Review of V For Vendetta

Introduction

I wasn`t familiar with the graphic novel V For Vendetta when I first heard of the movie based on it. I thought it sounded like a reading primer for Mob kids - A is for Assassin, B is for Beatin` to within an inch of your life, C is for Concrete (as in overcoat). I really wish I`d done my homework before I watched the movie, because it`s a picture you really need to know some background on before you start watching.

I`ve only completely changed my mind about a movie while I`ve been watching it once before, and that was seeing Raiders Of The Lost Ark back in 1981. With that, I`d gone to see it because I couldn`t get in to see Time Bandits. I was grossed out by the spiders, creeped out by the Nazis and the snakes, but by the time he hijacked the lorry with the Ark aboard, I was sold. The same thing happened with this picture.

I was somewhat skeptical about the movie. The Wachowski Brothers strike again. I`d surprisingly followed what they were on about with The Matrix, because unlike so many commentators I actually listened to what was going on. My beef against them was the movies were too tricksy, too reliant on gob-smacking special effects, not least wire-work, which I find more of an insult to my intelligence than any amount of CGI.

My initial gut reaction to the first hour of the movie was negative. I thought the only good thing about the picture was the slice of eggy bread V fried for Evey about half-an-hour in. The movie is uncompromisingly nasty for much of its running time, although that nastiness has a purpose. The movie also, like the Matrix pictures, keeps you wrong-footed. That`s why I`d advise anybody watching this film to set aside the time to watch it once to get the hang of the story, then view the making-of to get the hang of the themes and nuances, then watch the movie a second time to really enjoy it. It`s a challenging movie and that is a rare thing in an action picture.

There is a lot of violence in the movie, bad language and implied unpleasantry that really makes it the sort of picture you don`t watch with your granny. The 15 rating is well-deserved and I`m starting to wonder what a movie has to do to get an 18 these days.

The story is set in a dystopian near future, where germ-terrorism and the collapse of the US has set Britain on a fascist, totalitarian course. The country is ruled by dictator - High Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt). He is backed up by an SS style security elite led by Creedy (Tim Piggott-Smith) and a state television propaganda service that would have Rupert Murdoch salivating audibly.

Against this background, innocent office-girl Evey (Natalie Portman) finds herself on the wrong side of Creedy`s "fingermen" SS. She is rescued from possible rape and murder by a cloaked stranger in a Guy Fawkes mask (Hugo Weaving) who takes her to a ringside seat of the destruction of the Old Bailey to the strains of the 1812 overture.

Such is the paranoiac control of the High Chancellor that Evey finds herself irrevocably linked with V, the masked terrorist. On their trail is Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) who starts to put together the backstory of V and eventually realises that one conclusion, linked to the Guy Fawkes, 5th November gunpowder plot, is inevitable.

With a fine feeling for things hyper-British (slightly reminiscent of The Avengers), director James McTeigue (first AD on the Matrix movies), fills the movie with fine British character actors including Stephen Fry as Evey`s tv host boss, and Sinead Cusack as the doctor responsible for V`s condition. The Wachowski Brothers` script keeps you wrong-footed for most of the movie, but as you get into the final stretch, everything starts falling into place - hence the suggestion you watch the movie twice. There are maybe a couple of WTF moments that need a couple of viewings, one of which is an are-they-screwing-with-us moment right up at the end that turns out to be kosher.

I have very mixed feelings about dystopian movies. Some I absolutely loathe, and I think it was the bleak setting of the movie that turned me off at the start. I knew before I watched the movie that Alan Moore`s graphic novel was a Thatcherite allegory, and for me the 1980s are too raw a nerve to find entertaining (if in 1986 somebody had got me a thermonuclear device to ride Dr Strangelove-style in freefall over the Houses of Parliament, I`d have happily bought a cowboy hat to do my Slim Pickens impression). Having viewed the movie, I think it might be all too easy for the UK (or more likely the US) to slide into the intolerance of fascism. Hopefully people might remember this movie and step back from the precipice, but I`d doubt it.

Video

A spotless (as you would expect) video transfer in anamorphic widescreen replicating the film`s 2.35:1 theatrical presentation. Rendition is excellent with vivid colours and top notch contrast. On a sad note, the movie is dedicated to its cinematographer, the great Adrian Biddle (also responsible for the look of The Mummy, Bridget Jones 2, Thelma and Louise and The Princess Bride) who died of a heart attack 7th December 2005, just before the movie`s premiere.

Audio

A stonking Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Special mention should go to Dario Marianelli`s excellent, haunting score.

Features

Just the one, but it`s pretty good. A sixteen minute making-of featurette "Freedom! Forever! Making V for Vendetta" which interviews all of the cast and sorts out any of the ambiguities that might be left behind.

The movie and featurette are both fully subtitled.

Conclusion

Have you ever started out hating a movie and ended up loving it? That`s happened to me with V for Vendetta. I started out thinking it was needlessly violent and unpleasant and I wound up being dazzled by one of the most intriguing political fantasy-thrillers (a unique example of a genre). As I point out in the main body of the review, this is a picture that doesn`t deserve a single viewing. It needs some homework doing first. Watch it once to get the story in your head, watch the making-of to pick up the subtleties, then watch it properly to soak up the intricacies of the plot and the dazzling visuals.