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UltraViolet: Rough Cut vs. Studio Cut
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Film
Comparison by Psyclops
I'm sure most of
you will be going to see ULTRAVIOLET this weekend. I just got back from
a showing here in Los Angeles and I figured I'd start a thread
discussing the various differences between the cut that was screened
last February, which I had the opportunity to see, and the finished
product. Some of the changes are pretty insignificant while other
scenes changed the way the film was structured. I'll list as many as I
can remember either way. The rough cut of the movie ran about two hours
in length while this new version clocks in at 88 minutes. There will be
spoilers contained within so please tread carefully.
The
Beginning
The opening
narration is a bit different in the finished version. In the rough cut,
Violet explains that "Hemophagia" was an aberration that spread like
wildfire, turning humans into vampires but not the kind you've come to
expect. The Hemophages would become stronger and faster than normal
humans but they wouldn't feed on blood. They did grow fangs and
constant blood transfusions were required to keep themselves alive, but
their lifespan would also be significantly shortened once they became
infected. Death would come ten years from the point of infection for
anyone who contracted HPV.
Various
Bits
When we were first
introduced to Violet it was mentioned that she was living in the last
few days of her life. I believe she had a little over 24 hours before
she was supposed to expire.
The scene where
the detectives are investigating the attack on the blood lab had a bit
more dialogue, mostly a few lines where a seasoned cop berates a
younger officer for using the term "vampires" to describe the
Hemophages.
I don't recall
there being an electrical discharge when the swords or various items
are pulled out of the dimensional pockets (flat space). The shot where
the cop pulls out a sword from the chest of a dead Hemophage and then
slides it back in looked and sounded nastier in the rough cut without
all the sound and visual effects.
There was also a
few more snippets of dialogue in the scene where Violet, posing as the
courier, is trying to gain access to the weapon developed by the
humans. We see her clothes change into the color of whatever room she's
in and when asked by one of the lab technicians if she has any more
questions, she replies, "What color is the next room?"
The fight that
takes place after Violet's cover is blown was originally extended. The
sound effects of bones breaking and people screaming in pain are
missing. Also missing is a scene where Violet punches a guard who is
wearing the translucent body armor. Her first hit does nothing so he
taps his chest and says, "Shatterproof armor, bitch."
Violet responds by
hitting him harder and knocking him backwards, shattering his
chestplate.
There's also some
dialogue missing from the guards who slide into the room with the stun
batons. Something along the lines of "Wait! She's armed!", followed by
Violet pulling the trigger but having no ammo left, then the guards get
all confident and rush her. That's when she disassembles the rifle and
beats them with the pieces. Also, this fight was the most heavily
edited. It didn't flow as well without the dialogue and the bits that
were missing.
Several characters
including the lab tech/government guy who speaks to Violet as she's
exiting the facility with the weapon as well as the blonde motorcycle
courier had their voices dubbed.
The motorcycle
chase up the building included a scene where we see a room full of
office employees inside get shot up by the stray fire of the helicopter
guns.
When Violet opens
the package to reveal Six, he is originally seen lying in a pool of
bubbling water, not the bright blue animated static that you see now.
Daxus had a longer
introduction with more dialogue. We learned that he's got a serious
problem with germs. He wears a pin striped suit that goes beyond the
sleeves to cover his shoes and hands. You see an entourage of people
sanitizing everything for him while he is being briefed about the theft
of his weapon by one of his underlings.
When Violet
snatches Six and tries to make it out of the building, she is chased up
the stairwell by a few vampires. One of them yells out, "I'm gonna kill
you with my bare hands!", so Violet leans over the railing with her gun
and shoots his hand off right at the wrist. I loved this scene. That
same Hemophage is seen later in the mausoleum fight with Nerva and his
men, cradling his bloody stump and looking mighty pissed at Violet.
There is a small
scene missing where Nerva makes a quick deal on the phone with the
Blood Chinois, the Asian gangsters from the rooftop scene, to corner
Violet before she can escape with Six. That's why they suddenly appear
out of nowhere when she reaches the top of the building.
The scene where
Daxus and his soldiers storm the level where the Hemophages are
shooting out the lights was longer. When it goes dark, we see the
entire room lit only by the flashes of gunfire (very similar to the
opening of EQ) as Nerva and his goons surround each soldier and pump
them full of bullets. This goes on for a minute, getting all dark and
quiet between kills, before Daxus quietly calls out to his troops and
the emergency lights go up to reveal them all scattered and shot to
death.
The scene where
Daxus picks up the coffee showed a bit more of his hands shaking,
making him seem less confident and the precision of his kills all the
more surprising.
In one scene, Six
asks Violet if she has teeth like a vampire. She opens her mouth to
reveal fangs and says that she has to grind them down or they grow back.
When Six "dies" in
the park, his body was sprayed with foam and taken away by the guys in
the funky hazmat suits.
The Flashback
Here's the big
one. There were several flashbacks towards the end of the movie. It
happens right after Garth brings her back from the dead if I'm not
mistaken, and it mostly shows Violet as a young nurse and her husband,
the doctor (Ricardo Mamood). Violet is played by another actress, one
who looks similar to Milla Jovovich. During the opening montage at the
start of the film we see glimpses of this woman in a lab being poked
and prodded by scientists, looking very miserable and stripped of her
dignity. This is when we discover that the woman is actually Violet
from ten years ago and we see how she contracted the virus.
A disheveled
looking Hemophage enters the hospital room where a very pregnant Violet
and her husband are having a quiet moment. The vampire is trying to
steal some blood and gets into a scuffle with the husband before being
shot and killed by security. The blood splatters and hits Violet in the
face, getting in her eye and pretty much altering the course of her
life forever. I do recall a scene where the husband is arguing with
some government guys and asking to see his wife, then discovering that
their baby was either terminated or lost to the disease. I'm pretty
sure I didn't dream that last part up but I swear it's the only scene
not stored in my memory banks.
We then cut
back to the present. After she leaves Garth on the night of her
resurrection, she goes to see her husband. She doesn't actually meet
him, just watches him quietly from a balcony outside a fancy restaurant
or concert hall, my memory is bit fuzzy on the details... anyway, she
sees that he now has a lovely new wife and some children. He smiles at
his young daughter and touches her face when a tear drop hits his hand.
He looks up but Violet is already gone.
The Ending
The guard on
the rooftop that is seen at the very end of the trailer actually gets
decapitated in the original cut.
Violet storming
enemy HQ was also extended a bit. In the scene where Violet starts
attacking that second wave of soldiers during the library fight, she
stabs one of them in the balls with her gun-blade and flips him
backwards (that one got a great crowd reaction).
The "white
room" fight also had a little injection of humor with that last guard
going all crazy and doing the flip in the air, which was hilarious, and
Violet looking up at him confused and mouthing the words, "What the
fuck?", before killing him off.
The fight with
the flaming swords had a much better build up. As soon as the room gets
dark, Daxus begins taunting Violet. We hear the sound of a sword
slicing and Violet screams out in pain.
Daxus: "Oh,
come on. That wasn't so bad."
We hear another
attack followed by a scream.
Daxus: "Okay.
That was pretty bad."
That's when she
starts creating the sparks to ignite the sword.
That was pretty
much it. Many of the problems that I had with the original cut were
actually fixed with the removal of certain scenes while the action
suffered a bit with the toned down violence. The film didn't have very
much blood other than a hand being shot off or Violet's fingers getting
sliced, but I'm sure this was shooting for an R-rating.
Also, the soft lens effect that
makes everything in the film appear slightly blurred was not used in
the version that was screened last year. The CGI was incomplete but the
finished effects make the film look dark and muddy.
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