Codename Wolverine

This was very fun.

Full disclosure, I saw the original with my son on DVD in 2010-ish for the princely sum of $4.80+tax overnight, the standard new release price in a country with a monopolized, thriving rental market. I remember mostly an indifferent boredom and dissatisfaction, and applying the usual "dadeye" filter to things, i.e., assuming moment to moment it was more enjoyable for my son and I shouldn't crap too hard on a piece of fluff entertainment on a random Friday.

Here, however, in the viewing year of 2017 when superhero movies are the start and end of all cinema, I actually enjoyed it (speaking specifically to this fanedit), and watched it completely for my own entertainment. It had nice momentum all the way through. I picked up a bargain bin copy of the original just to watch this, but didn't want to taint my experience so I watched the fanedit first. There's always going to be a certain flavorful cheese to the story -- full disclosure again, I like cheese -- but it was after completing havoc1977's trim, much improved version and starting the slog through the original again that it really struck home, just how much difference the snips can make.

On a personal level, C:W is 10/10 viewing. That's specific to my history maybe, but I insist havoc's version is an indisputable improvement, excising a ton of garbage (over 20 minutes of it) while working deftly with the cheese to create what is, for me, a definitive fanfix.

Well done! Thank you!

when i first saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine, i hated it!
this edit made it much better. even though it could be shorter with wolverine losing his memory during the Weapon X program and the horrible CGI is still there, but apart from that, great edit!

I still remember the disappointment I felt in the cinema after watching the Wolverine film. After a much hinted at back-story in the X-Men films (Although not so much in the horrible X-Men 3) what was presented was a bit...lacking. However, Havok's edit goes some way to resolving these issues. Most of the lame humour is gone, which is a good move IMO. A character as dark as Wolverine is doesn't need a slapstick sequence involving cleaving a bathroom sink in half. My favourite part of this edit is that Wolverine is now forcibly conscripted in to the Weapon X program, which is shown nicely at the end of the bar fight.

A much improved film, good work Havok.

I really enjoyed this edit. It reduces bloat, cheese, arbitrary changes to characters and canon, and flows well. Nice and fast. Quite a lot is cut but you won't miss it -- with one exception, to which I will return. Some excesses remain in the film e.g. Wolverine using his claws to turn his bike around, but I can't see how every bit of excessive stuff could have been cut. I am also not sure it must all be cut, anyway: we're talking about a character with essentially fantastic abilities, a metal skeleton based on an imaginary mineral etc., so the bar for realism is already pretty low.

There are a few bits where audio transitions are notable, but nothing serious.

The only real criticism I have is that too much of Kayla/ Silver Fox is cut. The story about the Trickster, the revelation about her sister, and her revenge on William Stryker at the end could have been kept while meeting the aims of the fan-edit and the absence does weaken her quite a lot as a character -- and in consequence, our understanding of the relationship with Logan.

But look, this is subjective, my preference , and should in no way discourage you from seeing this fan-edit.

Way better than the original.

Okay, first I have to say that I really respect the work and the heart that goes into making a fan-edit like this. It's super difficult to try to turn such a bad film into something that fans will enjoy. So it's with that in mind that I offer my feedback.

Sadly, this edit totally didn't work for me. I appreciate the intent to make it "as close to the comic book as possible", but the material available just doesn't lend itself to that. In order to make it a good FILM, all the wrong things are cut. There are really quite a lot of setups and context deleted, as well as conversations that add depth to characters or develop the plot. What we're mostly left with is a string of "this happens, then this happens, then the next thing happens..." It's just all events with no reason for us to care and nothing to pique our interest.

Havok1977 mentioned reducing "over the top moments" but there are still 100s in here. The movie is virtually non-stop cheesy, unbelievable action moments, from Wolverine using his claws to turn his bike to Zero flying/jumping up into a passing helicopter to Gambit turning his staff into a helicopter... There are also tons of cheesy cameos as fan service that would be better cut out, from Storm as a child being in the same village Wolverine's adamantium comes from to an early X-team being assembled by Professor X to a bookend added in with Professor X that accomplishes nothing.

An additional issue with this edit is that the polish just isn't there. There are multiple occasions where there are very abrupt visual edits and hard audio ins and outs. As fragmented as the narrative already feels with the removal of a lot of dialogue, it feels downright jarring combined with the edits. The film really has very few stretches with any sense of flow or where any tone is created. When it is there, it's for an action segment, and the tone is "big cheesy green screen scene".

It's probably impossible to make a decent film out of this trash script and poor direction. But if it were to be done, it wouldn't be by being a slave to the comics, which have gone back and forth on Wolverine's backstory so many times I can't count. It would be in attempting to create a film that cuts out the cheese and leaves in the character moments. This is the total opposite. I see that it was enjoyable for a few others, which is why I gave it a shot, but it was just not at all what I was looking for. Apologies again to the editor, that's just my taste.