Echo
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2005
Original Running Time:
136
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
105
Time Cut:
31
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
A more straight to the point, less "Bayish" version of The Island.
Intention:
To retain more of an air of mystery in the early stages of the story, rather than having the audience an hour ahead of the characters. 2. To make this Lincoln’s story as much as possible. He’s the anchor, so anything that detracts from that is less important. 3. To trim away some of Bay’s hideously in-your-face product placement.
Release Information:
- DVD
- Digital
Cuts and Additions:
New company logos and titles.
Removed Lincoln6Echo’s opening dream sequence.
Removed several on-screen credits during opening minutes of the film.
Removed Lincoln complaining about his missing shoe and cut to monitoring stations.
Removed Lincoln telling Gandu3Echo about his missing shoe.
Removed Gandu talking about how long he’s been waiting to go to The Island, and what a loser he is. Only serves to highlight that the agnates ages do not correspond to their designation, despite what McCord later claims.
Removed censors hassling Gandu about his emotional outburst.
Removed food server telling off Lincoln, and fellow agnate telling him to “Move it.”
Removed Jordan2Delta gloating towards Lincoln about getting the bacon, and some of her interaction with the food server. In this way, Jordan seems to be getting the bacon for herself, but ends up giving it to Lincoln. It comes across as less sneaky, and just a nice gesture on her part.
Removed reference to upcoming XBOX match.
Removed agnates learning from children’s books.
Removed shot of Merrick with film crew reflected in his glasses.
Removed Jones saying “Divided by, multiplied by” like, a thousand friggin’ times. I actually quite like Jones, but this little moment really gives me the shits.
Removed McCord attending agnate “birthing” sequence.
Removed XBOX game sequence, and subsequent reference to it during the following scene.
Removed Lincoln dreaming again.
Fixed Lima1Alpha slightly blinking after her death.
Removed nurse raving about how much she loves Starkweather, and Lima’s baby being delivered to the “mother”.
Removed spinning shot of darts streaking towards Starkweather.
Removed Lincoln and Jordan going into agnate chamber during their escape, and fighting the censors.
Removed Lincoln’s line to Jordan, “Still think there’s an island?”
Removed Merrick telling Laurent about the agnate’s excised sex drive.
Removed Lincoln’s, “He’s taking a dump in a can.” & Jordan’s idiocy over the bartender’s question, “Straight up?”
Removed hillbilly catching Lincoln and Mac in the bathroom.
Removed Mac’s wife completely. Sorry, Shawnee. I gots no time for your foolishness, so you’re out of here. Also, not knowing if McCord is married kinda makes the maid outfit in his closet all the funnier. (What, just me? Oh well.)
Removed a lot of Mac’s beating around the bush before telling Lincoln and Jordan that they are clones.
Removed Mac’s claim that there are only twelve stories mixed and matched amongst the agnates. A population that large, it’s not believable that none of the agnates ever noticed the coincidence.
Removed Mac choosing clothes for Jordan.
Removed Mac’s line about women and credit cards.
After Jordan fires a nail into the wall, trimmed out Lincoln pulling it out with his bare hands.
Removed quick cut back to guy with nails through his hand.
Removed Merrick discussing Renovatio with underling.
Removed Laurent’s man scanning communications for Lincoln and Jordan.
Removed line about Laurent’s team having “Three Black Wasps and two jet-bikes” as it’s completely wrong. The Black Wasps are the jet-bikes.
Removed shot of armoured car with damage on the front prior to it getting damaged.
Erased visible camera in the shot just after the cop car gets slammed.
Removed shot of undamaged armoured car after it has been damaged.
Removed Laurent ordering his men to, “Silently take them out!” Ain’t nothing remotely silent about their methods, before or after this point.
There were two shots where it was painfully obvious that the crashing train wheels were rubber. Now fixed.
Removed Jordan telling Lincoln, “Good job!”
Reframed shot of truck crashing into railing. (The original shot goes off-centre due to the impact.)
Reframed shot of Black Wasp rider with missing image on the left side of the shot.
Did minor wire removal work on the shot of the Black Wasp sliding to a stop.
Removed one shot with an obvious stunt double for Jordan, and another that had doubles for both Jordan and Lincoln.
Removed Laurent telling his team, “If there’s no way to get our fugitives quietly, you need to take them out.”
Removed brief moment of quiet in the elevator.
Removed Merrick murdering Gandu3Echo. Gandu is visible in several shots later in the film, and the scene is really just an attempt to make Merrick more loathsome to an audience, which is unnecessary.
Removed Tom Lincoln yelling, “And what are you doing in my house?!”
Removed blatant product placement shot of Tom’s drink. **Sigh**
Removed Tom calling Merrick Biotech and telling them that Lincoln is with him. This way, there’s at least a tiny bit of doubt as to whose side Tom is on.
Erased ‘previous take’ skids on road, and removed diagonal markings which give away how fake the freeway really is. (Also trimmed several frames here and there to do the same.)
Removed road sign falling.
Fixed continuity of Tom’s car being further away than it should be in each shot when they speed off.
Removed shot of truck driving in same direction as Lincoln. It’s seen driving the opposite way in the very next shot.
Removed Lincoln biting Tom’s finger. It’s clear he’s not biting down much at all.
Restructured and shortened the “I’m Tom Lincoln!” standoff. Removes Lincoln6Echo taking so long to realise he should play along, and removed Lincoln6Echo putting the wristband on Tom right in front of everyone. (Which is just plain stupid.) Now, Lincoln slipped it onto him during the scuffle. No one notices until Tom smacks Lincoln in the head with his pistol, which brings the wristband out from under his sleeve.
Removed sex scene. We don’t need to see it to know it happened, and it’s such a cheesy, soft-filter sex scene that it’s unintentionally funny.
Removed Whitman’s prattling on when calling “Tom” Lincoln at home. Just get to the point, little man.
Added Renovatio into the background of one shot where it was missing.
Removed Lincoln telling Jordan all about his plan.
Removed computer scan graphic when Jordan buys ice-cream. It’s a steal from earlier in the film, and unnecessary.
Mirror-imaged shot of Lincoln in Merrick helicopter for continuity. His wound is on the wrong side.
Removed all Laurent material once he delivers Jordan. His ‘sympathetic villain’ bit is such a cliché, and I don’t care about his character at all, so taking him out helps once again to make this Lincoln’s story.
Removed all Lincoln versus Merrick material. Lincoln just shuts down the place instead.
Re-arranged the scenes leading up to the fan’s destruction.
Removed Lincoln6Echo’s opening dream sequence.
Removed several on-screen credits during opening minutes of the film.
Removed Lincoln complaining about his missing shoe and cut to monitoring stations.
Removed Lincoln telling Gandu3Echo about his missing shoe.
Removed Gandu talking about how long he’s been waiting to go to The Island, and what a loser he is. Only serves to highlight that the agnates ages do not correspond to their designation, despite what McCord later claims.
Removed censors hassling Gandu about his emotional outburst.
Removed food server telling off Lincoln, and fellow agnate telling him to “Move it.”
Removed Jordan2Delta gloating towards Lincoln about getting the bacon, and some of her interaction with the food server. In this way, Jordan seems to be getting the bacon for herself, but ends up giving it to Lincoln. It comes across as less sneaky, and just a nice gesture on her part.
Removed reference to upcoming XBOX match.
Removed agnates learning from children’s books.
Removed shot of Merrick with film crew reflected in his glasses.
Removed Jones saying “Divided by, multiplied by” like, a thousand friggin’ times. I actually quite like Jones, but this little moment really gives me the shits.
Removed McCord attending agnate “birthing” sequence.
Removed XBOX game sequence, and subsequent reference to it during the following scene.
Removed Lincoln dreaming again.
Fixed Lima1Alpha slightly blinking after her death.
Removed nurse raving about how much she loves Starkweather, and Lima’s baby being delivered to the “mother”.
Removed spinning shot of darts streaking towards Starkweather.
Removed Lincoln and Jordan going into agnate chamber during their escape, and fighting the censors.
Removed Lincoln’s line to Jordan, “Still think there’s an island?”
Removed Merrick telling Laurent about the agnate’s excised sex drive.
Removed Lincoln’s, “He’s taking a dump in a can.” & Jordan’s idiocy over the bartender’s question, “Straight up?”
Removed hillbilly catching Lincoln and Mac in the bathroom.
Removed Mac’s wife completely. Sorry, Shawnee. I gots no time for your foolishness, so you’re out of here. Also, not knowing if McCord is married kinda makes the maid outfit in his closet all the funnier. (What, just me? Oh well.)
Removed a lot of Mac’s beating around the bush before telling Lincoln and Jordan that they are clones.
Removed Mac’s claim that there are only twelve stories mixed and matched amongst the agnates. A population that large, it’s not believable that none of the agnates ever noticed the coincidence.
Removed Mac choosing clothes for Jordan.
Removed Mac’s line about women and credit cards.
After Jordan fires a nail into the wall, trimmed out Lincoln pulling it out with his bare hands.
Removed quick cut back to guy with nails through his hand.
Removed Merrick discussing Renovatio with underling.
Removed Laurent’s man scanning communications for Lincoln and Jordan.
Removed line about Laurent’s team having “Three Black Wasps and two jet-bikes” as it’s completely wrong. The Black Wasps are the jet-bikes.
Removed shot of armoured car with damage on the front prior to it getting damaged.
Erased visible camera in the shot just after the cop car gets slammed.
Removed shot of undamaged armoured car after it has been damaged.
Removed Laurent ordering his men to, “Silently take them out!” Ain’t nothing remotely silent about their methods, before or after this point.
There were two shots where it was painfully obvious that the crashing train wheels were rubber. Now fixed.
Removed Jordan telling Lincoln, “Good job!”
Reframed shot of truck crashing into railing. (The original shot goes off-centre due to the impact.)
Reframed shot of Black Wasp rider with missing image on the left side of the shot.
Did minor wire removal work on the shot of the Black Wasp sliding to a stop.
Removed one shot with an obvious stunt double for Jordan, and another that had doubles for both Jordan and Lincoln.
Removed Laurent telling his team, “If there’s no way to get our fugitives quietly, you need to take them out.”
Removed brief moment of quiet in the elevator.
Removed Merrick murdering Gandu3Echo. Gandu is visible in several shots later in the film, and the scene is really just an attempt to make Merrick more loathsome to an audience, which is unnecessary.
Removed Tom Lincoln yelling, “And what are you doing in my house?!”
Removed blatant product placement shot of Tom’s drink. **Sigh**
Removed Tom calling Merrick Biotech and telling them that Lincoln is with him. This way, there’s at least a tiny bit of doubt as to whose side Tom is on.
Erased ‘previous take’ skids on road, and removed diagonal markings which give away how fake the freeway really is. (Also trimmed several frames here and there to do the same.)
Removed road sign falling.
Fixed continuity of Tom’s car being further away than it should be in each shot when they speed off.
Removed shot of truck driving in same direction as Lincoln. It’s seen driving the opposite way in the very next shot.
Removed Lincoln biting Tom’s finger. It’s clear he’s not biting down much at all.
Restructured and shortened the “I’m Tom Lincoln!” standoff. Removes Lincoln6Echo taking so long to realise he should play along, and removed Lincoln6Echo putting the wristband on Tom right in front of everyone. (Which is just plain stupid.) Now, Lincoln slipped it onto him during the scuffle. No one notices until Tom smacks Lincoln in the head with his pistol, which brings the wristband out from under his sleeve.
Removed sex scene. We don’t need to see it to know it happened, and it’s such a cheesy, soft-filter sex scene that it’s unintentionally funny.
Removed Whitman’s prattling on when calling “Tom” Lincoln at home. Just get to the point, little man.
Added Renovatio into the background of one shot where it was missing.
Removed Lincoln telling Jordan all about his plan.
Removed computer scan graphic when Jordan buys ice-cream. It’s a steal from earlier in the film, and unnecessary.
Mirror-imaged shot of Lincoln in Merrick helicopter for continuity. His wound is on the wrong side.
Removed all Laurent material once he delivers Jordan. His ‘sympathetic villain’ bit is such a cliché, and I don’t care about his character at all, so taking him out helps once again to make this Lincoln’s story.
Removed all Lincoln versus Merrick material. Lincoln just shuts down the place instead.
Re-arranged the scenes leading up to the fan’s destruction.
User reviews
18 reviews
Overall rating
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
9.2(5)
Audio Editing
9.8(5)
Visual Editing
9.8(5)
Narrative
8.8(5)
Enjoyment
8.7(18)
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
8.0
I've always had a soft spot for The Island just for its "Logan's Run" style throwback Sci-Fi premise alone. Add to that Johansson and McGregor in their primes, and this is a lot of gorgeous Michael Bay eye candy. The fanedit maintains a lot of that visual impressiveness despite the age and file size, though ultimately the story editing falls apart literally at the last minute.
Aside from some typical over-the-top Bay action scenes that I wish had been trimmed down to make this at least slightly more plausible, there are really just two narrative choices here that hold this edit back for me. The first is a minor trim, but really a huge part of the story is these two characters' attraction for each other, despite every system put in place to keep them apart. UncannyAntman tries to cut out some of the sexual references and the love scene, but this stuff is still all over the movie and it's actually important character growth for them to be "like real humans".
Secondly, and more importantly, the ending wraps up all in a rush, cutting out any explanation or justification for how "Echo's" actions would save anyone. (SPOILERS) but the film has said that everyone believes outside is contaminated...so why would they all rush outside? The film has said that these clones are worth millions of dollars each, so how are we to believe that a whole corporation will just let them go because a roof opened up? They're still out in the middle of nowhere with no witnesses and military guys all around. Echo didn't solve anything as far as this edit shows, in fact, he still has at least 100 people actively looking for him, and no way back out of the desert! The edit just skips from "I made a big hole" to "everyone forgot about us and we somehow got back out on the murdered man's boat and yadda yadda Happily Ever After".
In short, you can't set up bad guys to chase after the good guy with everything they've got, then cut out what happens to them and expect the audience to think they just gave up. As dumb as Bay's original script might have been, there was at least some effort to explain this. In the current edit, continuity is fixed early on, there are some smart narrative adjustments, but ultimately it's still a dumb, glossy chase film...only missing some of its sexy gloss. And missing an ending.
Aside from some typical over-the-top Bay action scenes that I wish had been trimmed down to make this at least slightly more plausible, there are really just two narrative choices here that hold this edit back for me. The first is a minor trim, but really a huge part of the story is these two characters' attraction for each other, despite every system put in place to keep them apart. UncannyAntman tries to cut out some of the sexual references and the love scene, but this stuff is still all over the movie and it's actually important character growth for them to be "like real humans".
Secondly, and more importantly, the ending wraps up all in a rush, cutting out any explanation or justification for how "Echo's" actions would save anyone. (SPOILERS) but the film has said that everyone believes outside is contaminated...so why would they all rush outside? The film has said that these clones are worth millions of dollars each, so how are we to believe that a whole corporation will just let them go because a roof opened up? They're still out in the middle of nowhere with no witnesses and military guys all around. Echo didn't solve anything as far as this edit shows, in fact, he still has at least 100 people actively looking for him, and no way back out of the desert! The edit just skips from "I made a big hole" to "everyone forgot about us and we somehow got back out on the murdered man's boat and yadda yadda Happily Ever After".
In short, you can't set up bad guys to chase after the good guy with everything they've got, then cut out what happens to them and expect the audience to think they just gave up. As dumb as Bay's original script might have been, there was at least some effort to explain this. In the current edit, continuity is fixed early on, there are some smart narrative adjustments, but ultimately it's still a dumb, glossy chase film...only missing some of its sexy gloss. And missing an ending.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
No
Format Watched?
Digital
M
Overall rating
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
8.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
9.0
If you have a tough time with Michael Bay films like I often do, this edit will be a huge relief. Much like Spence's edit of Mission: Impossible II, I actually enjoyed the whole film rather than enjoying certain sequences and then rolling my eyes during others. Highly recommended if you enjoyed the concept of The Island but wanted better execution and a lot of the fat trimmed!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
W
Overall rating
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
8.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
8.0
This version streamlines a lot of jumbled mess into a tight, thrilling narrative. This movie definitely replaces the original for me. I really like the ending. Losing Djimon Hansou and cutting some of the Merrick/Lincoln stuff at the end was a great call. The final act hits the ground running and never drags. The pacing was very good on this.
I might have trimmed a few more of the stupid, sexist Michael Bay jokes but that's really all I can say negative about this edit. Very well done.
I might have trimmed a few more of the stupid, sexist Michael Bay jokes but that's really all I can say negative about this edit. Very well done.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
T
(Updated: August 30, 2012)
Enjoyment
6.0
boon23 jun 8 208
*This rating was given before reviews were required*
*This rating was given before reviews were required*
B
(Updated: August 30, 2012)
Enjoyment
10.0
nexus1983 oct 15 2008
*This rating was given before reviews were required*
*This rating was given before reviews were required*
N