V for Vendetta

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I saw this film last night and absolutely adored it--it's the best film I've seen in theaters for a while, and the sort of film one goes to the theaters to see. I haven't read the original Alan Moore comic (though I did read his brilliant "Watchmen"), so I don't know how close it is to the source material, but either way it's a very effective film on its own. Hugo Weaving (better known as Elrond from "The Lord of the Rings" or Agent Smith from "The Matrix") is utterly fantastic as his titular revolutionary, and Natalie Portman puts in a captivating, harrowing performance of her own. Stephan Fry plays a detective, and unfortunately lacks the charm to carry his many scenes (the only times I found myself getting bored were his scenes), and the action sequences sometimes use an annoying shaky camera, but thankfully this doesn't matter for the most part because the storytelling is so well done, because the dialogue is so wonderfully poetic, and because the film has so many effective scenes. The film brought smiles to my mouth, tears to my eyes, and winces of horror to my nose.

I get the feeling a lot of people who are passionately "conservative" (I put it in quotation marks because to me, usually "conservative" actually means "reactionary," "moderate" actually means "conservative," "liberal" means "moderate," and "radical" means "liberal") will dislike the film because of its subject matter. It may take place in Britain (as the comic did), and the character of V may be based on the British historical figure Guy Fawkes, but IMO it's very much about America. It does, after all, follow a revolutionary terrorist. It does accuse the government of fabricating threats in order to manipulate the people. And most of all, it is a cry for change, and an example of immense dissatisfaction with the state of the political world. It doesn't place all the blame on just the government, though: in an early scene, V tells the people of Britain that they too are to blame, for putting the party in power. But thankfully, the film's good enough as just entertainment. It's one of those rare films that's both fun, and powerful, and culturally significant.

So...did anyone else see this? What did y'all think?

I haven't yet seen it but really want to, and its encouraging to see that someone else has enjoyed it.

I haven't seen it yet but most reviews seem to be saying that the Americans love it but that a lot of reviewers in this country hate it.

It was created by the Matrix people.

Sort of--the Wachowski brothers produced and wrote it. Technically it was created by Alan Moore, but the Wachowskis were the ones to bring it to the screen. They didn't direct it though--their longtime assistant director, James McTeigue, did. It's his first film.

Hate to be a buzzkill, but my understanding is that the V for Vendetta movie is very, very different from the graphic novel. I read an interview with the comic writer Alan Moore, and he lobbied to take his name off it, going so far as to decline the money offered to him.

The articles and interviews I've read show that the movie is a lot more of a popcorn experience than the book. Granted, I haven't read the book or seen the movie, but Alan Moore is a literary god, and if he's angry with the treatment of his story, then it's hard for me to argue with him. I realize that comic books and cinema are two very different things, and require different treatments, but this wouldn't be the first time that Hollywood has completely misinterpreted a great comic book.

However, if it upsets the reactionary part of the audience, who am I to argue with the results?

Heh, Alan Moore had his name taken off of the project before the film was even in production. The reason he reportedly gave back when this was first announced was that the script didn't get British food right. But who can blame him for being sick of films being made out of his books? "From Hell" and "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" were crappy and generally untrue to their source material. I thought that "Constantine" (based off of his "Hellblazer" comics) was a lot of fun, but a lot of people hated it, and it wasn't true to the material, either. What I've heard is that "V for Vendetta" is the truest yet, but that it's still generally different because it puts the political meanings in a much more modern context, and took away some of the sci-fi stylings.

I didn't know the exact chronology of Moore's outrage; good to have that settled. Still, an illuminating interview can be found here;

http://www.mtv.com/shared/movies/interv ... an_060315/

Straight from the horse's mouth. Like I said, not familiar with V for Vendetta, but it seems like a modern American take on a story clearly about 1980's England doesn't serve the concept well. When filmmakers remake a period piece for a modern audience, they should either keep it set in the past and hope it remains timeless, or make a completely new story with only inspirational ties to the original. The middle ground between those two, taking the original plot and characters and trying to change the meaning, doesn't seem to hold.

I mite be goin to see it on Saturday, shoud be good.

I have to say thogh, the way things are going, well be lucky if it dosent become a vision of the future...

Saw it yesterday. Great film for entertainment value, but its main appeal is its message.

This is the one film everyone should go and see this decade, because, since 9/11, everyones been to hung up with terrorism to even bat an eyelid at what goverments do to prevent it - this film will help set their priorities straight.

I actually wouldnt be suprised if it got banned for the message, at least in Britain (since its set here, and the dictator it involves sits in Downing Street), but quite frankly, I hope it does, because thatll just make it all the more powerful.

I saw it and I loved it. I certainly understood what the Guy Fawkes character was all about but I'm confused what the British think of him. There is a Guy Fawkes day where they burn an effigy of him, but he is also voted into the top 100 greatest Britains list (from Wikipedia). Can someone clearify Britain's love/hate relationship of Guy Fawkes with me?

I saw it in the theatre and was dissapointed. I heard that alan moore hated the script too. It's an ok movie, go see it and make your own opinion.

Opinions on Guy Fawkes are pretty much split down the middle, since because we know pretty much nothing about his end goals apart from freeing Catholics from Protestant oppression (which was a valid cause, British spirituality was VERY fundamentalist right up until, actually, relatively recent, and Catholics in his time were burnt at the stake), we dont know whether his goverment would have done the same to Protestants or not, we dont know what the nature of the goverment he would have set up would have been, pretty much the only thing we have to go on is the fact that he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Those people who think civil military action against the powers that be is never justified hate his guts, those who keep more of an open mind (guess what) keep more of an open mind. Personally, Im in the second group, we know nout about him, so we cant really judge him.

The burning is pretty much just a culural tradition, as far as I can tell, with no real meaning in this day and age. If anyone DOES think of it as symbolic (or literal), then I fear for the future of our country even more than I already do.