|
This is a first as far as my DVD reviews go, as I’ve seen this in the theaters AND I already wrote a movie review of it, so I’m just gonna copy and paste it here.
The Main Characters
--Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) is currently in college studying psychology. He is very interested in psychology because when he was younger he was plagued with blackouts, instances where blocks of time were just seemingly gone from his memory. He couldn't remember them at all.
--Kayleigh Miller (Amy Smart) is Evan’s love interest. They’ve known each other since they were kids and she’s the reason Evan keeps going back in time to prevent certain events from happening. She has a very abusive and violent brother named Tommy.
--Thumper (Ethan Suplee) has almost no role in the movie but he was mentioned in the commercials so he must be mentioned here.
The Setting
I think it takes place somewhere in upstate NY, but I'll be clever and say, it takes place in many different dimensions and times.
The Plot
As a child, Evan suffered from many blackouts. A psychologist at the time told Evan's mother that Evan should write everything down so he can remember what happened. Young Evan kept many journals but it still didn't help with his blackouts. Evan managed to blackout during some of the most frightening moments of his life, like Amy's father sexually abusing them, Tommy going crazy and killing his dog, his crazy father trying to kill him etc. He can't remember why the blackouts happened and only knows what happened before and after the blackouts. We fast-forward 7 years and Evan is blackout free. He stumbles upon some of his old journals when a lady is over and she asks him to read some for her. Sounds good right? Well, when Evan starts reading it, life seems different. He is suddenly transported back to that instance written about in the notebook. Eventually, he learns he can change the events that happened in the blackout. He goes back in time to try to change the way things work out in order to save his love, Kayleigh. Of course, he finds that each time he goes back to "save" her, the outcome he never could have predicted and it seemingly keeps getting worse. See, the chaos theory state that someplace in the world a butterfly flaps its wings causing a tidal wave somewhere else. That's what this is. A simple change of one action, event or anything and it causes a tidal wave of results Evan couldn't have foreseen.
My Review
This movie caught me totally by surprise. I heard just a little about it before going to see it and it is one of my favorites of this year. I’ve heard a lot of criticism about this movie and it seems you either love it or hate it. The people who love it seem to get around all the plot and continuity problems that plague and movie that deals with time travel. Of course, any movie dealing with time travel will have continuity problems so I try to avoid that when watching a movie (I’ve watched enough Star Trek to be able to bypass it) and when you can get around those problems, you’ll find a really nice movie with an awesome story. The acting of Ashton Kutcher must be mentioned too. The guy known as Kelso in “That 70’s Show,” gives one helluva performance and really makes me want to see him in other non-comedic roles. Overall, a high recommendation. ***1/4.
DVD Features
A) Extras
A note about the extras, this is an Infinifilm and throughout the DVD, the extras pop-up on the bottom and you could choose the extras from there. I just went to the infinifilm part and chose from there.
1) Director’s Cut
The director’s cut is a few minutes longer with only a few changes. There’s one extra scene and a few scenes are extended to lead up to a different ending. The ending is quite shocking compared to the theatrical version and I’m sure it’ll shock a lot of people. Once you get past the shock of the films' alternate ending, it makes sense.
2) The Science and Psychology of The Chaos Theory
This is a 9-minute featurette on exactly what you think it is. It’s pretty interesting and worth a look on the theory that drives the movie.
3) The History and Allure of Time Travel
This is a 14-minute featurette on exactly what it says. It goes through random books and movies talking about Time Travel.
4) Fast Track
This is a pop-up of facts that when it pops up you can hit enter to get some facts and triviata and things, taken from the extras in the movie.
5) Feature Commentary
Co-directors and co-screenwriters Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber do the commentary. They have a firm understanding of the film and talk about almost everything from camera techniques to color usage to different scenery and images. It’s a really engrossing commentary and they seem to have fun, making fun of each at various times. They only do commentary on the director’s cut version, for your information.
6) The Creative Process
This is an 18 minute featurette on what went into the movie, how it was brought from the developmental stage and all. The closest to a making of as this DVD gets without outright calling it a making of. The cast members and directors talk about the film.
7) Visual Effects
This is a 16-minute featurette on the special effects used in the movie. There was the opening butterfly sequence, all the going back in time sequences (and some of the early testings of it), Evan’s arm loss, and the mailbox exploding. There’s not too much special effects wise (I guess I feel this way just because I watched the Lord of the Rings right before this) but it’s a nice addition to the DVD and goes in-depth on every Special Effects scene.
8) Storyboard Gallery
This is a pretty cool thing (storyboards are cooool), which shows a huge listing of 11 Storyboards and plays it with the corresponding scene next to it. None of them are longer than a 1:10 and it’s a good feature.
9) Deleted/Alternate Scenes
There are 6 and a half minutes of 9 deleted scenes that you can see with directors commentary or without. The scenes aren’t too much by themselves, but you can easily tell where the scenes would’ve been inserted and they just built the story up a bit. They have two different endings too (making it at least four endings) and one he goes and follows her and the other he turns around and talks to her (the happy-sappy ending). The commentary just introduces the scene basically.
10) Theatrical Trailer
It’s the 2 and a half minute trailer for the movie. Pretty decent trailer, actually.
B) Audio/Video
The video is presented in widescreen 1.85:1 ratio. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo Surround EX 5.1 or DTS ES 6.1 Stereo Surround. There are also Spanish and English subtitles. The audio does alright, it’s not needed too much but when it’s used, it does well. The only real times it’s used are when he goes back in time with the whooshing sound. The video is decent as well. There’s no bright colors or anything, and the it handles the dark well.
Audio: 8.0
Video: 8.5
C) Liner Notes
It’s 4 pages and the first page is the cover, the last is the chapter listing and the inside pages list things about the infinifilm and what it does.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
Opinions vary widely on this movie, but I for one enjoyed it. Once you get past many logic gaps prevalent in all time travel movies, it’s a good flick. The DVD I would say is pretty. There are some good features that many would enjoy. I appreciate all the effort that went into making this an unusual DVD with the psychologists talking about time travel and the chaos theory to give more understanding to the basic concepts behind the film. The special effects featurette was enjoyable as it went through EVERY special effects shot (since there weren’t too many) and the creative process feature was. The deleted scenes were short and just there (though the two endings were something to see). You can’t forget the director’s cut, which is another version of the movie, and the end is quite different than what you’ve seen in the theater. Overall, would I recommend this? I think so. Many people may not like this movie, it seems you either love it or hate it. Based on that, I think if you hated the movie, you wouldn’t watch the extras anyway. If you loved it, you will enjoy the DVD, especially since there’s the director’s cut and commentary on that cut and the fitting extras. The film is worth a look, and definitely stick around for the extras.
Overall Rating
7.5
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
|
