Jason: "You can't play God son."

The Butterfly Effect is horrific, gut-churning, movie. I came in expecting something similar to Momento ,but it was something that definitely crossed the line of my comfort zone ,but not the line of truth and lies. I remember leaving the class feeling depressed, angry, and sad. Who knew that by changing one aspect of an individual's life could lead to such a catastrophic imbalance in the realm of reality of everyone in that individual's karass. Everyone in Evan's karass end up suffering as he tries to improve one person's life for the better and torturing everyone else by saving this one person's life.

The actual reality for Evan are his journals. As, he goes back in time to revisit his past through reading his journal entries he sees all the pain and agony the people around him suffer in his childhood. Tommy, Kayleigh, Ms. Trebone, and Lenny are the major characters that make up his karass. Throughout the movie Evan constantly tries to save these people and make their lives better as if he was God, which he is not and that is the lie which is the truth to him. For example, he rewinds his memory and tries prevent Lenny from suffering a mental breakdown as he witnesses the explosion of the blockbuster that killed a woman and a baby. By just changing that detail in the past, he ends up losing both of his arms, Lenny is now with Kayleigh, Tommy is a Christan preacher, and his mother is dying from lung cancer. With just that change in the present gives him the urge to commit suicide. Seeing his mother suffering from lung cancer all because he lost his arms makes him realize his that by saving one another suffers, but his drive of saving his loved ones does not simmer down. All Evan can say to his mother is "I'll save you."

That idea of saving people is what makes him think he is God. He tries again to save someone else again. This time he tries to save Kayleigh who is being sexually abused by her pedophile father. He ends up saving Kayleigh and in the future she goes to college, a member of sorority, and in a passionate relationship with Evan. Everything seems perfect but not so perfect for Tommy. Since he was left behind he ends up being sexually abused and is even a worse sociopath. In the end Evan loses his temper while trying to defend himself and ends up killing Tommy. Now, Kayleigh's heart is broken due to the loss of her brother.

With good intentions he tries to save the people he loves. Soon, he realizes that all his actions that he takes with a good heart ends up harming everyone he loves. He realizes that he isn't God as his father said, "You can't play God son." If all he brings is pain and heartache to everyone he loves then the world is better off without him. He decides to sacrifice himself, by going back in time as a fetus and strangling himself with his umbilical cord, in order to bring happiness to everyone else. As Tommy said, "True happiness can only be achieved through sacrifice...for us to be here today."