V For Vendetta Review
"Remember, remember, the 5th of November." V For Vendetta is not a fun movie. It's not a date movie. It's a deep, engrossing work that will keep you either interested or put off. Much like the Wachowski brothers' trilogy, you will hate it or love it.
V For Vendetta stars Natalie Portman as Evey, a young woman who gets caught up in V, played by Hugo Weaving. A few others play pretty significant roles, like John Hurt as the totalitarian Chancellor Sutler, but you will really only care about V and Evey. The story revolves around Evey and V, but moreso Evey, from the night she watches V blow up an old building, sadistically allowing the 1812 Overture to play as he "conducts," to the night she allows the train to blow up Parliament again to the loud, bombastic 1812. The story is...wow...I'm not going into detail. Basically, V is considered a terrorist by the oppresive regime of Chancellor Sutler. The hunt is then on for V, which consequently involves Evey. V is killing people who are all inter-related. You will see how in the movie, considering that is pretty much the main plot point. So the government hunts for V by any means necessary, with killings, interrogations, and cover-ups abound.
Weaving's portrayal of V is absolutely awesome. He is the coolest, most intelligent, badass character ever created. I loved his use of exquisite vocabulary and utter intellectualism. He has one liners, but he also quotes Shakespeare. I LOVE it. However, I love his karate and knife wielding even more. The "big kill" scene, so as not to spoil it entirely, is sensational. Using slowmotion to portray V's undeniably superhuman speed is a brilliant tactic by director James McTeigue. The Wachowski brothers' screenplay allows V to be the awesome character he is. Natalie Portman further delivers with her exquisite emotion that she puts into her role. She not only plays a beaten prisoner well, but she also gives off a strong, brave, and valiant vibe as she assists V. And John Hurt's Hitler-like oppressiveness comes off as nothing but perfect. Everyone else is, well, forgettable (except for the priest...)
So the question is, does this movie attack Bush? In a way, yes. There are certain references, such as the bagged heads, that really do point to him. Do I believe that everything we have done is absolutely right? No. Do I believe that Bush and his administration are the sole blame, as most believe? No. 9/11 changed America. I'm sorry Mr. Clinton, but Osama had been planning that for years. If you weren't so busy getting...pleasure...maybe you could have at least seen that. But I digress. The fact is, I saw the movie more blaming the people for what happened rather than more the government. They make the government look like the bad guy that everyone loves to hate, but it was interesting that people were portrayed as passive, lazy, and downright stupid. I believe more of the blame is placed on them, and V points that out many times. Also, I thought of the government more as Nazi Germany rather than the current U.S. The army had red bands around their arms; they experimented on people; they tortured and performed mass killings. Granted, I would be considered by most to be a conservative, but I really wasn't offended by the movie. The fact is the movie takes oppression and censorship to such an extreme that it becomes a little hard to compare to real life. One also must look at the protagonist. He wears a mask (the whole movie...the WHOLE movie) that is not only sadistic but funny at sometimes. It is appropriate that this be based off a graphic novel. You can see little bits of it come through (not so much as, say, Sin City however).
With all the political hubbub and MTV's undying support for anything anti-government, I think people should look at the movie as a MOVIE. It's a bloody good movie. The dialogue, as I said, is sharp but to the point. The action, when it's there, it's brilliant and well-oriented. V is one of the coolest characters ever created, and Evey is a brilliant foil (almost) for him. I wanted more plot and more stuff, and the movie delivered. I strongly urge that you go into this with an open mind. Don't just think about the hidden messages; try to enjoy it. As I said, though, it's not necessarily "fun." However, I still enjoyed it. It employs sadistic situations, one of my favorite movie gimmicks. Basically, I mean there is something very serious happening while the music is pretty much at the opposite end of the spectrum. Tarantino obviously does it a lot, and it is employed here as well. Also, the biggest draw to this movie was V's MASK. That thing is just plain badass. I mean, here's a killing machine wearing a delightful, smiling mask. And yet, you would almost argue that the mask moves. You could almost believe it shows emotion. Yet, that same annoying, paralyzingly creepy smile remains.
Delving deeper into unknown territory is the movie's literary achievements. There are allusions abound to Shakespeare. V's speech in the beginning uses brilliant alliteration (guess which letter) and higher vocabulary. But finally, the symbolism is absolutely exquisite. The final moment when the people remove the masks is just brilliant. And before that the parallelism between every scene is just cool. And of course, there's a bunch of foreshadowing, but you probably knew that.
The sound and visual effects are pretty awesome. The trail V's knives leave is stylish, and the explosions are, well, explosive. V's mask is utterly clean and perfect for pretty much the entirety of the movie, which adds to his coolness. The music as I said, can be as sadistic as it can be serious. And the sound effects and dialogue are pretty much perfect.
Nevertheless, there are always flaws. As I said, it does critique the Bush administration. The thing I don't like is that people will believe that everything that happens in this movie, happens now, which is not the case. Also, it does kind of advocate "terrorism for a cause." So, I don't really know what to think of that. The other problem is that sometimes, you'll feel you don't know what's going on. This can be attributed to the Wachowski's (see Matrix) sometimes too high end philosophical screenplay. However, it works mostly. Also, as I said, the dialogue is very to the point. You won't hear much of anything else besides what you need to hear, which sometimes annoys me. It's a little overly serious, but that's alright with this type of movie.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." You'll love it or you'll hate it. You'll be on the edge of your seat or you'll fall asleep. Bottom line, I loved it and would recommend it to anyone of age to see it. It's complex, brilliant, amazing, and, what I like most, was that it was intelligent. So, if you think you're intelligent enough, which, if you're reading this you probably are, then try it out. You might find yourself, like me, surprised.
4/5
posted by Mike White @ 12:56 PM
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