (Kutcher) and Kayleigh (Amy Smart). The story begins with a young Evan experiencing severe blackouts, similar to his institutionalized father. His mother and doctor urge him to write in journals to avoid memory lapses. Evan continues putting pen to paper as he progresses through his teen years, rebelling with neighbors Kayleigh and her brother, Tommy, as well as with asthmatic shy-guy Lenny, by smoking cigarettes, reading Hustler and playing with an explosive. The child actors are both believable and vulnerable. In fact, Logan Lerman (Evan at age 7) often outshines Kutcher. After several horrific events occur, splitting separate rifts in time and causing Evan's blackouts, the four adolescents are forever sent into a downward spiral. Flash to Evan in his college years: he works on a psychology project about his memory lapses and comes across his old journals. Somehow he transports to the moments in time when the rifts occurred and attempts to change tragedies into an ideal future for he and his crush, Kayleigh. Numerous scenarios play out until the finale, which ends the film with a powerful, unexpected twist. The DVD features the theatrical version, as well as the director's cut of the film, which offers even more of a backwards ending than the original. With interactive Infinifilm features such as a DVD-ROM that allows the viewer to follow the script to screen on their PC, the disc also offers two featurettes, "The Science and Psychology of the Chaos Theory" and "The History and Allure of Time Travel," as well as in-depth pop-ups that accompany the film when selected. Behind-the-scenes facts also enhance the experience, informing the viewer that the prison scene was actually shot in Washington state, with 125 real prisoners as extras, and the actors used a fight choreographer to do their own stunts. The deleted scenes round off the DVD with a few additional alternative endings between lovebirds Evan and Kayleigh.