The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006)

butterfly effect 2 poster 2006 movie
3.5 Overall Score
Story: 3/10
Acting: 4/10
Visuals: 4/10

Not much

Unlikeable characters in a boring plot

Movie Info

Movie Name: The Butterfly Effect 2

Studio: New Line Cinema

Genre(s): Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Release Date(s): October 10, 2006

MPAA Rating: R

butterfly effect 2 cast birthday picture

Life will always be this perfect! At least for the next five minutes or so…

Nick (Eric Lively) hopes to make the twenty-fourth birthday of his girlfriend Julie (Erica Durance) the best ever with their friends Trevor (Dustin Milligan) and Amanda (Gina Holden).  Rushing home for an important job at his fledging tech company, tragedy strikes, and Nick’s world is shattered.  Nick discovers that he has the ability to reach back in time and change things.  Nick is able to right the wrong of Julie’s birthday, but other advantages can be had from this ability.  Nick hopes to make the world he dreams for himself, but that dream quickly becomes a nightmare.

Directed by John R. Leonetti, The Butterfly Effect 2 is a science-fiction horror film.  The movie is a straight-to-video sequel to Aston Kutcher’s 2000 film The Butterfly Effect, and the film received negative reviews.

The Butterfly Effect was a very forgettable film…but The Butterfly Effect 2 makes it look great in comparison.  While you wanted the characters to succeed in The Butterfly Effect, you want Nick to crash and burn (potentially literally).

butterfly effect 2 eric lively

Who am I this time?

The movie starts out with the best result.  Nick’s girlfriend and his friends are killed in an accident, and Nick’s life is ruined.  Nick goes back and stops the accident, and he has a pretty good life…but not good enough for Nick.  In an attempt to better his life, he starts to mess with the already altered path and the results end up being tragic.  You don’t care about Nick…Nick is kind of jerk who gets what he deserves.  It makes you hard to root for any of the characters.

The high stakes (and boring world) of a tech company yes-man is brought to you by Eric Lively.  He tries to pull off a kind of modern Charlie Sheen in Wall Street, but it feels kind like a sad version of him (even when he’s “winning” and having sex in restaurant bathrooms).  Erica Durance should be the likeable character you want to like, but some of her actions make you not like her as well.  The rest of the cast might as well be cardboard cutouts…they just aren’t very interesting (maybe the goofy “enemy” dork Dave played by David Lewis is ok).

butterfly effect 2 eric lively erica durance

Nick, you’re no Superman

The Butterfly Effect didn’t have a lot of visuals and The Butterfly Effect 2 has even less.  Biggest visual in the movie is probably the car wreck at the beginning, but even that pales to other movies who have done similar wrecks.

The Butterfly Effect 2 is a waste of time, and I didn’t feel The Butterfly Effect was something that really kept you involved.  The movie feels more like a low-rent version of Final Destination than the previous film, and I can’t imagine fans of the first movie would feel any desire to seek this out.  With slim ties itself to the first film (a mention of Kutcher’s father), The Butterfly Effect 2 was followed by a completely unrelated sequel The Butterfly Effect 3:  Revelations in 2009.

Related Links:

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

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