V For (Insert Witty Pun Here) Review

Film: V For Vendetta (06)
Director: James McTeigue (Wachowski Brothers Puppet)
Starring: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea

Yikes.

What happen to that mask? Did the five year old who made it in his arts and craft portion of sleepaway camp accidently gnaw too much of it off?



Ah, that's better.

Oh, those kooky Wachowksi Brothers! Or, eh, siblings.... after the sex change.

Masks aside, the Wachowski.... Sibling's new adaption of the classic graphic novel V For Vendetta is majorly updated and altered to relate to things occuring in today's realm. Whether it's 9/11, the war in Iraq or The Patriot Act, theres much symbolism in the film to each event.

Does all this allegory make the film flow? Is V still the same kooky anarchist?

*SPOILERTASTICNESS FROM HERE ON OUT*

The film is faithful at times, but dazes off into "Hey, You Get The Symbolization?" realm every now and then. But instead of sitting here rambling like a fanboy who only cares about the adaption, and focus on reviewing what it is: a film.

Vendetta's trailers are misleading, since it looks like an action packed James Bond film, but we only get three scenes of action. And hey, that's a good thing. We get instead, a detailed allegory of today's society, seen from three angles; Evey's, V's and Finch's.

Weaving does a great job of portraying V, though you have to suffer through one "V-licious" block of dialogue at the very beginning.

V: This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Portman did an okay job. I noticed she went in and out of her British accent a lot, but she did well at being emotional and understanding at every right moment. Stephen Rea also acted wonderfully, capturing that noir inspector feel of a determined yet inquisitive detective.

The film's sweeping shots and blurry transitions felt just right and well done. All of the kerploding buildings and knife throwing scenes were great eye candy, and looked very real. The use of a certain pallete of pale colors gave the film a unique look and feel. At certain times, the blackness of V's attire seemed to pop out at you in the seas of green, red or grey. All credit goes to Adrian Biddle, who died last December before the film was released.

The sound was excellent, and full of little things that caught your ear. One of my favorite scenes was the explosion of Parliament at the end, in sync with the 1812 Overture, which was one of the more jaw dropping scenes I've seen these pass few years. Many of my friends and family, and many who see the film I've heard, teared up during that scene.



As far as the new symbolization and allegory elements with today's topics, they fit wonderfully, since I think a Margaret Thacther-esque story as originally intended would have not fit and be as well understood. If you choose to ignore the allegorical symbolizations since you might not agree with them, the film still plays out great, but if you listen to them, you'll be intrested and like the comparisons.



There a lot of important events that are left out and modified from Moore's novel. The entire ending is changed to that of one less artistic and symbolic than in the comic, to one of quick plot sum up and resolution. Of course, everyone could see this happen since thats movie magic for you. Still, a "Third Man" style walk away with Finch, as in the comic, would have made the movie pretty cool.

Overall, the film is great. Its an excellent shot and acted story of vengence and revolution that is totally relevant in today's world. Though sort of faithful, the film stands next to the graphic novel as a wonderful piece of art that shows us the right time for anarchy and uprising.
Guy Fawkes would be proud.

Scoreboard:
Acting: 9/10
Direction: 8/10
Cinematography: 9/10
Editing: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Genre Value: 10/10
As An Adaption: 8/10
Overall: 9/10

4 Comments:

Blogger Internet Street Philosopher said...

I have never read the graphic novel, but I thought that the movie was excellent and so timely.

10:17 AM  
Blogger Almeister112 said...

I actually loved this movie, with just a few exceptions: the scene with the speech to Justice was strangely absent, which I thought was one of the best scenes I've ever read in a comic, and V was too human and not enough ideal. Other than that, great movie. I liked many of the changes they made, particularly the ending, so I thought it made for a great day at the movies.

12:26 AM  
Blogger Gambit898 said...

I would have love to see them expand upon the journals of V's time in prison, with how he caused the explosions through the chemicals he had for his flowers.

Also, it would have been cool to see The Voice go crazy over his doll collection, though you did see a few dolls on a rack near his shower.

6:23 PM  
Blogger ULI/KFP said...

I just saw this yesterday, in IMAX natch. I haven't read the comic. I really enjoyed the film, although I did expect more in the way of action going in. For what turned out to be a very political film, I thought it was excellent. When V has his final confrontation with the Chancellor and Creedy, that knife fight just rocked.

10:54 AM  

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