![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Since there was no D&D game today, I hopped off to The Bridge to see V for Vendetta.
Yes, it was good. Damn good. I hereby forgive the Wachowski brothers for Reloaded and Revolutions.[1] They've wised up: this movie is more mature than their earlier stuff. And I will never instinctively typecast Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith ever again. He gave an absolutely mesmerizing performance, which was not at all hampered by his smiling Guy Fawkes mask. And Natalie Portman was great too, even if she didn't quite have her English accent down pat.
I'm going to try not to give any spoilers, because I came across some in reading reviews of the movie (and stuff about the comic book) and I think I would have enjoyed the movie more without knowing some of the stuff that I knew - mostly stuff having to do with the differences between the move and the comic book. I do intend to read the book and see how the movie measures up, although I have heard from various sources that the film is pretty faithful in spirit (if not in letter) to the original material.
V for Vendetta is not exactly high art, but it is a thinking person's film. There's action, sure, and it's executed very well: fortunately it is not the main focus of the movie, and it is plausible. By that I mean it's realistic - though it pushes the envelope a bit - and as brutal as it is stylized. The movie is about revolutionary ideas, not just revolutionary battles. If you don't have ideas, or a real vision beyond your own hatred (and, actually, V had a problem with this), then you really are just a terrorist - not a revolutionary.
Another remarkable thing about the film, besides its intelligence, is the relationship between Evey (Natalie Portman's character) and V. They have an interesting kind of chemistry - it's romantic without being sexual. I'm sure there are people who will disagree with me on that, but that's how it came across to me. That's very difficult to write or act (although for the writing part Alan Moore is probably more to thank for that than the Wachowskis) and I was rather impressed.
Two quibbles: one is that the supposedly repressive government of Britain did not seem repressive enough. We see a lot of media manipulation, plus the whole curfew thing, and people being "disappeared" from their homes, but you'd think that the populace, or at least a significant portion of it, would be more or less brainwashed through fear and propaganda, or at least that they would pretend to be. Instead, they were watching the news and openly exchanging remarks about how fake and unbelievable it was. In a really repressive fascist society, most people wouldn't dare express opinions like that, not even to their own family. I also didn't see much evidence of rationing or shortages (aside from a few remarks about butter in a conversation between V and Evey). One of the advertisements says that this movie is "an uncompromising vision of the future," but I think there were some compromises after all. My other quibble was that the film laid its message on kind of thick at the end[2]. In comparison to stuff like Babylon 5, however, it didn't seem so bad.
So, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed V for Vendetta. I think I'll get the DVD when it comes out - but first, on my oath, I will read the comic book.
Now, for real life stuff - first, related to the movie. Some of you folks know that there is a movie theater within easy walking distance of my apartment building, so you might wonder why I went to The Bridge. Well, there's a good reason - a lot of people who go to the closer theater don't know, or don't care about, the rules of movie-watching ettiquette, and I didn't want to have to deal with that. Unfortunately I had to anyway, even at The Bridge. Shortly after taking my seat in the theater, I noticed that a guy in the row behind me had brought his small son along. By "small" I mean about 4 or 5 years old. To an R-rated movie. Actually, I'm not as offended by the idea of kids watching R-rated movies as I am by the fact that said kids are often constitutionally unable to shut up, because their parents are constitutionally unable to shut them up. It takes a lot away from the experience of watching the movie when you have some tot behind you constantly commenting or asking about what's going on. Needless to say, I changed seats.
Unfortunately I ended up dealing with another problem. There was a couple a few seats down from me, and the guy hadn't turned his cell phone off. Not only that, but when it rang, he answered it and had a brief conversation with someone on the other end. And he still didn't turn it off - it rang again later. Also, towards the end, he and his girlfriend apparently lost interest in the movie and started having a little conversation. They will, of course, be going to the special hell.
Here's my non-movie-related bit for the day: on the way home, while I was waiting for a subway train, I somehow got into a conversation with a figure skating enthusiast (not only does he follow professional skating, he does amateur skating). He went on a long lament about how figure skating is underappreciated in this country, how much snobbery and backstabbing goes on among administrators and judges in professional skating, and about how Tanya Harding was framed for hiring a guy to bash Nancy Kerrigan's knee (remember that, folks)? Since I often rattle on about things I'm interested in, I figured it was only fair that I provide him with an audience. Everyone should be listened to once in a while.
[1] Alan Moore, on the other hand, is probably doing various horrible things to voodoo dolls of the brothers Wachowski, and of the executives at D.C. who sold them the movie rights. I was amused, but not surprised, to see that he wasn't mentioned in the credits, although the comic book's illustrator David Lloyd was.
[2] certain people have already made remarks about this to me, specifically in comparison with the comic book, and I would appreciate it if they refrained from doing so again.
Yes, it was good. Damn good. I hereby forgive the Wachowski brothers for Reloaded and Revolutions.[1] They've wised up: this movie is more mature than their earlier stuff. And I will never instinctively typecast Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith ever again. He gave an absolutely mesmerizing performance, which was not at all hampered by his smiling Guy Fawkes mask. And Natalie Portman was great too, even if she didn't quite have her English accent down pat.
I'm going to try not to give any spoilers, because I came across some in reading reviews of the movie (and stuff about the comic book) and I think I would have enjoyed the movie more without knowing some of the stuff that I knew - mostly stuff having to do with the differences between the move and the comic book. I do intend to read the book and see how the movie measures up, although I have heard from various sources that the film is pretty faithful in spirit (if not in letter) to the original material.
V for Vendetta is not exactly high art, but it is a thinking person's film. There's action, sure, and it's executed very well: fortunately it is not the main focus of the movie, and it is plausible. By that I mean it's realistic - though it pushes the envelope a bit - and as brutal as it is stylized. The movie is about revolutionary ideas, not just revolutionary battles. If you don't have ideas, or a real vision beyond your own hatred (and, actually, V had a problem with this), then you really are just a terrorist - not a revolutionary.
Another remarkable thing about the film, besides its intelligence, is the relationship between Evey (Natalie Portman's character) and V. They have an interesting kind of chemistry - it's romantic without being sexual. I'm sure there are people who will disagree with me on that, but that's how it came across to me. That's very difficult to write or act (although for the writing part Alan Moore is probably more to thank for that than the Wachowskis) and I was rather impressed.
Two quibbles: one is that the supposedly repressive government of Britain did not seem repressive enough. We see a lot of media manipulation, plus the whole curfew thing, and people being "disappeared" from their homes, but you'd think that the populace, or at least a significant portion of it, would be more or less brainwashed through fear and propaganda, or at least that they would pretend to be. Instead, they were watching the news and openly exchanging remarks about how fake and unbelievable it was. In a really repressive fascist society, most people wouldn't dare express opinions like that, not even to their own family. I also didn't see much evidence of rationing or shortages (aside from a few remarks about butter in a conversation between V and Evey). One of the advertisements says that this movie is "an uncompromising vision of the future," but I think there were some compromises after all. My other quibble was that the film laid its message on kind of thick at the end[2]. In comparison to stuff like Babylon 5, however, it didn't seem so bad.
So, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed V for Vendetta. I think I'll get the DVD when it comes out - but first, on my oath, I will read the comic book.
Now, for real life stuff - first, related to the movie. Some of you folks know that there is a movie theater within easy walking distance of my apartment building, so you might wonder why I went to The Bridge. Well, there's a good reason - a lot of people who go to the closer theater don't know, or don't care about, the rules of movie-watching ettiquette, and I didn't want to have to deal with that. Unfortunately I had to anyway, even at The Bridge. Shortly after taking my seat in the theater, I noticed that a guy in the row behind me had brought his small son along. By "small" I mean about 4 or 5 years old. To an R-rated movie. Actually, I'm not as offended by the idea of kids watching R-rated movies as I am by the fact that said kids are often constitutionally unable to shut up, because their parents are constitutionally unable to shut them up. It takes a lot away from the experience of watching the movie when you have some tot behind you constantly commenting or asking about what's going on. Needless to say, I changed seats.
Unfortunately I ended up dealing with another problem. There was a couple a few seats down from me, and the guy hadn't turned his cell phone off. Not only that, but when it rang, he answered it and had a brief conversation with someone on the other end. And he still didn't turn it off - it rang again later. Also, towards the end, he and his girlfriend apparently lost interest in the movie and started having a little conversation. They will, of course, be going to the special hell.
Here's my non-movie-related bit for the day: on the way home, while I was waiting for a subway train, I somehow got into a conversation with a figure skating enthusiast (not only does he follow professional skating, he does amateur skating). He went on a long lament about how figure skating is underappreciated in this country, how much snobbery and backstabbing goes on among administrators and judges in professional skating, and about how Tanya Harding was framed for hiring a guy to bash Nancy Kerrigan's knee (remember that, folks)? Since I often rattle on about things I'm interested in, I figured it was only fair that I provide him with an audience. Everyone should be listened to once in a while.
[1] Alan Moore, on the other hand, is probably doing various horrible things to voodoo dolls of the brothers Wachowski, and of the executives at D.C. who sold them the movie rights. I was amused, but not surprised, to see that he wasn't mentioned in the credits, although the comic book's illustrator David Lloyd was.
[2] certain people have already made remarks about this to me, specifically in comparison with the comic book, and I would appreciate it if they refrained from doing so again.
