V For Vendetta

Sorry, didn't realise the font had gone all weird, and made the text invisible. Fixed it.

So, V for Vendetta. I know what the internet thinks of this film, and, despite the fact that I love the Wachowski’s, I’d never seen it up till now, nor have I read the graphic novel. Now that I have seen it, I must ask, why the hell have I not watched it earlier?

Right, let’s get away from my (not having seen the film), and onto the review.

So, plot. Basically, we start in a modern 1984, where the United States has been ravaged by civil war, and England has suffered from a massive plague. There’s a terrorist named “V”, played by Hugo Weaving, who rescues Evey, played by Natalie Portman, from the secret police, and takes her to see his first “performance”. V then blows up the Old Bailey to the tune of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in a truly epic scene that shows off the films excellent effects work and model miniatures. He then lets Evey get on with her life, for a day at least. He then shows up at her job at a TV station, where the government is playing a message saying the Old Bailey was demolished because of structural instability, and plays a message to the country telling them to rebel. The police storm the building, and try to arrest him. Evey helps him out, and gets knocked out for her trouble. V essentially kidnaps her, to keep her safe. From there on, it gets a bit more complicated, but I won’t spoil it.

The acting is excellent in this movie, especially with Hugo Weaving who, despite not actually being visible, manages to convey exactly what V is thinking in the scene through body language, and his voice is great as always, and it gives him a kind of threatening, authoritative feeling.

One of the interesting bits of casting is John Hurt as Chancellor Sutler, a Big Brother type figure. John Hurt is, of course, famous for playing Winston Smith in 1984.

The film has a very dark tone, and the color scheme used reflects that perfectly, with many scenes set in dark areas, tunnels, prison cells, underground rooms, with splashes of color. The effects are something I have a particular interest in, and they are excellent. Really damn nice. The two major effects scenes, the destructions of the Old Bailey and the Houses of Parliament, are beautiful. It’s obvious that they used model miniatures, and it works perfectly. It looks far more real than a pure CG scene, and shows just how much they learned during their amazing work in the final Matrix film. 

There’s also a great slow motion fight scene, highly reminiscent of the Matrix lobby scene. 

Alright, my overall review. Good movie. I would totally recommend it, though there are a couple of scenes that aren’t exactly consistent with the tone, like the scene where Stephen Fry’s character does a weird comedy sketch thing on his show. Oh, and the film has Stephen Fry, so watch it.