V for vendetta

[estepheia]

I saw V for Vendetta tonight. I wish I could have seen it in English. So much depends on the voice of the main character. Still, the German version was well-dubbed. I thought Natalie Portmann made an excellent Evey, Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry also worked for me. As for V, I thought that the body language was very appropriate.

I came across the comic in 1985, long before Alan Moore reached his current cult status. Back then, V for Vendetta appeared in a magazine called Warrior, together with Miracleman, Warpsmith, Laser Eraser & Pressbutton and several other fabulous stories. In fact, I worked for the comic shop that produced and distributed said magazine (I *was* the mail order department). Unfortunately, I never met Alan Moore, only his editor and a few other people involved in the comic biz. Warrior magazine was cancelled before V's story was complete. When DC comics produced a colored version, I was finally able to read the ending. It's still one of my favorite comic books ever.

I heard that Alan Moore is unhappy with the movie and withdrew his support. That's a shame. The movie is very close to the comic books. Many sequences are frame by frame renderings of comic book panels. On a visual level, V for Vendetta delivers. The casting is good too. After The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (gag me with a spoon!) I'd feared the worst, but I needn't have worried. The political message of the comic was never compromised. On the contrary. Once or twice I thought the script could have been a tad snappier, but all in all the movie was worth the admission price. Definitely.

Comments

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

From what I understand, it wasn't so much that Moore withdrew his support, as tat as soon as it was clear V really was going to be made into a movie, Moore threw up his hands and said he didn't want anything to do with any part of it. So the movie never had his support at all.

I'm still trying to make up my mind on what I think about that--whether it's a sign of artistic integrity or a need to get over himself. My gut says the latter, but then I second-guess myself and swing to the former; then I get defiant and turn back again. It's hard to decide sometimes.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

If you check out this thread, there's a link to an interview with Alan Moore. You're right, he didn't want any part of it from the start.

And yeah, I totally agree: it's hard to decide whether it's a sign of artistic integrity or not...

[(Anonymous)]

I saw the movie this weekend. Although I agree that it is better than a lot of other movies in this genre, I doubt that it will be very successful. It has too many flaws for general public appeal. I guess it suffers a little bit from "Hulk syndrome", another ambitious failure. "V" is too long-winded and too quiet, not outright boring as "Hulk" was, but still it is more talk than action. Not that I personally dislike it, far from it, but that's not what the general audience appreciates in a movie nowadays. I found the characterization, exposition and character developments quite interesting.

But listing the flaws:
- the immensely unplausible plot. I guess that came from Alan Moore, so the Wachowski brothers couldn't do much about it. But the plot left much to desire, and that usually kills a movie for me.
- The antagonist is a surprisingly weak character. Not one of John Hurt's best performances. It is just loud, but never menacing. I still fondly remember Alan Rickman's performance in "Robin - Prince of Thieves", which is a showcase of how to act out the hero's nemesis and a delight in an otherwise disappointing flick...but I am disgressing.
- the body language of Hugo Weaving is indeed very good, as it has to be as he has no facial expressions at his disposal to enhance his performance. But his spoken language - from the first moment V spoke I disliked it. It sounds so much like a voiceover (which it is anyway) instead of the guy in the mask actually talking, that it makes the whole character completely unbelieveable - at least for me.
- the utterly unconvincing explosions that open and close the movie. They look more like fireworks in Disneyland than actual explosions.

That's my impression of the movie.

By the way: "Underworld: Evolution" is exactly like "Underworld". More of the same. People who liked "Underworld" will probably like the sequel, but for me both films didn't do anything. Again, most of the cast deserve nominations for the "William Shatner Award for Achievements in Overacting" ;-)

"Domino" was an interesting experience with a fresh approach to visuals, "Ice Harvest" was not as funny as the DVD cover would want to make you believe (in fact "funny" or "hilarious" are no words I would use to describe the movie at all), but you can not make too much wrong, if you buy a DVD that has John Cusack in it, anyway. "Get Shorty" is funny, but "Ice Harvest" is much more film noir than comedy. Saw the last two on DVD.

Cheers,

Lutz

[ahedonia.livejournal.com]

See, *I* was going to say that it is a great shame you didn't see it in English, because Hugo Weaving's voice was delicious, an elegant, expressive, seductive purr. (I was a little disturbed with myself at how weirdly sexy I tended to find V.) Although I must say, *I* had no prior knowledge of the comic, so I can't say whether or not they "got it right."

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I like Hugo Weaving. I guess I'll buy the DVD, then I can listen to his voice. :-)

I'm glad to find I'm not the only one who likes the movie.

[ahedonia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to find I'm not the only one who likes the movie.

Oh, you're not the only one at all! I went to ljseek and looked up any references to the movie that were going on out there in LJLand, and there were plenty of positive and/or thoughtful blog posts about it.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yay. I'm glad if the movie is successful.

I liked the fact that they kept the alliterations of the comic books. All the chapters start with the letter 'v' and V uses many v-words.

I hope Watchman will be good too.

And one day I hope to see Gaiman's Sandman made into a (good) movie. :-)

[shapinglight]

I'm not sure why Alan Moore withdrew his support. It wouldn't be the first time, though. I think he's had a bruising time from the film industry generally.

I first read V in Warrior too. In fact, I probably still have the magazines somewhere.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I still have all my Warrior magazines. And my Miracleman comics... So good.

One of my favorite Alan Moore lines is:

"I did not eat dog. Vas poodle anyway."

Hee.

Maybe I should dig out a few of my old comics again. Haven't read them in ages...

[shapinglight]

Maybe I should dig out a few of my old comics again. Haven't read them in ages...

I keep telling myself that and yet I never seem to do it.

[mythtaken.livejournal.com]

There's a recent interview with Alan Moore where he talks about V for Vendetta and his reasons for not wanting anything to do with the film, if you're interested:
Part 1 (http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/03/a_for_alan_pt_1_the_alan_moore.html)
Part 2 (http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/03/a_for_alan_pt_2_the_further_ad.html)

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you. An interesting read.
BTW, I found movie!V anarchistic enough. He does not appear too liberal to me...