Cody Musser vs Internet: Take Two!

Originally posted on 03/18/2006 at 1up.com

This is a review of 'V for Vendetta', it will contain spoilers, if you are going to see the movie, and haven't read the graphic novel, don't farking read it. It will mean you ruined it for yourself. *Warning given.*


Now, on with the show. The title of this post is absolute truth in my opinion, but don't let that desuade you from seeing the movie. Because in fact, the movie is still abso-fucking-lutely good. It stays true to Alan Moore's original work throughout, and the Wachowski brothers don't Matrix-ify pretty much anything. V isn't doing Neo-flipkicks n' shit, because trust me ... I was worried. The performances, effects, and storyline stay faithfully true to Alan Moore's masterpiece. The minor problems with the movie lie in style and setting, and I'll touch base with them closer to the finish of this whole affair.

V. V is the villianous victor, who vehemently makes a very violent video, actually a vibrant voice of truth. (As he would say so himself.) What I'm saying is, ... this movie is V. He is the single best aspect. He is a Shakespearian hero, a poet and a lover, and a victim of tragedy, who appears to have made the world his own, but realizes the world isn't any longer his passion. The acting that Hugo Weaving brings to V is pretty damn amazing, and you wouldn't have imagined for a second that he was once a stone-faced computer program, if it weren't for that hint of similarity in his voice. You can almost hear it slipping out, "My name is V .... .... Mr. Anderson."

The other performances are solid, and Natalie Portman has in my mind, rectified the whole Queen Amidala shit-storm. I've forgiven her, and now she'll be dutifully remembered as Evey, ... and the 10 year old trying to score with Jean Reno.

The effects are amazing throughout the movie, but they're held back, as they should be. The effects aren't part of the film to tell the story, they're part of the story itself, so while the explosions and fight-scenes are often breath-taking, they never remove you from the most important part of the film. The story.

The story in V for Vendetta is actually the most amazing part. It was amazing in it's time thanks to Alan Moore, and it's amazing now, mostly because it probably grows more and more true everyday. We're teetering on the balance of a society as crazy as that, and while I don't want to get too political. The fact that someone like george bush can get elected to a second term, shows that we're a nation of people who want our government to be the kind of guys who say that God is on their side, and make decisions like tapping hundreds of phone calls without telling anyone. Alan Moore feared such things, and he also knew the solution. V was the solution, but V was a symbol, for terrorism. That's the most amazing part about this movie, I honestly can't believe at all that the parts of the film that so blatantly propose terrorism were left intact. The movie didn't cut too much from the graphic novel as I remember it, and the fact that lines like "blowing up a single building can change a nation" (except said from the side of the blow-er-uppers) were left in, is crazy. Maybe there's hope for us after all. If you censor the movie that's about our freedom, goddam it all.

My minor, minor squabble is this, and sadly it's with the people that made the movie possible, the Wachowski brothers, the Wachowski's are big-budget directors, plain and simple. They shoot clear, style-free scenes, and they focus on the content, not the technique. They don't have the flare that directors like Tarantino and Rodriguez have. That's what makes this movie still the 2nd best comic-to-film adaptation, behind of course Rodriguez's Sin City. When you watch Sin City, you see the style, that's pretty obvious, and it makes the movie what it is. The Wachowski's shoot so perfectly and clearly that the gritty dark style of the graphic novel is lost. Also, the setting of what they are shooting is just too happy. Bright colors, what appear to be happy office buidings and homes, that wasn't V for Vendetta. V for Vendetta was set like 1984, a god-damn scary world and a scary government. The government in the film seemed less threatening and more comical. I felt like I could topple them. Regardless, these things don't make the movie something it shouldn't be, they just make it a little less of what it could have been.

If you read this and you haven't seen it, FUCK YOU for not listening, and go see it ... now! You shouldn't be that spoiled, just see it in IMAX, because when the dominoes fall, your asshole will pucker. If you did see it, read the book now and appreciate the original. If you've already done both, then you sir are as cool as I am.

OVERALL RATING: 9/10

... and undoubtedly 'V for Vendetta' is my early contender for best of 2006. The only realistic challengers that I feel have a shot so far are:

A Scanner Darkly
The Fountain

These two stand a chance, because not only do the have righteous source material, they have the style that V might have missed just a little.