V for Vendetta

James McTeigue, 2005

“Remember, remember the fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”

I’ve decided to break with tradition today and discuss a recent movie. So, anyway, spoilers ahead. Yesterday, I went down to the local cinematheque to see V for Vendetta. I was reasonably excited about this one, especially since I’m a fan of the comic book series it’s based on. V for Vendetta is one of the seminal works of comic book genius Alan Moore and, while previous adaptations of Moore’s work, including From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, have been, shall we say, less than good, this one certainly looked promising. The plot of V for Vendetta revolves around an enigmatic terrorist, Codename V. V lives in a fascist, future London, ruled over by an oppressive government which slaughters sexual and religious deviants. V knows the inner workings of this establishment and has vowed to bring it down, murdering many of its central figures and blowing up the Old Bailey. Along for the ride is a young woman named Evey, meant to be our window into V’s world. She comes to live with V in his Shadow Gallery, an impressive subterranean home filled with beautiful but banned works of art, old films, and a Wurlitzer. Evey stays with V until she is captured and tortured.

Admittedly, Moore’s original work starts off a bit uneven, if only because it isn’t until a few issues in that Moore, his illustrator David Lloyd, and their editors decided to make this a finite series. Still, once Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta gets going, it really gets going. Sadly, this isn’t the case for the film. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the film. It is certainly very watchable and entertaining throughout. It is, however, terribly uneven. There are snatches of brilliance and points of general mediocrity. While there is more than enough brilliance to rise the film above the standards of the average studio blockbuster, it simply never comes together as it should. That said, this is a very intriguing film, especially for those who have not yet read the comic. There are a lot of ideas here and a lot of questions. The film will certainly inspire numerous conversations between academics, critics, and moviegoers, if only about the central character, who is, essentially, a super-hero terrorist. The film is violent and darkly funny (an homage to Benny Hill had me in hysterics) and, above all, thought provoking. It would be easy to say that this is the time for this film. That now is a time when governments need to be questioned and that is why the film has been made. I don’t think that’s the case, though. For one thing, the comic was written in the eighties and the Wachowski’s began planning a film version even before the first Matrix. No, I would argue that the themes here are enduring and universal. Questions are asked that seem pertinent in any time.

As I said, though, this is a very uneven film. The highs are very high, though. Particularly good is Evey’s abduction and torture, crosscut with the life story of fellow inmate Valerie. This sequence is just as powerful on the screen as it is on the page. The visuals are excellent, particularly the somewhat ritualistic, and possibly analogous to Christ, shaving of Evey’s head and the shot of Valerie kissing her lover for the first time, with the sunlight pouring between their faces. Natalie Portman is just terrific throughout this sequence, perfectly portraying a transition from utter fear and hopelessness to acceptance and utter calm. Otherwise, her performance is just as uneven as the film itself.

The other actors are excellent though. Hugo Weaving is terrific as V, brilliantly acting through a full face mask which, without a view of eyes or mouth, could be a huge impediment. Stephen Fry also shows up for a nice turn as a late night talk host, but it’s a bit weird to see him in this movie, especially for us Black Adder fans.

BIG TIME SPOILERS, AHOY! At any rate, much of the rest of the movie feels a bit rushed, with the sequences not given the same opportunity to breathe that they have in the comic. True, the movie is going to be a good deal shorter, but I have the feeling that a more simple, fluid editing style could have fixed this. Further, many of the scenes feel like their pulling punches, which is particularly weird for a film about a super-hero terrorist and a government which has secretly killed scores of its citizens. For example, the comic’s powerful conclusion, in which Evey becomes V, is glossed over, as is most of Finch’s angst and complexity of character as he uncovers a terrifying conspiracy. This is particularly bizarre omission given how well this transformation is foreshadowed in the film’s opening moments. Also disappointing is the loss of High Councilor Adam Sutler (called Adam Susan in the comic) as a character. In the film, Sutler largely only appears on a big screen, shouting at his subordinates. Gone are the sequences of a hollow man, alone in his castle, bizarrely confessing his love to the super computer Fate, also missing from the picture, which helps to run his government. Tragically, the Vicious Cabaret is missing, which I was really looking forward to. We are missing V’s beautiful soliloquy to Lady Justice, which I think is a damn shame and, again, odd.

True, many of these additions would have lengthened the film to the three hour mark, but in a world of Lord of the Rings movies and King Kong, I don’t think that that is the problem it used to be. Most troubling of all is V’s words to Evey near the end of the film. He tells her that he has fallen in love with her. I’m sorry. What? V exists in the comic as asexual. He loves Evey, but not like that and adding that note to the film version just seems wrong. Indeed, if V is anything in the comic, he is gay. How else did he end up in Room 5? Instead of keeping with this, the filmmakers transpose that aspect of the V/Evey relationship with that of the Deitrich/Evey relationship. In the comic, Evey goes to stay with Deitrich, whose name is, I think, Gordon, there, and they have a brief but meaningful relationship. In the film, Deitrich becomes a bit of a heavy handed way to move Evey toward V’s line of thought and is homosexual.

All that said, I do still think this is a pretty good movie and a valiant effort. It is much smarter and infinitely more intriguing than the usual blockbuster fare, such as the trailer for 3 Fast 3 Furious which ran before the film. I am glad it was released. It will no doubt lead to many involved discussions, both about the film as a film and about its ideas. Hopefully, it will get more people to check out Alan Moore’s comic, which is really the finest dystopian novel of any sort since George Orwell. Finally, I predict that V will be the big costume this Halloween and it will be damn cool to see the streets filled with Vs. I probably won’t dress up as the Man from Room 5 myself, but I’ll certainly by a mask. It’d be a hell of a thing to hang on the wall.