Born to Kill

Updated
Born to Kill
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1987
Original Running Time:
116 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
74 minutes
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
Much shorter, this is also a "straight to the point" edit.
Intention:
This is a cut the way I like to see it, so that was the intention to do it.
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
No headshaving
Alternative opening, begins in Vietnam.
No voice over from Modine
Modine is in journalism, he is a writer, well, that's fine, but you don't see it in this edit.
Hartman says: your not a writer, your a killer! So be it.
So i cut out all those scenes with that journalism bullshit
Also no funny stuff, all that is cut
No interviews for tv
Music overdub at some scenes, (Vietnam and Ending)
I use voyage from Apocalypse Now in reverse
The second in a vietnam trilogy

User reviews

3 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0(3)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(3)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(3)
Narrative
 
8.7(3)
Enjoyment
 
9.0(3)
(Updated: August 06, 2016)
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Maniac takes Full Metal Jacket, one of my favorite Kubrick films, and prunes it down to two main stories: Parris Island and Hue. Boot camp sadism and guerilla hell.

Video - 1980 X 1080p MPEG 4. Images and textures are really sharp. Street fighting in Hue are red bonfires bleeding into dusk. Solid. Noticed some pixilation on my computer (after fast-forwarding, so likely shame on me), not a glitch on the plasma screen.

Audio - 2 Channel AC3, 128 kbps. No subs. Dialogue is clear and pristine during the Parris Island sequences, murkier in Hue. Certainly by design, to capture the garbled chaos of combat. Not catching everything adds to the confusion and sucks the viewer deeper into this.

Narrative - This is, in essence, two stories. One is self contained - beginning, middle, ending. The other is a surreal dreamlike fragment. There is narrative to the Parris Island material, with the focus being on “Pyle.” Pretty much everyone else is discarded or marginalized, save for Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The second half shifts to Vietnam and zeroes in on the street ambush. This edit, like the source, feels unfocused and unfinished.

Enjoyment - If I were to fast forward through Full Metal Jacket, which sadly I have, Parris Island and Hue are the two sequences I would watch. The first because it is funny as hell. The sergeant is spitting razors. Hue is all bombs, gunfire and anxiety, with bad behavior displayed. First half training - second half, what training?

I enjoy how Maniac opens the film. This is smart, dropping you straight into the minefield. His music alterations were fine, in that I did not notice them. His editing, both technical and in his choices, were well done. I still dislike the bipolar nature of the film, though that is source, and I don’t think Maniac had in mind to reconfigure that.

You want a version boasting a first act of venomous humor followed by a second act of blood and fire?
This would be a fine choice.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Maniac's edit of another Kubrick masterpiece.
In the beginning we entering a battlefield between, for us unknown platoon of U.S. Marines.
In the middle section, we see the training of those marines, at Parris Island.
The last part is the harsh reality of war.
The madness and the absurd conduct of war.
Born To Kill, was to me a much darker version of the original.
The editing is again great. The same goes for the sound editing. Grandiose !
Notable: Two, to me unknown tracks.
It seems that the songs played backwards ? Am I wrong ? Great effect !
Remark: Joker is assigned to Basic Military Journalism. Is Joker's work deliberately omitted ?
My rating for A/V - 10
Definitely a must have seen.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: August 19, 2015)
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
This was a damn fine fanedit. I'm a Kubrick buff and I love "Full Metal Jacket". This is very much a "to-the-point" fanedit, in that it excises the non-combat scenes when in Vietnam. I loved the way it starts, go right into some action and then flash back to boot camp. The only narrative issue I had with it was that it felt too short and a little unbalanced, what with so much time devoted to boot camp and then only one major sequence in Vietnam. Recommended.

EDIT: I rated A/V a 9 because there were minor frame rate issues. It could have been on my end, but I saw that this was 29.97 fps, but since it's from the Blu-Ray, shouldn't it have been 23.976?

EDIT #2: The editor has fixed A/V issues, quality looks great now.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0