Synopsis:

The Ruthless Cut is an attempt to make the narrative a more focused experience, leaning more heavily into the brutality of the film's events, while also forgoing the sentimentality of the original.

Intentions:

I created this fan edit to address four overall issues: 1) Patterson's family subplot being a contrivance to appeal to a general audience. 2) Remington's backstory undermining the mystery of his character. 3) Samuel's narration being redundant. 4) Miscellaneous dialogue that is awkward or otherwise detracts from the film. The original film has conflicting motivations for Patterson. On one hand, he adores Africa and strives to build a bridge (and all the metaphorical meaning that entails). On the other hand, he is driven to see his wife and newborn child. This conflict between external/worldly and internal/familial passion can be compelling if done right, but I don't think it is. It doesn't make much sense for him to continually put himself in unnecessary danger, potentially making his child grow up fatherless, just to finish building his bridge. This could work if a) the film showed him being apprehensive about his new family; or b) he was in a situation where he couldn't just up and leave at any time. In the original film, neither is the case. The family subplot seems like it was added to appeal to a general moviegoing audience by making Patterson more relatable. I find the motivation of finishing the bridge to be much more interesting, so that's what this edit focuses on. The family subplot has been completely removed. Patterson is now solely driven by his external/worldly passion. He must kill the lions because, for him, there is no other way forward. Screenwriter William Goldman opined that Michael Douglas' changes to Remington ruined the character's mystery, turning him into a "wimp" and "loser." I agree with him. Remington being a Civil War veteran who lost his family makes him less intriguing. This is a character who literally vanishes in the night; he should be just as phantasmal as the lions. Samuel's narration throughout the story is entirely unnecessary, and there are several occasions where he just explains what we can plainly see, or what gets repeated through dialogue anyway. The only thing we don't know that he tells us is that this story "really happened." I've never found "based on a true story" to be a compelling reason to see a film. The story is interesting regardless of whether it actually happened. Lastly, there are several lines here and there that, for one reason or another, the film is better without.

Change List:

(For the rationale behind each change listed here, see the "Ruthless Cut details.nfo" file included in the distribution.) ------------------------------------------- TECHNICAL AND EFFECTS CHANGES ------------------------------------------- * Cropped out the letterboxing. * Applied AI upscaling to 4K. * Cleaned up dirt and other film-related blemishes in certain scenes. ------------------------------------------- EDITING AND CONTENT CHANGES ------------------------------------------- Removed Samuel's narration here and for all instances hereafter. Removed some shots of Patterson walking to his meeting with Beaumount. Removed several shots of Beaumont being antagonistic from his initial meeting with Patterson. Now, he makes a joke about his sunny disposition and then goes right into the mission briefing. Removed Patterson mentioning his expecting wife to Beaumount. Kept the shots of Beaumount reacting harshly to Patterson, but now he's reacting to Patterson's statement above loving Africa. Removed the scene where Patterson says goodbye to his wife on the train platform. Removed Patterson mentioning Beaumont's "monster speech" to Starling. Removed the shots of Samuel nudging a cow out of the way and Patterson asking him if he eats cows. Removed the shot of Samuel saying that Tsavo is the worst place on Earth. Removed the shot of Hawthorne explaining that he and Starling don't like each other much. Removed Patterson addressing his wife in his first letter. Now it appears more like he's writing in a journal. Removed the shots where Samuel delivers Patterson's letter from his wife. Recut the scene where Patterson reads his wife's letter. He's now shown sitting at the tree as the lion approaches, but he isn't directly shown reading the letter. Removed the shot of Patterson stepping on his wife's letter. Removed the shot of Beaumount saying he only cares about his knighthood. Removed Beaumount reminding Patterson that he's a monster. Removed Patterson addressing his wife in his second letter. As before, it now appears like he's writing a journal entry. Removed Remington telling Abdullah he's the devil. Removed Samuel speaking around the campfire about Remington's Civil War service. Removed the shots of Remington telling Patterson about the bullies he had as a kid. Removed the shots of Remington looking back at Patterson after he spots the lion print, as well as the subsequent shot of Patterson looking around. Removed the shots where we see through one of the lion's eyes. Removed the shot of Remington saying the remaining lion is "just like one of those bullies." Removed the shot of Patterson saying he wants to see his son come into the world. Removed the shot of Remington talking about the family he lost. Removed the shot of Remington telling Patterson to hold his son high. Removed Patterson's family from the nightmare scene. Now it appears as if the lion is chasing him, rather than his wife and son. Removed the shots of Samuel and Patterson talking in Swahili about his wife and son arriving. Removed the shot of Samuel turning and smiling into the distance after taking the rifle from Bransford. Removed the shots of Patterson's wife and son waiting on the platform and then reuniting with Patterson. Now, it looks as if Patterson is running out to view the return of the workers, excited that construction on the bridge has resumed. Removed the shot of Patterson holding his son up high as the camera pans to the workers. Now, we move from the shot of Patterson looking out from the crowd to the shot of the camera panning up to the workers.