Synopsis:

I had three simple goals: 1. NO GOD 2. MORE DANCING 3. END MOVIE A COUPLE MINUTES EARLIER.

Intentions:

I loved the film and found it almost perfect for me but I was bothered by all of the overt religious talk and the last couple minutes of the film. I found the conversations shoehorned so I set out to remove them to make the characters more realistic, in my opinion. For the ending, I felt that the film should have concluded a couple minutes earlier, with a different character.

Change List:

11:17 – Cut “not just the history of man…that’s the history of gods” - shoehorned in god reference, but what the hell does that logically even mean? 15:31 – Cut god/man talk – first off it’s too obvious Nathan is trying to put him off, secondly that’s not how scientists talk, thirdly his blatant misquote of Caleb makes him sound like a psychopath. I understand that he probably is but he would be smart enough to not come off like a megalomaniac. 59:05 – Added extended dance sequence (because Oscar Isaac dancing is wonderful and it makes his immediate reaction afterward make a lot more sense). 1:06:32 – Cut “all set for extinction” – I think the metaphor is great with ‘upright apes with crude language and tools’ and the last part is dark rather than the detached way he was speaking. Scientists do not look back on fossils with disdain in my opinion. Also cut Oppenheimer quote from Caleb since it is already obvious enough how he feels about Ava, I feel that quoting Oppenheimer quoting Sanskrit text is just too much. 1:07:00 Cut drunk Nathan continuing the Oppenheimer/Sanskrit quote – too on the nose for me. Although the man was a brilliant scientist it is a direct religious quote and I just don’t see it fitting with his character. I left in the line “it’s Promethean” because that’s subtle enough and completely sounds like how drunk Nathan would talk (in my opinion). 1:37:49 – Cut Eva walking out into the world so that the film ends with Caleb.

Additional Notes:

I sought to make the characters speak more realistically and end the film sooner.

Special Thanks: