Echo
by Uncanny AntmanWhat is it about?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.
member ratings:
Original film name:The Island
New film name: Echo
Film studio name: Dreamworks & Warner Brothers
Edit crew name: Uncanny Antman
Date original film was released: July 22, 2005
Date edit was released: March 21, 2008.
Original runtime: 136 minutes
New runtime: 105 minutes
Cuts removed/added/extended:
- 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.
Your intention for this fanedit: 1. 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.
Fan edit details : Anamorphic, 5.1 audio. The DVD version also contains the teaser trailer, six other teasers, and an easter egg.
Hardware and software information: Premiere & Photoshop.
Time needed for the edition: A month, on and off.
additional download links: trailer on youtube
Buy the original DVD and support FANEDIT.ORG:
Images:
cover art by Uncanny Antman (download here):

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Nicely done edit on your AVI release! This version is entirely watchable (with the exception of some of the over-the-top LA chase sequence). I was hugely disappointed by this movie when I saw it in theaters, because I really liked that it was a variation on the Brave New World and THX 1138 ideas. Any of that “oppressive society/people rebelling to get the truth and freedom” thing really interests me, though The Island was riddled with too many melodramatic moments and sophmoric attempts at humor.
Thankfully, your edit leaves me feeling like I watched a svelt, well-paced story about human liberty and dignity with some social commentary thrown in, like good sci-fi should. The running time is much more bearable, too; there’re are only so many Michael Bay “glamour” camera moves I can take. Thanks, Antman! Can’t wait for the DVD.
Review by darkhelmet — June 8, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
This is irony for you. I’ve been waiting for this on DVD but I got impatient and finally downloaded the AVI last night and converted it to DVD. And then, this morning, I find the DVD release! Oh well, I’ll consider it a birthday present. Anyway, here’s my “review:”
As I previously stated, I watched the AVI release and the quality was shockingly good. It didn’t look as good as some of the DVDs I’ve watched but it looked a lot better than I thought AVI converted to DVD and displayed on a 50″ plasma would look like. So, no complaints there. Now, for the edit itself. One word: AWESOME. I’m gonna admit something here, I’m actually a really big fan of The Island. I’m not one of those Michael Bay bashers, as I’ve actually found all of his films at least enjoyable (yes, even Pearl Harbor) and I think The Rock is one of the best action movies of the 90’s. But, unfortunately, for all the fun Bay can put on screen, he also puts a lot of silliness and just plain crap up there as well. And, The Island was no exception. Thankfully, Uncanny Antman has once again decided to save the day with Echo and the results are nothing short of fabulous. He’s removed 99% of the stupid humor (although I still hate the “Dude” scene and the “Jesus must love you” scene) and cleaned up a lot of little continuity errors here and there. But, that’s not what makes this edit so great. That’s not what makes all of his edits so great. It’s his attention to detail. They say the Devil’s in the details and UA proves that. It’s the little things like removing Laurent’s line about keeping quiet whilst their destroying half of downtown L.A. Or removing Tom Lincoln’s call to Merrick to retain an air of mystery. Or not revealing that Lincoln6Echo has put the bracelet on Tom Lincoln until the moment Laurent sees it. UA edits with the mind of a director, which is what places him so high above other fan editors. While most are just concerned with removing “crap,” UA actually tries to tell the best story he can by removing, adding or re-arranging moments / scenes. This turns The Island from a movie I really liked into a movie I now love. It made Terminator 3 no longer suck and turned Live Free or Die Hard into a better movie. Another great edit, UA. Next up on my plate is A Nightmare on Elm Street 7, also in AVI format.
Review by Kolpitz — June 24, 2008 @ 7:39 pm
HOLY CRAP!!!! This is without a doubt the BEST fanedit I’ve seen in a long time. Absolutely top-notch editing! The menus are stunning. I’m not a man of many words, so let me just say that this edit should be on your to-watch list. 5/5.
Review by reave — June 27, 2008 @ 6:13 am
I am so very happy to report that before watching Echo a moment ago, I had never seen the Island, I didn’t even know much about it. This is wonderful because I had the joy of seeing your edit without any memory of the crap that you excised (I bet you’re envious).
I can say that your edits, if not perfect, are at least undetectable for a new viewer such as myself. And although my attention to detail is nothing compared to yours, I am picky, and I do usually pick up on awkward cuts and lacking continuity.
I made the wise decision not to read any of your edits before watching. I trusted your vision completely after seeing T3 The Coming Storm, and it was a real treat to read what I was “missing” after the fact. And you are right, it was in fact funny seeing the maid’s outfit in McCord’s closet without knowing about his wife. If the filmmakers had had the idea for that joke they would have ruined it, but as it was it was subtle and worth a laugh.
What else can I say, your list of edits could very well be my list of reasons why I am happy right now. Good work.
Review by CasmirRadon — June 29, 2008 @ 8:00 am
ECHO
So Uncanny Antman has again picked a turd and done his furious polishing. This film was steaming when I saw it in the Cinema and I promised myself never to suffer another Michael Bay monstrosity (not that I held to that because I saw nauseating Transformers).
The great fixer Uncanny Antman has done some fine work on this version of The Island which he calls ECHO. The visual and sound editing is flawless and I really loved the opening title credit. Very subtle, professional and über cool.
Still the material Antman is working with is pretty lame. Scarlett Johansson breaking a police cable tie with ease, the ‘hover’ bike chase which leads into a fall from 70 floors that only leaves Ewan McGregor with a scratch and finally the logic of destroying perfectly good organs because of undesirable brain activity.
Still ECHO is much better than the original incarnation. Gone is the shameless product placement and more embarrassing Bay elements. What is left is pure escapism with pace and excitement.
Hats off to you Uncanny Antman and your well deserved award!
Review by Rock Savage — July 28, 2008 @ 5:18 pm
Congrats on the award, Uncanny Antman! Well-deserved as your continued work with ECHO proves. Thanks for making the DVD release. The single-layer disc holds up beautifully on my HD screen. It was nice to be able to enjoy a good Sci-Fi movie culled from THE ISLAND!
Review by darkhelmet — August 20, 2008 @ 6:19 am
Also, I made a variant DVD cover based on your DVD art that can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7e202d62a5a62b1fd2db6fb9a8902bda
I reworked the front cover a bit as well as the spine. Cheers!
Review by darkhelmet — August 20, 2008 @ 6:32 am
this is a great edit and almost completely removes “the michael bay-ness” out of this film. with “echo” this film is now a faster paced and more mysterious reveal of “the island”. all of the creative decisions in removing fluff are spot on and SEVERAL of them are actually quite necessary to make this a more interesting movie (tom calling merrick biotech, lincoln telling his plan to jordan, minimizing merrick, and all of the goofs in this movie… several…).
a few bits that i think would make this a bit stronger would be including the bit about the agnates sex drive and then including the sex scene between lincoln and jordan. i realize that it was poorly done, but i think it is important to see the change they have gone through.
entertainment 10/10
fanediting 10/10
video 10/10
audio 10/10
original 7/10
fanedit 9/10
9/10
Review by joebshmoe — March 6, 2009 @ 12:08 am
I loved it, I’m throwing away my copy, and putting this one up.
Review by BestofDBZ1 — August 6, 2009 @ 10:53 am