Slydon (V For Vendetta)
V For Vendetta
Directed by James McTeigue
Screenplay by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore
“Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.”
—The Bonfire Prayer recalling The Gunpowder Plot of 1605
V for Vendetta, based on the Alan Moore/David Lloyd graphic novel of the same name, takes place in the near future in a fascist, totalitarian British society. Here, all sorts of “undesirables” are removed from the public, the media is under direct control of the government, and only a knife-wielding, burn-victim revolutionary in a Guy Fawkes mask is the key to liberating a timid England. It needs liberation from the oppressive Norsefire party—gaining control of the country after a viral bio-terror attack killed almost 100,000 people. Their symbol, used rather Swastika-like, is a red and black Croix de Lorraine. It is the anti-tuberculosis symbol, but here it looks more and more like the Hammers from Pink Floyd: The Wall.
If you’re reading one of my reviews, this means I’ve seen the movie in question at least thrice, and as far as Alan Moore adaptations, for the most part you can replace “seen” with “suffered through”. Thankfully, V for Vendetta is the exception (so far… I don’t have huge expectations of Watchmen) rather than the rule. I think the Wachowski brothers were surprised when people didn’t walk out of the second Matrix movie during the conversation between Neo and the Architect, so they and director James McTeigue decided not to limit their vocabulary here. Good for them.
Hugo Weaving as V provides us the audience with something I haven’t seen in a while—an action hero who also maintains a karate grip on the English language. Unlike the “Cro-Magnonesque” monosyllables of Vin Diesel or Jason Statham (a.k.a. Vin Diesel 2), V was originally a test subject at a facility that used said social undesirables such as blacks, gays and Muslims to find a “cure” for the virus, but essentially eliminated them in the process. He escaped but was terribly burned in the process. He exists now as a tragic character—a Phantom of the Opera with knives, and an agenda of political change. Accept lots of theatrical deaths here. Much of his plot falls into the standard Kill Bill scheme, where he independently hunts down and kills those who sinned against him in the past, blah blah blah…, whatever.
V’s unwitting recruit is Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), who once again becomes the love interest of the sociopath. Why V presents her with such prose is lost on me, apparently, when all you need to do is contrast her to sand to win her heart *cough* Padmé *cough*. Still, it’s nice to see she can act. She has a metamorphosis through the course of the movie, from merely being the Christine Daae/Fay Wray to a Chia-headed prisoner to actively participating in the destruction of Parliament—echoing the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Her change underscores a secondary plot that is just as interesting—that of a captured lesbian who had been executed years earlier, but before her death wrote her memoirs on toilet paper. The memoirs, saved by V, help Evey retain her sanity during her retention and torture in what turns out to be the biggest “what the fu**”-mindjob of the film.
My only problem with their transformation is what could have been crowning moments of awesome, namely V’s escape from the facility and Evey’s prison revelation. They’re contrasted against each other as so: V as a formless burnt Darkman rising among the flames crowing, “Arrrgh!!!”, and Evey is shown walking out into the rain, both of them with their arms raised. I’m sure this is for dramatic effect, but it seems like false drama, and I can’t help but think of Goro from Mortal Kombat. The film showed him initially as an intelligent character, but as soon as he had his moment of rage with his arms up, he became a grunting ape through the rest of the film, as if he suffered brain damage during a cut scène:
Goro: I am Goro! General of the armies of Outworld and prince of the sub-terrainian realm of Shokan.
(later in the film)
Goro: Rarrgh blarrg arrgh!! (aka “Hulk Smash!”)
Thankfully, this doesn’t happen here. But truth told I did worry for a minute.
The antagonist here is John Hurt as High Chancellor Adam Sutler. In order to fully drill the Orwellian 1984 reference into our heads, Chancellor Sutler is mostly seen on a 30 foot screen. Oh, the dentistry. Seeing his angry mouth being projected that large is like watching an old cemetery in an earthquake.
Roger Allam is Lewis Prothero, the face and voice of the British Television Network, modeled after Rush Limbaugh. Having him being hooked on pharmaceuticals was a nice touch, but he resembles, perhaps more accurately, the Mark Levin of right-wing England. An egotistical blowhard spewing his usual hate-filled rhetoric. Stephen Rea plays Inspector Finch, who, in trying to discover V’s true identity, instead finds a deep conspiracy connecting the origins of V, Sutler, Prothero and the true foundation of the new regime.
Both Sutler and Prothero are made extremely unlikable. They might as well have had Disney-esque songs in which they declare how evil and one-dimensional they are:
Lalala, I am Hit-ler! Lalala, see my sca-ary troops!
This is so we the viewer won’t feel bad seeing them killed off—but it seems kind of demeaning and insults our intelligence, whereas V challenges our vocabulary and leaves some of us scrambling for dictionaries.
What I like about this is although this takes place in the future, for the most part it doesn’t try to be futuristic. There are no rampaging cyborgs. Very little has changed technologically, possibly because the preceding events have slowed progress. The monsters in this film are ideologies (as they are in real life).
So relax and enjoy this record of a ranting renegade revolutionary rogue and his tale of revenge, retribution and rebellion to its resolution as I did.
Review by Slydon