Rating: ****
Director: James McTiegue
Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, John Hurt, Stephen Rea
Review: Let’s hope V for Vendetta ushers in the age of the intellectual action film. There have been a fair number of bash-’em-up popcorn flicks made with intelligent style and panache, but roughly none that leave you with anything to actually think about afterward. While James McTiegue and his producers, the Wachowski siblings, blunt plenty of edge off Alan Moore’s and David Lloyd’s stark, disturbing graphic novel, they leave more than enough dark, thought-provoking material for the average American movie audience. And they marshal a great cast—tremendously efficient character actors, led by the great John Hurt and Stephen Rea, with Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving both giving fantastic performances in the leads.
First, let’s cover why the comic book is better: Evey (Natalie Portman, in the film) is not merely an office girl out to meet a friend, but a desperate woman fallen on hard times, about to sell herself as a prostitute when she encounters the enigmatic terrorist V, who will shape her future. The film often fails to plumb the full depths presented in the novel, and this is an example right from the onset. Additionally, the masked V in the film is less the uncomfortably gleeful killer of the comic, though Weaving does chalk up an impressive body count. Most significantly, the comic is Alan Moore’s dissection of what he saw as the two poles of government—fascism vs. anarchy. The film pulls much of the fascism’s teeth (racial purity having been excised as an issue, for instance) and the alternative presented by V feels more comforting than pure anarchy. By altering Stephen Rea’s character into a sympathetic cop who is better than the corrupt masters he serves (and thus unfairly becomes the arguably hero of the piece), the filmmakers go a long way toward changing the paradigm. It’s not brutally oppressive government versus no government at all, now. It’s vaguely oppressive government versus an arguably democratic uprising that will purify the system. Much more palatable, really.
But that can’t disguise the fact that the film stars a masked man who used terrorism, murder and particularly prolonged and brutal torture to fight an unworthy government. In an era in which just speaking out against the president can bring FBI agents to your door, that’s still some tough meat to chew on. Sure, Moore’s grim tale is now leavened with comforting sops to the irrepressible human spirit, but these addenda are not entirely bludgeoned into our skull. And hell, any film with the line, “People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people,” is a film we need today.
For those who don’t want to consider the source material, and don’t want to engage the political questions of book or film, here’s what you need to know: It’s a unique film, looking and playing out unlike pretty much anything you’ve seen. Hugo Weaving (most visible man-in-black bad guy in The Matrix) is amazingly successful in a role that has him in black cape and unchanging Guy Fawkes mask for the entire film. Natalie Portman as his unwilling novice is simply god. She really rises to the demand of the role, and elevates a violent action film with compelling acting. Midway through the film, Evey undergoes a powerful transformation, and when she comes through her ordeal and is confronted with a surprising truth, through Portman we see her visibly break down, sloughing off the skin of her old life and becoming a new woman. Portman is powerful and perfect, playing to the exact level of larger-than-life drama of the entire film. That McTiegue throws in several truly ruinous shots (bullet-time raindrops? Really?) does not derail her stellar performance.
Also, lots of cool violence and horrific backstory. If you loved “bullet time” in the Matrix films, you’ll enjoy the slo-mo blur of “knife time” here. Fun for the whole family. And the best non-arthouse studio release I’ve even heard of hitting screens this year.
1984—Few people know that the Eurythmics soundtrack album to this film is surprisingly good. John Hurt plays Winston Smith, the victim of totalitarianism in the film that most feels like V for Vendetta (less the ‘splodey shit). Funny, since Hurt provides the Big Brother figure in the film at hand. The production is bleaker than winter in Tierra Del Fuego, and is, of course, a scary indictment of the world we now live in.
Traffic—You want some politics with your ‘splodey shit? Here you go: a hard-working cast shot through with great talent, a story that asks some tough questions … it’s brilliant as long as you ignore the resolution of Michael Douglas’ thread, which is a shameless cop-out in the last five minutes of an otherwise compelling production.
The Matrix—Smart, edgy, and a reminder of how much our daily lives suck. It’s a great experience as long as you don’t ruin it by ever watching either of the craptacularly unbearable sequels.
Dark City—No politics, but oppression and claustrophobia in a more dreamlike universe, where everything is unreal in a more literal sense than in the Orwellian style of V.
Tags: alan moore, comic book, hugo weaving, natalie portman
Although I’ll admit that V for Vendetta was better than the other adaptations of Alan Moore’s stuff, I can’t bring myself to like it. I have my own “review” here: http://www.guttervomit.com/archive/1256/A_Letter_to_Alan_Moore
i have to say from the adverts i saw of this movie i was expecting big things. I mean “from the people behind the matrix” and all the palava about big ben being blown up, wicked, i thought. And so last night we went to see it, expecting lots of explosions and fight scenes galore, but what we got was crap! The budget for this movie seems to have been used on that one scene of big ben blowing up, featured in every advert! Whatdid i pay for then? well, a mask too big for Hugo Weavings body it made him look comic (in the funny sense), poor set and prop design, and really poor acting, a lot of faces from birtish tv drama’s. What were the thinking, thank god i got my ticket half price otherwise i’d have been even more angry when writing this!