Customer Reviews

V for Vendetta (2-Disc Special Edition)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've never read the graphic novel, but I don't think you need to read it to appreciate the movie. There are some that will, upon seeing this film, say that it was akin to Andrew Lloyd Weber attempting to make a political statement: overly dramatic. These people would be well served to remember that the symbol of drama is a mask, which certainly begs one important question- Why, if you are so put off by an overtly dramatic motion picture, would you choose to see a movie that stars as the (anti)hero a man in a mask?

This film doesn't glorify V as a terrorist but shows that under certain circumstances he was tempted to be what he is. The film has an intriguing atmosphere throughout, a few slow moments, and an apocalyptic future setting that really heightens the tension with starkly dark set design and stunning cinematography. There is a reference or close resemblance to Guatanamo prison in the film. And it made the film even more direct.

Hidden behind the creepy mask, Hugo Weaving really proves he is a versatile actor. His character provokes thoughtful questions in a dystrophic future, and every emotion of his character is brought out by Weavings performance. Portman on the other hand also excels, with a convincing accent. She really is the heroine of the film and she handles the role quite well. The scenes between Evey and V are touching and well handled. The rest of the film is great in its execution. The climax, especially, was uplifting and will live on to be the most memorable conclusion. The action is striking and the performances in the drama are standout.

I'm going to say that it's nothing short of its brilliance. Entertaining from the start, V manages to combine a strong socio-political message in a compact and highly intense experience. Infused with issues and concepts that pervade in the global political climate of our times, this movie is endowed with a tremendous timely relevance that belies its trappings as a mere action adventure. A terrific achievement produced by the Wachowski's and Silver.

PLOT:
IN the distance future England is the supreme power in the world. The United States has fallen into a state of civil war. But England is rules by a totalitarian government that represes any visible inorities. The story mainly revolves around a girl named Evey (Natalie Portman, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith) Who is rescued from a group of dirty cops by a masked man named V (Hugo Weaving, The Matrix Revolutions). V is a freedom fighter who plans to begin a revolution by blowing up the British parlement. Over the course of one year Evey learns abuot who V really is and why he is doing this. The movie is also about Eric Finch (Stephen Rea, The Reaping), who is an invesigator that is supose to find V. Fich begins to understand what is wrong with the government and the history of the High Chanseler Adam Sutler (John Hurt, Hellboy), who is responsable for the terrible government.

Overall V For Vendetta truns out to be an excelent movie. Natalie Portman gives an Oscar worthy performence and the Wichowski brothers did a great job at adapting the classic graphic novel. I would highly recomend this movie to virtauly everyone.

I'll never forget seeing this movie for the first time on the big screen. Being a big fan of the Matrix films, I was eagerly anticipating the Wachowskis' next project. And for the next 130 minutes, I was blown away. Not only was the story intricate and engaging, the acting intense and convincing, the characters sympathetic and human, but the subtext of the film was unbelievable.

At several points throughout the film my jaw dropped and I thought, "Did they just say what I thought they said?" I walked out of the theater elated and awed at what the filmmakers had created. I even had a moment of delusional optimism: "Maybe people will GET it! This could be the movie that breaks the door down!" But, like a sign from the great pessimist in the sky, my wishful thinking was promptly rebuked.

Leaving the theater I overheard a man talking with his son. They, too, had just seen the movie. Surely, he had seen what I had seen; heard what I had heard. But no. "It was a good movie," he said. "But just remember, son, it's a movie, not real life." I wanted to sock the guy in the face. How could a human see the movie and come away with such a pusillanimous and lily-livered response?

What property of human stubbornness and "thick-skulledness" can misinterpret the line, "artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up." But I should know better. The human mind has a hyperactive tenacity in relation to avoiding uncomfortable conclusions. Cognitive dissonance reigns supreme. If believing two contradictory pieces of information at the same time can prevent one from accepting an uncomfortable truth, our subconscious is more than willing to give us a hand.

"No son, our government would never do such a thing." Bollocks.

V for Vendetta is a no-holds-barred condemnation of the creeping fascism that has infected both the American and British systems of government; of their repeated use of false-flag operations to cow their populations into blind and terror-based submission; the presence of psychopathic individuals in said governments and all the implications that follow from that point.

This is one of the rare movies that I've watched multiple times. And every time I watch, it still has the same powerful effect on me.

Although the action is good, what makes this movie truly great is the message it conveys. After you watch the movie, look out of the window, you will see that the movie is playing in real life. In V's words: "There is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting submission." That's not what happens with the fictional Britain in the movie. It's happening in the U.S. and Canada.

More than just pointing out the objective reality, the movie will give you a sense of hope. It is really moving to see thousands of people in their V masks marching in unison. It's a powerful force that once released, no government can contain.

So as the Fifth of November is coming, watch the movie and remember that: "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

This coming November

You'll need to remember

The gun powder treason and plot

For Portman and Weaving

Will have you believing

That this movie won't be forgot

Their brilliant acting

Will have you reacting

Between consternation and shock

As the regime of Norsefire

Breathes bigoted fire

And monitors you round the clock

When V rescues Evey

They catch it on TV

And make her a part of the scheme

Then V very gaily

Blows up the Old Bailey

And starts a Guy Fawkes-ian theme

Though very imposing

He succeeds in exposing

The deep dirty deeds of the few

Under his disguise

He opens the eyes

Of the people, and launches a coup

But not for a second

Had V ever reckoned

On warming the heart of a friend

Now she's a believer

He shows her the lever

The decision is hers in the end

This political thriller

and graphic blood spiller

is one that you'll love or you'll hate

But give it a try

and I hope you'll see why

I'm one who believes it's first rate

Amanda Richards

Being of fan of the Matrix movies and the Wachowski brothers, I was anxious to see this movie. I was very impressed with the style that they created for it. It wasn't the super hero type movie that I thought it might end up, considering what Hollywood does to movies from novels. They actually did a pretty good job not detracting from the real message within the movie.

I perhaps expected a bit of the dark undertones as in the cinematography of the movie 1984, but this was completely opposite. It was crisp, the music was enthralling and demanding. It moved fluidly, the cinematography was excellent, and I loved the soundtrack. The actors themselves are perfect for the role - you actually start believing they are who they portray. I thought it a nice touch to see John Hurt in the role of Chancellor - especially since he was Winston in 1984.

Wow, what a wonderful movie. That movie give us a picture of what is happening right now in our society. We are gouverned by a gang of psychopaths and they do not want the best for us.

As in the movie, It is the time that we, people with conscience, wake up and walk altogether to take back the control of our planet.

It is a must see.

Overall, I was definitely disappointed by "V for Vendetta," primarily because I was anticipating a really great adaptation of the work by writer Alan Moore and artist David Lloyd. I was also looking forward to a movie that I would be able to use in my Introduction to Popular Culture class when it comes out on DVD because I thought it would be a nice example of how cinema functions rhetorically. The idea that a masked figure who blows up public buildings could be a revolutionary hero rather than a murdering terrorist is a radical notion post 9/11. But this film lacks the subtlety of the original graphic novel and makes a strategic error in foisting a conclusion to this dark tale. The results are compelling, but not the provocative story I was hoping to see.

After recapping the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot for ignorant colonials, we cut to the future a couple of decades down the road where Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), is out after curfew in London. She is about to be raped and probably killed by "fingermen" of the security forces when she is rescued by V, dressed in black and a Guy Fawkes mask. He takes her to the roof top where he conducts a symphony that end with the Old Bailey blowing up. They meet again when V takes over the single television channel to broadcast a promise that one year hence he will blow up the Parliament building (on Guy Fawkes day, of course) and asks that everyone in England who supports his cause to take to the streets that night to support his actions. When Evey acts to protect V from the police, he takes her under his wing, and begins to educate her on his method and his madness. Meanwhile, Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) is put on the case but immediately hamstrung by the government from being able to investigate the clues that would lead to the identity of the terrorist.

The screenplay by the Wachowski Brothers turns Moore's attack on the conservative inclinations of the government of Margaret Thatcher into a more overt representation of a fascist government. The insignia of this brave new world is a twisted version of the cross, and the fact that the person in charge is a chancellor recalls Hitler, as does the way the chancellor dresses. Casting John Hurt, who played Winston Smith in the 1984 of "Nineteen Eighty-Four," as Adam Sutler, the fearless leader in this film only heightens the Orwellian analogy. Moore and Lloyd had the evil men of the government look like ordinary bureaucrats, but this film stacks the deck so that the allusions to Hitler and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" are so obvious that of course our sympathies are with the terrorist blowing up the buildings (besides, they are not our buildings, they are English buildings; but more on that later).

In the movie V speaks of the power of ideas and the importance of using words to persuade rather than coerce, but what really matters is blowing up buildings. However, in the graphic novel the point was to blow up symbols. The shift from having Big Ben be the first thing that V blows up in the book, to the total destruction of Parliament being V's ultimate goal, is rather significant. V's final target in the book was 10 Downing Street and the final explosion is seen from the distance because the explosion is not the point. It is the awakening political consciousness of Evey that is the soul of this film.

My biggest complaint is that the film provides, in relative terms, a happy ending. No political diatribe worth its salt is going to warn the masses of the evil inherent in the system and then provide an ending that reassures the audience that everything is going to be all right. The graphic novel ends with a victory, but clearly the war will continue, for at least another generation. The movie seeks to reassure us with a Rolling Stones song (and does not even bother to play the entire song). Moore and Lloyd wanted to enlist us, following in the footsteps of Evey as she follows V, but the makers of this film would be happy if we pre-order the DVD after seeing the film.

For most viewers it will be the way the films resonates against current events that will be the primary point of controversy. Relatively few will have read the graphic novel, but far more people remember September 11th in the U.S. than the 5th of November in the U.K. The idea of purging an English-speaking nation of Muslims, immigrants and homosexuals may or may not seem like something that can happen here. Blowing up apparently empty buildings in the middle of the night and reserving the blood letting for situations where V gets up close and personal with the bad guys can certainly make this terrorist seem different and, dare we say, acceptable. In the end we are so clearly distanced from this story that it does not ask us to make any hard choices.

I would have preferred to see "V for Vendetta" as a television mini-series, not only because I think an episodic approach is better suited to telling the story, but also because it is a much more intimate tale that what we see on the big screen where they go out of their way to crank up the volume on the explosions. Beyond that, the frozen face that is V's mask becomes a disadvantage both for Weaving and director James McTeigue. There is only so much you can do with lighting and head tilts, and the first-time director relies too often on close-ups (no wonder James Purefoy bailed on the role). "Sin City" set a standard for adapting a graphic novel to the screen that will probably never be approached by any one else, but I was hoping this one would be a lot closer to the mark.

V for Vendetta is an excellent film from the Wachowski Brothers, and not your typical comic book film. What's immediately striking are the parallels the government propaganda and terror in the film have with certain western governments in the world today. It's an inspirational film, and gives some hope that people can unify in taking back their lives from lying, pathocratic government officials in a non-violent way. People shouldn't be afraid of their government...

A recommended must watch for everyone.

Despite some deficiencies in the plot, V for Vendetta makes for a fantastic, refreshingly different kind of motion picture. The controversy surrounding the film was blown out of proportion, but it's easy to see why it could raise hackles in some quarters. It's really the old terrorist vs. freedom fighter question which has taken on such an important place in modern society. Despite a jab here or there at the United States, I don't think the film really makes any statement at all along today's geopolitical lines - due in no small part to the story's fantastical setting. We all know never to say "it can't happen here," but I for one can certainly never foresee a blatantly fascist society with its very own Hitlerian demagogue emerging in, of all places, England. Clearly, at least to me, the questions this film raises are quite abstract and not directly applicable to current events vis-à-vis the war on terror. As an eye-opening reminder of the possibility of governmental abuse of power, however, the film's warning stands us all in good stead.

The setting for this film is a futuristic England, wherein a fiery egomaniac and his cronies have usurped power and brought a hard iron fist down on the people. Freedom of ideas and expression no longer exists; minority groups have been decimated by imprisonment, torture, and death; and militaristic nationalism has become the new religion. Those who resisted the meteoric rise of the new High Chancellor have been dealt with ruthlessly, producing a population cowed and blind to the evils of their brave new nation-state. The illusion of peace is broken by one man, however - one man brave enough to speak the truth, rally the masses, and get his message out that the government is beyond corrupt and purely evil. V wears the mask of the infamous Guy Hawkes, but his message is more than symbolic. For twenty years, he has worked for this moment in time, intent on meting out justice and vengeance on those who wronged him personally and the body politic as a whole. His tactics are certainly questionable, but his motivations are unimpeachable.

It's all too easy to get bogged down in the question as to V's nature - be it terrorist or freedom fighter. Unfortunately, the question must be asked and has been asked by some who condemn the film for glorifying terrorism. To my eyes, he's clearly a terrorist - and a freedom fighter. One has to look at the whole picture, though. Here, we can see that the government V seeks to destroy is unquestionably evil. Does that make it okay for V to employ tactics of murder and widespread destruction? That's for each viewer to decide. It's difficult to judge a man who does the wrong things for the right reasons. It's even harder to carry that sort of thinking further, but it's healthy for individuals to ponder such questions, especially as humanity has a long tradition of learning nothing from history.

Back to the film itself, one must pay tribute to a number of wonderful performances. Natalie Portman proves once again that she's among the finest actresses in the world (a fact which George Lucas never seemed to acknowledge, since he didn't allow her to actually act in Star Wars Episode III). The character of Evey was quite a challenge, but Portman makes you doubt that any other actress could have played her. Nothing says commitment like a beautiful woman allowing her head to be shaved for the benefit of the character. Hugo Weaving is mysteriously majestic as the man behind the mask, giving unassailable substance to a character who could have easily come across as cartoonish. Stephen Rea brings a wonderful human counterpart to the story as the Chief Inspector, and John Hurt is brilliantly effective as the evil Chancellor. The overall cinematography is also spectacularly done, while the special effects are really something to see. V for Vendetta really is just a few plot holes and inconsistencies away from being a certifiable five-star film.