V for Vendetta Review
Nov. 7th, 2010 12:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labingiYesterday, ![[dreamwidth.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_other.png)
sixish and her friends kindly invited me over for the annual Guy Fawkes Day viewing of V for Vendetta, which I had never seen before. I really enjoyed it; in fact, I was riveted to the screen. Below the cut is a brief review/list of the good and less good.
(expect spoilers)
The Good
* A movie oriented around Guy Fawkes Day. (Maybe this just tickles me as an American.)
* It mostly avoids cliché, delivering interesting characters with interesting relationships.
* You never see V's face (except in the shadowy flashback). You don't need to; that's the point.
* Trenchant social commentary that transcends the Bush years. Seeing the film in 2010, I actually didn't think "Bush" until about 20 minutes in. Doesn't matter; it's still valid (which may be a sad statement).
* Many gray characters and motives. The film keeps you guessing about what the right course of action really is.
* Following from that, a complex but sympathetic portrait of terrorism as a legitimate tool of social change. (The fact that I have a slight impulse to protect myself by observing here that I don't advocate terrorism is evidence, in itself, of how much this kind of uncensored commentary is needed.)
* Excellent pulling together of disparate threads to generate a climax that is about a social movement more than individual heroes, which is very rare in a big budget movie. I also like the ecological metaphor (not intended, but that's okay). It reminds me of Levine's commentary on Darwin's "tangled bank" of urban society as akin to ecological entanglement.
* By and large, the wheels of social transformation made sense, so that by the time Parliament was blown up, I bought that it was a sign of a new era and not just random destruction.
* By the same token, the wheels of fascist takeover are also creepily believable.
* Gay rights commentary.
* A cast of just about all my favorite actors ever. It was quite delightful.
The Less Good
* The acting, though generally quite good, seemed a little weak in places. There were a few moments when I wondered why we were getting perturbed when we should be getting epic emotion.
* While mostly avoiding cliché, the last 20-30 minutes of the film falls into a few pits: standard romance pit, Phantom of the Opera pit, girl praising tragic hero to high heaven pit, girl hero not having much to do pit.
* While I can readily suspend my disbelief for most the film's events, I don't buy that the soldiers protecting Parliament would stand down in the absence of specific orders. Their standing order was doubtless to protect the building at gunpoint if need be. Conventionally trained troops would do that, I think.
* Economics: How did V end up so rich and powerful? For that matter, how did Evey support herself when she goes off to be all free and unafraid? (If by prostitution, I wish they'd come out and said so.)
* I wish there had been more commentary on racism. The incredible whiteness of the cast could legitimately point to a lot of people of color being forced out of Britain, but we don't hear their voices.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and may hope to view again on another Guy Fawkes Day.
sixish and her friends kindly invited me over for the annual Guy Fawkes Day viewing of V for Vendetta, which I had never seen before. I really enjoyed it; in fact, I was riveted to the screen. Below the cut is a brief review/list of the good and less good.(expect spoilers)
The Good
* A movie oriented around Guy Fawkes Day. (Maybe this just tickles me as an American.)
* It mostly avoids cliché, delivering interesting characters with interesting relationships.
* You never see V's face (except in the shadowy flashback). You don't need to; that's the point.
* Trenchant social commentary that transcends the Bush years. Seeing the film in 2010, I actually didn't think "Bush" until about 20 minutes in. Doesn't matter; it's still valid (which may be a sad statement).
* Many gray characters and motives. The film keeps you guessing about what the right course of action really is.
* Following from that, a complex but sympathetic portrait of terrorism as a legitimate tool of social change. (The fact that I have a slight impulse to protect myself by observing here that I don't advocate terrorism is evidence, in itself, of how much this kind of uncensored commentary is needed.)
* Excellent pulling together of disparate threads to generate a climax that is about a social movement more than individual heroes, which is very rare in a big budget movie. I also like the ecological metaphor (not intended, but that's okay). It reminds me of Levine's commentary on Darwin's "tangled bank" of urban society as akin to ecological entanglement.
* By and large, the wheels of social transformation made sense, so that by the time Parliament was blown up, I bought that it was a sign of a new era and not just random destruction.
* By the same token, the wheels of fascist takeover are also creepily believable.
* Gay rights commentary.
* A cast of just about all my favorite actors ever. It was quite delightful.
The Less Good
* The acting, though generally quite good, seemed a little weak in places. There were a few moments when I wondered why we were getting perturbed when we should be getting epic emotion.
* While mostly avoiding cliché, the last 20-30 minutes of the film falls into a few pits: standard romance pit, Phantom of the Opera pit, girl praising tragic hero to high heaven pit, girl hero not having much to do pit.
* While I can readily suspend my disbelief for most the film's events, I don't buy that the soldiers protecting Parliament would stand down in the absence of specific orders. Their standing order was doubtless to protect the building at gunpoint if need be. Conventionally trained troops would do that, I think.
* Economics: How did V end up so rich and powerful? For that matter, how did Evey support herself when she goes off to be all free and unafraid? (If by prostitution, I wish they'd come out and said so.)
* I wish there had been more commentary on racism. The incredible whiteness of the cast could legitimately point to a lot of people of color being forced out of Britain, but we don't hear their voices.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and may hope to view again on another Guy Fawkes Day.
