"Remember remember, the Fifth of November the gunpowder, treason and plotI finally got around to seeing the Wachowski Brothers' V for Vendetta on Friday. Let me start with this...wow. Just wow. It was a very "word-y" movie, filled with words, explosions and then more words, before finally, more explosions.
We know no reason why gunpowder, treason should ever be forgot"
The movie, of course, is an adaptation of an Alan Moore graphic novel of the same name. So, what does he have to say? He says it was "turned into a Bush-era parable by people too timid to set a political satire in their own country.... [This film] is a thwarted and frustrated and largely impotent American liberal fantasy of someone with American liberal values standing up against a state run by neoconservatives which is not what [the comic] 'V for Vendetta' was about. It was about fascism, it was about anarchy, it was about [England]."
To be honest...I never read the comic. I suck. So, lets look at it as a stand alone movie. Moore may have a point. You can see a lot of where America could be heading in the film. An ultraconservative state after a mysterious virus and terrorist attacks. People electing a fascist because he preaches security and faith. Curfews are the rule, corrupt police and governemnt officials. Television stations that are essetially the voice of the government. Scandals, cover ups, you name it.
Then appears V. A man in a Guy Fawkes mask. Blowin shit up. Trying to wake people up. Show them that they should be in control. On November 5th, Guy Fawkes Day, V takes over the television station to tell the people to meet him in front of Parliment on Novemebr 5th of next year.
Over the course of the next year, V befriends a girl named Evey. V saved Evey the first night, and the following day, she saves him. He kind of kidnaps her as thanks and they begin to become friends of a sort, until she escapes from him.
Ultimately, V and Evey both have to make a choice that will be the key to the future.
V is played by Hugo Weaving, who you never get to see. He's sort of like James Earl Jones in Star Wars. He could have just done a voice over except for 1 scene. Aside from that, he did a fine job. He has just the right voice. It works so well that it's difficult to imagine anyone doing it better. Evey is played by Natalie Portman, who, besides looking hot as a bald chick, actually shows something that was lacking from he performance in Star Wars, an ability to act.
It was a great movie, I don't think I could have asked for more out of it. I think everyone should see it, if only once.
