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[bcholmes]

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed V for Vendetta.

They've changed some aspects of the story, but I think those changes were necessary. They've put in a plague disaster in place of the nuclear exchange. They've also reordered some things, so that V's takeover of the television station happens earlier in the story, before his murders of Prothero, Bishop Lilliman, and Dr. Surridge. Prothero was economically defined (making a Bill O'Reilly-like TV personality), and his murder was less hokey than in the source material.

Evey was better characterized. She implicates herself in V's plot, rather than just get found. And she doesn't just disagree with V's plan, but craftily tries to interfere. She takes up his mission, but she doesn't take on his costume. Overall, I'd say her character was really strengthened.

Some additions were very nice. The delivery of masks via the post was great. And I liked the way V manipulated Creedy at the end. And the intro that helped to explain Guy Fawkes to Americans nicely set the tone.

The government's fascism w.r.t. race was pushed to the background (although the Storm Saxon TV show made an appearance). The targets of fascism are more queers and Muslims, which resonate better with today's political climate.

I feel like they missed the oomph on the speculation of who V is. It seems, at one point, like they were going to build that part of the story with Deitrich, but it felt like they just dropped that part of the story. They also skipped the moment when Evey asks V if he's her father. And the added Rookwood scene was weak; it's the sort of scene that exists in case there are dumb people in the audience.

It was great to see several of the scenes brought to life. V conducting the 1812 on the roofs of London. The bombing of the Old Bailey. "Ideas are bulletproof!" The takeover of the TV station. Valerie's letter.

I'm very happy with the final result.

Comments

[rbowspryte.livejournal.com]

Spoilers please!!

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

Just added them.

[rbowspryte.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you are happy with it. I had allot of anticipation and some skepticism about V being made into a hollyood production (especually by the W bro's)

I'm glad it came out alright. I feel safe in seeing it now.

Thx for the sitrep.

[cigfrain.livejournal.com]

thank you for the spoiler review. i am more inclined to see it in the theater, than i was before.

[professor-booty.livejournal.com]

I went in with the advantage of having read the story so long ago that I was approaching the film without prejudice. I wasn't preoccupied with 'hmm, that part changed' issues, only 'is the film working for me' questions. And most of it worked. The 'ideas are bulletproof' bit came out corny though...I knew he had some mind of armour on, but with the barrage he took, I'm sorry, he wouldn't be bouncing back to trounce to shooters. It makes him look superhuman...which is a fun idea, but certainly not the film's intent. I seem to recall that the experiments at Larkhill had made V into somewhat more than just a regular person, but still....Superman?

The sending out of masks looked fun visually, but really, man...how did V manage to make 100,000 Guy Fawkes masks under the noses of this facist surveillance state? And the image of this huge crowd all dressed like him storming parliament made them look like identical stormtroopers...a mindless mob, no better than the government they were rising against. V's agenda was one of anarchy, individualism. I guess the pulling off of masks was supposed to represent their reattainment of individual thought?

Evey's decision to run to Gordon after 'escaping from V' was too contrived for my taste. How did she know that he wouldn't just turn her in? The fact that he had a personal interest in opposing the government was an interesting twist, but having him also possess a Koran seemed like overkill...'oh, I just happen to possess this forbidden book because I think it's beautiful'. But the 'Benny Hill' show that Gordon produced was great. Getting people to laugh at their oppressor, to stop seeing him as all-powerful and scary, was an important step.

I liked how V was able to turn Creedy against the Chancellor, revealling how at the end of the day even monolithic dictatorships are driven by individual human beings with selfish interests. But I found the portrayal of the government being led by one megalomaniac overly simplistic. That's how facist regimes are sold to people...on the basis of a cult of personality. But behind the scenes is always a system of powerful connected interests...business, media, religion. This is touched upon of course, but Sutler is still the absolute power figure, and thus removing him would seem to solve the problem.

I liked the 'man-made plague' too...a theory ripped from today's conspiracy headlines!

Most of all, I was glad to see this kind of story being told in a mainstream movie. Hopefully, it'll plant some seeds.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

And the image of this huge crowd all dressed like him storming parliament made them look like identical stormtroopers...a mindless mob, no better than the government they were rising against. V's agenda was one of anarchy, individualism. I guess the pulling off of masks was supposed to represent their reattainment of individual thought?

This is a good observation. It reminds me of two films: The Battle of Algiers, which also has a "homogeneous crowd" scene at the end, and Youcef: The Legend of the Seventh Dreamer, which takes place after the Battle of Algiers and looks at some of the problems that have come to exist because of a lack of critical awareness of identity politics.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Valerie's letter was absolutely beautiful and tremendously moving. "Ideas are bulletproof!" was very well done, very stirring.

[professor-booty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the letter sequence was very well done. Not just beautiful, and a moment of grace during a grim sequence of the story...but important in the evolution of Evey's character, and also in providing some background about the government's rise to power. It's been a long time since I read the story, so I had forgotten about the letter.

I forgot about it, too.

[ardasiril.livejournal.com]

...but years from now when the rest of this film is not quite so solid in my memory (unless of course it does become one of the few I actually purchase)...I will never forget the montage of Valerie's letter.

Few sets in films come together in such a visual/music/content way to move me. In fact, I can only recall two in the last decade I would put in the same category:

- the climax of Summer of Sam, set to the Who's "Baba O'Reilly"
- the end sequence of The Devil's Rejects (you'll never be able to hear "Freebird" again without thinking of this, even if you don't like the genre)

And neither of those left me in tears like this one did.

Everyone in the US should be required to go see this film, if only to discuss its content. It's interesting that the early media blitz here so far is Alan Moore disowning it (why, I wonder? It really isn't that bad) and certain neocons frothing at the mouth that it makes fun of them.

Gee, why would they ever think a film depicting a singleminded fascist state with a totalitarian focus on weeding out Muslims, gays and anything different, brought down by a homegrown terrorist/failed military experiment, would be anything remotely like them?

*smirk*

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

It only occurred to me now, but I'm slightly disappointed that the impact of the death of the "Voice of London!" wasn't portrayed better, the faltering in confidence that was brought about by his replacement.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

*nod*

I'm just now reminded of the interesting scene after Prothero's death where Evey recognizes that the newscaster is lying. I think that scene speaks both to the ingenuity of people to recognize what's really going on and to the idea that the public is complicit in allowing the lies to be said without rebuttal.