V For Vendetta (2006, DVD)

"Remember, remember the fifth of November," for on this day, in 2020, the minds of the masses shall be set free. So says code-name V (Hugo Weaving), a man on a mission to shake society out of its blank complacent stares in the film V For Vendetta. His tactics, however, are a bit revolutionary to say the least. The world in which V lives is very similar to Orwell's totalitarian dystopia in 1984: after years of various wars, England is now under "big brother" Chancellor Adam Sutler (played by John Hurt, who ironically played Winston Smith in the movie 1984) whose party uses force and fear to run the nation. After gaining power, minorities and political dissenters were rounded up and removed; artistic and unacceptable religious works were confiscated. Cameras and microphones are littered throughout the land, and the people are perpetually sedated through the governmentally controlled media. Taking inspiration from Guy Fawkes, the 17th century co-conspirator of a failed attempt to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1605, V dons a Fawkes mask and costume and sets off to wake the masses by destroying the symbols of their oppressors, literally and figuratively. At the beginning of his vendetta, V rescues Evey (Natalie Portman) from a group of police officers and has her live with him in his underworld lair. It is through their relationship where we learn how V became V, the extremities of the party's corruption, the problems of an oppressive government, V's revenge plot and his philosophy on how to induce change.
Based on the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore, V For Vendetta's screenplay was written by the Wachowski Brothers (of The Matrix fame) and directed their protégé by James McTeigue. Controversy and criticism followed the film since its inception, from the hyper-stylized use of anarchistic terrorism to overthrow a corrupt government and the blatant jabs at the current US political arena, to graphic novel fans complaining about the reconstruction of Alan Moore's original vision (Moore himself has dismissed the film). Many are valid critiques and opinions, but there's no hiding the message the film is trying to express: Radical and drastic events often need to occur in order to shake people out of their state of indifference in order to bring about real change. Unfortunately, the movie only offers a means with no ends, and those looking for answers may find the film stylish, but a bit empty.

A Cautionary tale

This is a great movie. Adapted from the graphic novels of the same name, it is a lesson in what can happen when people become too apathetic about who runs things and what their motivations are.
The original tale is much darker, more anarchic than the movie. The creator claims that the movie was changed to 'bash' the Bush administration, but that's really too simplistic a view. While connections can definitely be made, the message of the film is a broiader one about what can happen in a totalitarian regime of any kind, anywhere in the world. A more obvious and direct comparison would be to Nazi Germany.
And the violence of the graphic novels is a little much for a large portion of the movie going public so changes had to be made in order to even get the movie made.
Anyone who thinks that it would be 'heaven' to have a government run on a religious basis should see this movie.
Set in England under the reign of the High Chancellor, 'secret police' are everywhere, propaganda rules the airwaves, and the smallest infraction of rules brings harsh penalties. Government, colluding with big business, keeps the public in the dark about the truth of things and afraid of expressing themselves. In short, everyone has to wear a 'mask' in order to avoid arrest. Not unlike the old Soviet Union.
Into this enters masked hero who calls himself V. He stands up to the bullyboys and offers the people a view of their previous freedom, and urges them to reclaim it.
With elaborate planning he sets in motion a series of events designed to bring and end to the totalitarian administration and let the people create a new land.
Caught in the middle of this is Natalie Portman's character Evy. An innocent caught out after 'curfew' she's saved from indecent assault by government agents by V, and ends up wound into his world.
Another person caught in the middle is Inspector Finch of the police force. He is perhaps the one person in the administration who is not comfortable with the way things are but plays along anyway to do his job. He's the only one who puts the pieces of the plan together and sees a train wreck coming yet is powerless to stop it.
John Hurt's bombastic Chancellor Sutler is a wonderfully manic control freak in the mold of any combination of historic dictators. He accepts no excuses and will do anything to keep an iron grip on the country and power. Watching him here it's hard to remember that Hurt also played Professor Broom of the Hellboy movies.
There is a slightly confusing bit in the middle, shown in flashbacks of a time before the Sutler regime, but if you look past that and view the movie at a whole it's not only entertaining but thought provoking.

A must see for those who love complex futuristic films.

Making a splash on the scene in 2006, V for Vendetta may not cater to any one set of movie-goers, but seems to fit into a niche of its own. Just as George Orwell's novel "1984" attempted to paint a portrait of our own future, this film seems to have done so with believability and impact. The Wachowski Brothers wrote the screenplay and can greatly be recognized with the high brow sci-fi "Matrix Trilogy" which gave them the credibility to do just about anything they want in film.

The story-line, although complex at times, seems to always come together and present the future through the eyes of a madman and his semi-captor cohort named Evey (Natalie Portman), a working class young lady, that has as many high ideals, but tries to understand V's (Hugo Weaving) motives, who hides his identity behind the mask of a madman. Little do we know that V was seeking vengeance upon the leaders of the government now lead by the Grand Prime Minister of Britian played by John Hurt. The tension that develops as our bold and charismatic freedom fighter, V schemes and plots to get payback from the people that scarred him for life.

This film has many different fight scenes with confusing and unexpected cat and mouse play between V and the so-called establishment that wishes to snuff him out. The mailing of the masks to various places even makes it harder to stop him since everyone wants to mimic his progress. The exactness and timing of certain events in this film make it a real knuckle-biter.

Natalie Portman delivers an astounding range of emotional power in this film and helps the film along by revealing a side to Evey that we don't see at the beginning.

I give this a 5/5 for action, intrigue, cleverness, and forcing us to find no middle ground between the opposing views that this film screams for us to do.

IF YOU LIKE MY REVIEW PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO LET ME KNOW BY VOTING. THANKS!

A must see for those who love complex futuristic films.

Making a splash on the scene in 2006, V for Vendetta may not cater to any one set of movie-goers, but seems to fit into niche of its own. Just as George Orwell's novel "1984" attempted to paint a portrait of our own future, this film seems to have done so with believability and impact. The Wachowski Brothers wrote the screenplay and can greatly be recognized with the high brow sci-fi "Matrix Trilogy" which gave them the credibility to do just about anything they want in film.

The story-line, although complex at times, seems to always come together and present the future through the eyes a madman and his semi-captor cohert Evey (Natalie Portman), a working class young lady, that has as many high ideals as most, but tries to comprehend V (Hugo Weaving), who hides his identity behind the mask of a madman. Little do we know that V was seeking vengeance upon the leaders of the now nation lead by the Grand Prime Minister of Britian played by John Hurt. The tension that develops as our bold and charismatic freedom fighter V schemes and plot to get payback from the people that scarred him for life.

This film has many different fight scenes with confusing and unexpected cat and mouse play between V and the so-called establishment that wish to snuff him out.
The mailing of the masks to various places even makes it harder to stop him since everyone wants to mimic his progress. The exactness and timing of certain events in this film make it a real knuckle chewer.

Natalie Portman delivers an astounding range of emotional power in this film and helps the film along by revealing a side to Evey that we don't see at the beginning.

I give this a 5/5 for action, intrigue, cleverness, and forcing us to find no middle ground between the opposing views that this film screams for us to do.

IF YOU LIKE MY REVIEW PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO LET ME KNOW BY VOTING. THANKS!

V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta" is going to confuse a lot of people. Nevertheless, and make no mistake about it, this is movie making of the highest order, combining all the finest elements of great storytelling into a potent roller coaster of a movie filled with great action,intellect and above all, ideas. Its message can - and will - easily be dismissed by naysayers as sophomoric or too "out there," or "anti-american" but there is also an earnestness here that will resonate strongly, and perhaps, frighteningly, to many viewers who will not fail to see the correlation between this fictional tale and the way the world we live in works.

Filled with stereotypes and archetypes, "V" is unapologetic in its essaying of morality and in its strongly held sentiment that this tale is "for the people, by the people." Brothers and writers Larry and Andy Wachowski (of Matrix fame) have infused their screenplay with the anger, confusion and hope captured in Alan Moore's original graphic novel - and it's better looking as a result.

I truly believe that many who see "V" will be upset by it, but hopefully more of us will be inspired by its bold, blatant message and take a good hard look at ourselves and the way the world works around us and see that, with sacrifice and thoughtfulness, the world can be changed.

As Evey, Natalie Portman is cast in something of the "victim" role, but she makes us route for her, and to her credit she goes beyond that making the transformation of her character not only believable, but in the end, noble.

Hugo Weaving - the man behind the mask - gives a performance that can only be described as mesmerizing. As "V" he exposes all of the strength and weakness of a character that is equal parts savior and villain.

The physical production is beautiful in its realism as it paints a nightmarish world of the not-very-distant future (2020) and is chilling in its depiction of governmental power, socio-political corruption and, ultimately, the complacency of its citizens. Weaving's "V" challenges, and ultimately changes all of that, as he quickly unravels the fabric of civilized society, capturing the public with his bold ideas - and with the promise and permanancy of change through rebellion and political uprising.

Most chillingly, the film invokes the dread once feared in "1984" but with a renewed vigor that drives home the horrors Orwell foresaw, and still loom large in our comfy modern world. Chilling? You betcha! For those who know the novel, there is little skimping, and, given the current world situation, one must absolutely applaud the filmmakers for "going there" as far as the ending is concerned. This is film making at its emotional and challenging best.

Are there flaws? Of course there are, but ultimately "V for Vendetta" rises far above them in its presentation of a world filled with ideas that have forever been debated, and does it in a story well told, beautifully acted and full of hope for humankind. Not bad work for a movie. Actually, it's magnificent.