This edit seeks to re-tell the events of the East-Rail 177 Trilogy in a new and focused way. Incidentally, East-Rail 177 was my original title for this edit, but it is a big spoiler…so I dropped it early on.
In doing so, a non-linear approach was adopted in order to allow a better and more mysterious interweaving of the source materials.
The biggest challenge was to decide to what extent the narrative flash backs and flashes forwards should be used effectively, and this meant I could reveal some key elements while retaining others for later than expected reveals. This allows the edit to keep viewers guessing for far longer and actually to believe Dr Staple, later in the edit.
A balance was struck by using a series of narrative blocks, 14 in all. This allows a self-contained element to be explored. This rewards the viewer, keeps the narrative clearer and better allows for the removal of extraneous materials. The alternative would have been a far messier interweaving, which would risk losing the viewer in what would be an overly captioned edit in order to keep things clear. In fact, apart from the Block Captions, the timing/date captions drop away quickly as it is easy to identify what year you are in by the very different appearance of the protagonists.
The overriding objective is to keep the BIG reveals as late as possible and still withhold information so that the viewer is drawn in by Dr Staple, in order to experience the same doubt as the characters and to sustain this as long as the threads permit. There are reveals en-route, but these are character realisations rather than per-se plot reveals. This again helps draw out the suspense.
The interweaving of Split and Unbreakable’s main narratives removes the sub plots from both movies, namely Dr Fletcher is removed and David’s marital problems are removed respectively. Glass, has a fair amount of material repurposed into the first two acts so that Act 3 is left essentially with Glass material, fleshed out with the final retained reveals.
ACT 1 –Origins (no on screen)
So, the first act is composed of 6 Blocks. 3 blocks from Unbreakable and 3 Blocks from Split. Each block runs approx. 10 mins and overall this comprises a first act running 63 mins. This keeps the content evenly divided between the movies and the characters.
Blocks 1, 3 and 5 from Unbreakable introduce Elijah, David and Mr Glass. These are framed with material from Glass acting as bookends and establishing that there is a timeline further in the future.
Blocks 2, 4 and 6 introduce Casey, The Horde and Hedwig. Here, flashbacks intercede key moments in order to develop character EXCEPT The Horde.
The Blocks alternate in order to keep up the interest.
No reveals are made in the First Act.
ACT 2 – Realisations (not on screen)
4 further blocks.
The second act progressively brings the events to a mid-point head. There are many dramatic payoffs and reveals (but not all) as the characters and threads all come together at the end of Act 2.
Block 7, Deals with Unbreakable realisations of the characters.
Block 8 concludes with a highly modifies conclusion to Split, again with no Dr Fletcher, less horror and less gore.
Block 9 Brings the Green Guard fully into the frame with the most complex narrative change made serving as a simultaneous as a bridge for both David’s realisations and his activities in the opening of Glass, which are highly restructured to permit the escalations to run concurrently. Getting the surrounding events to synchronise to this point was the biggest challenge of this edit.
Block 10, everyone has been dropped in the shit, and Dr Staple now takes centre stage. Reveals have been held back still, but new ones emerge in small doses. This act also sets up the showdown.
Act 2 runs 74 mins, and each block now runs circa 15-22 mins. With viewers now more engaged, each block can sustain interest for longer.
Act 3 – Showdowns (not on screen)
4 Final blocks.
The final act, running about 73 mins, is all event driven with all the characters now fully in play, the blocks are divided into thematic events now and NOT character blocks as was the case for Acts 1 and 2.
The first block here deals with The Trinity that is David, The Horde and Elijah.
The second block, deals with Elijah’s planning and here a major reveal is finally delivered, held back from Unbreakable.
The penultimate block is the moving of all the pieces into their final playoff positions, again with some selective flashbacks to finally put the viewer in the position where their doubts are removed. Sustaining this further would not be credible or possible.
The final block is the Showdown, which is again modified, includes new and different flashbacks and a new ending removing the station sequence and overtly “out of the blue” elements so many criticised, however, the evil society alluded to in Unbreakable (think voicemail) still gets its moment, but again, is highly modified and hopefully more satisfying. The last shot, speaks for itself.
