I saw V for Vendetta on Thursday. It was pretty good. It could have been great, but it wasted some of its potential.
Before I went I skimmed a bunch of reviews that said that it was either “smart” or “boring”. I figured that there were two possibilities: either, 1) it was slightly more cerebral than a jar of mayonnaise, in which case the dumb critics said it was “smart” and the smart critics said it was “boring”, or 2) it was a genuinely intelligent movie, causing the smart critics to think, “hey, this movie actually has some interesting things to say” (i.e.: “smart”) and the dumb critics to think, “come on, less talk, more explosions!” (i.e.: “boring”).
Cynical lad that I am, I expected #1.
Turned out that V for Vendetta thoroughly walloped the jar of mayonnaise on the IQ test.
It’s set in London about 20 years hence, where a Hitler-esque autocrat has seized on world instabilities to install himself as British High Chancellor. London is under curfew and heavy surveillance, and crawling with secret police.
Enter ‘V’, a masked man with a black cape, a Guy Fawkes fetish, and a penchant for alliteration. He swoops in to save ‘Evey’ (an almost English enough Natalie Portman) from some secret police and then brings her with him on an impressive spree of terrorism, culminating in his vow to blow up the parliament buildings one year hence, and calling on all Britons to join him.
At this point we are introduced to our third (and best) main character: ‘Finch’, the detective charged with tracking ‘V’ down and apprehending him before his one year deadline expires.
Though a bit slow in spots, the movie is anything but dull, and I found myself absolutely unable to take my eyes off the screen. There are some amazing visuals, such as the High Chancellor himself, who we only ever see as a talking head on a giant screen. I thought to myself “No one does fascism like the Brits!”.
Unfortunately, round about the midway point, the movie falls down a bit, and then half-drags itself to a fairly predictable conclusion. It’s too bad: if the central mystery had been a little bit more clever, it might have sustained the film all the way to the end.
Definitely worth a look, if you can stomach things like bodies being tossed into mass graves, (it’s a bit graphic at times…).
You should try reading the comic it’s based upon. Now THAT is clever. Movie probably doesn’t fully do it justice.
all i know about the relationship between the movie and the comic is that alan moore, the guy who wrote the comic, demanded that his name be taken off the movie, because he didn’t care for it, and the changes the movie folks made to the story/point.
my brother’s friend wrote an interesting review of the film, to be found here: http://sweet-nothing.livejournal.com/3367.html
sorry for no fancy HTML stuff or nothing.
oh, it looks like this fancy program does it automatically… good for it!!!
now having seen the movie, i have to say that the most inspiring part of it was breakfast. made myself toads in the hole the next day.