Review: V for Vendetta

"Government should be afraid of it's people, not the other way around."

That line from the movie essentially sums up the main ideology of this film. Frankly, it's an ideology which is as scary to the people of the world as it is to their governments.

The wonderfully bloody hypothesis of this movie is that the mass populace of this modern day (or slightly in the future) possesses 2 things which I believe they don't:

1) The ability to know when they are being bullshitted by fear mongering and by the idea that in order to maintain peace, freedom must be sacrificed.

And,

2) The will to resist in such a situation, coupled with the resolve to join together to overcome complacency and to do what must be done.

The Totalitarian regime in control of England was not placed there by an epic overthrow of Democratic process, but BY the very Democratic process it removed. Frightened citizens gladly gave away their dearest civil liberties for the ability to look away from their problems, with the knowledge that their kindly, fatherly and strong governent would make sure all was right and good in the world. Sound familiar?

Of course it does.

Clear reference to the Bush regime is made, so much so that it need not be discussed here. While I agree with the movie from an ideological standpoint, my grim cynicism knows that if someone blew up the Capitol building tonight at 12 am, and then sent everybody Guy Faulks masks and said, "Meet me in front of the White House a year from today!", that not a God damn person would show up. Those that did actually show up would be bongo tapping, weed smoking liberal pussies who'd get beaten down by the cops faster than you can say Kent State, or they'd be ultra Right-wing scumbags looking to create a Fascist regime of their own.

Oh sure, there'd be lots of talk amongst the vast, politically inactive populace, that is for about a month after the bombing. Then V would be caught and labeled a terrorist. Rupert Murdoch would decide what we think and we'd all stand together as a nation and condemn the enemy while singing "God Bless America" with tears in our eyes for the loss of the innocence which V robbed from us the night of his monstrous, maniacal terrorist act.

Still, it's great to hear such revolutionary talk, even if it falls on deaf ears. V for Vendetta delivers it's message in a rather repetitive, heavy handed way which may make you groan, but if this message is to have the slightest chance of being heard, can it be delivered in any other way? Subtlety, it seems, has about the potency of a fart in a tornado, and the central issues facing our society today are much too easily ignored by those who'd rather not deal with them.

As far as performances go, Weaving was over the top in a grandiose, swashbuckling sort of way
that initilly turned me off but grew on me in no time. As far as Portman, HOLY CROW, that chick can act! She was awesome, freaking terrific.

The violence was a bit light, especially in the opening scene. Where the seriousness of this movie could have been properly stated by a brutal slaughter of the Gestapo-like villains, instead we are given a comic book dipatching which leaves in question whether or not they were all even killed. This is made up for later by V's last stand, during which he demonstrates exemplary knifing. Stabbing a dude on the inner thigh, lifting him horizontally in front of you in the air, then stabbing down with your second knife into his body, driving him to the ground is just fucking beautiful. YES, I applauded when this happened and YES, it was the closest I came to crying in the theatre in a while.

Rating: 9 out of 10