V for Vendetta

This movie was really an excellent opportunity for Hollywood to do two of the things they love the most. 1. Attack George Bush and American foreign policy and 2. blow stuff up. What happens other than that is just window dressing. So, if you think our role in Iraq may lead to chaos and fascism at home and for our neighbors, and you like to see large buildings blown up in dramatic fashion, and you loved Demi’s “GI Jane” look and were sorry it didn’t catch on, and finally you really dig guys who dress and talk like the 3 musketeers even in modern times, then this is the movie for you.

Spoiler-free plot synopsis: In the near future, the American wars in the Middle East have led to wide-spread civil unrest on the home front, apparently resulting in anarchy. Reacting to that, England has embraced fascism, or as is often the case, the fascist leaders have embraced fascism; the rest of the country has embraced being oppressed. In the middle of all this, a single individual has taken it upon himself to put an end to the fascist regime all while dressing like someone from 4 to 5 centuries ago. Specifically, he has based his persona on a guy who tried to blow up English Parliament way back in the day. V as our antihero calls himself wears a mask made to look like this earlier terrorist and never takes it off. Never. Meanwhile, Princess Lea’s mom from Star Wars gets caught up in the terrorist fun. This leads to explosions and battles and lots of action interrupted by V giving speeches about revenge and generally justifying his terrorist activities.

Advertising/Expectations: This movie was actually delayed quite a bit after the subway attacks in England started to look like life imitating a movie imitating art. So, I heard of the movie and it’s rather unfortunately timely and troubling plot long before it came out. It originally caught my attention because I was very interested to see what the Wachowski brothers would do after creating the Matrix trilogy. I enjoyed the Matrix movies and was hopeful that this would prove the Wachowskis to be serious movie makers and that Matrix wasn’t a fluke. Of course, the most noteworthy thing in this section is really the name of the movie which has to be one of the worst of all time. It sounds like you are about to watch a twisted episode of Sesame Street where the real goal is learning our letters. V for vendetta, W for warmonger, X for xylophone (because it is the only thing that starts with X and frankly can be pretty scary), Z for zero tolerance. You get the idea. Horrible, horrible title. Almost enough to make me refuse to see the movie on principal. It is like the stupid names restaurants give their menu items that make you feel ridiculous ordering them. “I’ll take the pig and a poke breakfast with a side of slappy happy ramalamadingdong please, and perhaps you could bring me out a bag to wear over my head or just serve it to me down here under the table. Thanks.” You just feel silly saying “I’ll have one adult for V for Vendetta”. Lame.

Storytelling: The story itself was fairly interesting and I appreciated things like the faceless hero who stayed focused on his mission Jack Bauer like, and didn’t let anyone or anything get in his way. I also liked the fact that it explained things about the world during the course of the movie rather than with a lot of narration or people just telling you how things were. It certainly added to the authenticity. That said, there were some gaps and holes in this plot that you could run that free-way from the Matrix sequels through. Lots of loose ends and unresolved plot twists. Is the general public generally more or less terrified of the government when there is someone running around its city blowing things up?

Acting/Casting: No complaints here. I don’t even like Natalie Portman, but she did good work here, shaved head and all. I believed her when she was broken and weak and when she was tough and fighting for her life. Same with V played by Hugo Weaving, or more accurately played by Hugo Weaving’s voice, the same voice that was so important in making the Matrix movies good when Hugo was Agent Smith. Everyone else from the baddies to the sympathizers had the right look and did their job.

Writing: With good writing there is a fine line between making it interesting without going over the top. The HBO series Deadwood is a good example of good writing pushed right up to the edge without going over. V had some good stuff with a very cool monologue that was incredible alliteration using the letter V. Someone did a very nice job with that. But they also took some of V’s ranting a bit over the top. It was just too flowery and too poetic at times, especially when there is absolutely nothing to explain what has turned this otherwise ordinary guy into some sort of brilliant wordsmith. That said, the writing didn’t get in the way and added to the movie quite a bit in various parts, but it did wander into the “roll your eyes” category a time or two.

Directing: Good job here. The action sequences worked and worked well with the visuals and the story. The actors were allowed to perform and the story moved along, even if there were huge gaps along the way. I could have used a bit more insight into what was going on here and a bit less preaching about the role of government in people’s lives, or at least a consistent theme there. Was this movie about revenge or fascism? It was like the directors couldn’t decide and that distracted them at times. Good editing, though and the movie had a good overall look.

Visuals: This movie came from a graphic novel which is what adults call comic books when they are too embarrassed to admit they still read comic books, and it had a good comic book look and feel. It had some startling signature scenes and looks like the mask, Portman’s creepy little Bo Peep outfit, Portman’s concentration camp look, the exploding buildings. Even the streets of London looked simultaneously futuristic and as if from the distant past. This is definitely a strong suit for the Wachowskis.

Sound: Well done. Some of the explosions shook the theater like the building next door had blown up. The classical and modern music mixed well also. Crank the sound up for this one.

Need for Screen: So, most movies are better on a big screen, but this one is especially. If you think you might want to see this movie, it is worth finding a discount theater that runs second run movies and going to see it there. The visuals are the best part of this movie, which isn’t a good thing, but means you need the screen.

Gut Feel: I didn’t like this one on a gut level. Not too sure why. Maybe I didn’t care for the glorification of a terrorist, especially as it criticized America. Maybe I got tired of the mask. Not sure really, but it just didn’t do it for me.

Who you should bring: Guys. This is a very male movie in tone and presentation and spends much of its time in heavy action and violence. That is a generalization of course. Some women like violent action movies as much as any man and some men can’t stand them, but for the most part, this is more of a night with the guys movie than a date movie.

1-10 Score: 7 – To be honest, I didn’t like this movie this much, but thinking about it and breaking it down, it was better than how much I liked it so I will score it here. Basically, if you need an action fix with more depth than MI3 or something like that, this will provide it, but if you are expecting something as groundbreaking as the Matrix, you will be disappointed. And if you never end up seeing it, you won’t really have missed out. But if you do see it, you might enjoy it and it won’t be a maddening waste of time.