V For Vendetta Details

V for VERY good

Their have been a whole glut of comic book adaptations over the last few years, some of them good (X-Men, Blade) some of them bad (The Punisher, Cat Woman) but none of them in the mold of V for Vendetta. None of them as strange and as brilliant and as intelligent as this. Don't watch this expecting lots of fantastic CGI fight scenes, there are only a couple and they are quite small scale but in doing this V doesn't sacrifice style, it has oodles, but the content is considerably more important with a story line more pertinent today than it has possibly ever been. In the not too distant future a totalitarian British government uses fear of terrorism to inflict marshal rule on the masses to keep everyone in their place. Only one man questions this way of governing and decides to rabble rouse the rest of the public. This one man is a modern day Guy Fawkes. The ensuing story is fascinating, hugely emotional, thoughtful, humorous, very dark and strangely romantic - keeping your full attention for the 2hr duration, there are no weak spots in the plot and the acting of Natalie Portman is exceptional. Some strong violence and swearing and an intelligent story line seperate this from the other comic adaptations and make it definitely an adult film, one for grown ups who usually find themselves drawn to cult classics rather than the mainstream Hollywood fare. Very near to being a 5 star movie.

* * * This review contains spoilers * * *ShowHide

1984 but soooo much better

Those of you who have read or seen the film 1984 (i have done both), written by George Orwell, and so are familiar with a represive military state (having said that we all live in one, one way or another) will simpathise with V's passionate hate of the decietful way 'his' people are controlled. Of course when comparing the two works the ending in V for Vendetta is far more satisfying and this could be more for the audiences pleasure, but it is a film after all.

V's character is sexy, powerful and justly and to me it was not obvious who was behind the mask. After watching the extras (which are also very good on this dvd) i realised it was Hugo Weaving. He really portrayed this 'V' as a real person, a person 'we' could be, which was the point at the end of the film; Natalie Portman's lines detailing it.

Natalie Porman was brilliant, especially in her isolation scenes. She was able to understand, and so portray, the fear, hatred, anger followed by release of all emotion perfectly. I remember seeing pictures of her a few years ago with all her hair shaved off and let it wash over me as most media stuff does, but she did that for the movie, its not some special effect. She dedicates herself to her roles and i admire her for that. To shave your hair off you might think so what, but if you had it done to you what would you say?

This brings me onto the story line itself. The flow of the story was brilliant. As i've said the ideas behind it were fantastic and executed beautifully. I often find myself thinking 'well they could of done that better....' but in this film i think they got it right. With regard to the above scene, you understand why 'V' did that too her rather than hating him for putting her through that.

I think this film has many moments where its messages (i dont like to use that word, but i can not think of another one) touches on reality, the here and now, and we can go further in our understanding of what the media/big wigs are saying/hiding! I'm not saying that by watching this you will want to do anything and i'm sure its not what the makers intended (they say as much in the extras), but for me i take more of an interest in what passes for protection with regard to what the governments of this world 'do for us'.