(Credit: Impawards.com)
Director:
James McTeigue
Cast:
Natalie Portman …. Evey
Hugo Weaving …. V/William Rookwood
Stephen Rea …. Finch
Stephen Fry …. Deitrich
John Hurt …. Adam Sutler
Tim Pigott-Smith …. Creedy
Rupert Graves …. Dominic
Roger Allam …. Lewis Prothero
Ben Miles …. Dascomb
Sinéad Cusack …. Delia Surridge
Natasha Wightman …. Valerie
John Standing …. Lilliman
Eddie Marsan …. Etheridge
Clive Ashborn …. Guy Fawkes
Emma Field-Rayner …. Guy Fawkes Lover
Ian Burfield …. Tweed Coat Fingerman
Mark Phoenix …. Willy Fingerman
Alister Mazzotti …. Baldy Fingerman
Billie Cook …. Little Glasses Girl
It seem as if March has become “Alternative Style Comic Book Movie Month” in the last few years. In March 2004, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, a book many thought to be impossible to adapt, was brought to the screen, though it did have problems. 2005 gave us Sin City, another book many thought they would never see live action. Now in 2006, we get Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta, with the revolution brought to us in living color.
Adapted for the screen by the Wachowski’s and directed by their Second Unit Director on The Matrix Trilogy, James McTeigue, Moore’s sophisticated story about a lone vigilante fighting oppression in an Orwellian future could have been turned into a dumbed-down Action flick ala-Aeon Flux. Instead, the Wachowski’s stay true to their source and give a geek like me nearly everything he wanted out of the experience. Larry and Andy, all is forgiven about Reloaded and Revolutions.
In the near future, a terrible epidemic has crippled America, and the seat of World Power has come back to England. Only England is now place of oppression and genocide. The place has become the dictatorship similarly depicted in 1984 and Brave New World with no one realizing how terrible things have become until a revolutionary named V (Hugo Weaving) reminds them of the liberties they have lost. He begins by taking out many symbols of the government’s rule, The Bailey Building and other party leaders, and promises to finish the work of Guy Fawkes, who on Novermber 5, 1605 tried to blow up Parliament. V asked that the citizens of London join him in a celebration of toppling dictatorship on the anniversary of that event.
Along for the journey is Natalie Portman’s Evey, a young reporter that V saves one night from some immoral members of the Secret Police. Snatched up into V’s world, Evey goes on her own odyssey to emancipate her fear of this oppressive society. Though not the title character, it can be said that Evey is perhaps the most important role in the entire story. She doesn’t get to be in any of the action scenes, but it is her journey that is most tied to us. She’s a commoner that must decide whether to accept her role in this world or fight for the one she believes in.
Is Natalie Portman up the task of bringing this character off the page and onto the screen? She is and then some. Portman is incredible here, never giving a single false note. She never once overplays the character or makes her seem melodramatic. Say what you want about her Star Wars performances, but the actress brings her “A game” to V.
Now initially, certain little intricacies that were lost from the original source are a little off-putting. For example, just like the graphic novel, the government uses a propaganda figurehead to help keep the population in check. Roger Allam plays Lewis Prothero the government’s Television mouthpiece, and a public face that forces the ideal of the regime on the people. Now in the book, what made Prothero such an interesting character was his love of porcelain dolls. He cherished the things more than he ever would another living person, and when V finally came for him, it became a tool to use against him. Here, he is made more into a character that resembles many of the hate spouting news men that bludgeon today’s airways. Even losing these little bits of character is still quite effective, but not to the degree of the original.
Similarly, many characters from the graphic novel are merely touched upon instead of being delved into, most egregiously John Hurt’s Chancellor Sutler. Before, the Chancellor was a man that obsessed about his power, but was also seen in a very pitiful way. It was as if the government were his mother or lover and the Chancellor desperately kept everything together to try and please her. Hurt’s character is merely a “Big Brother” type symbol through most of the film. He’s still an effective figurehead, but loses nearly all of the humanity that Moore took the time to fit into the character.
Then again, this is really just nitpicking. To linger on these points would be to undermine the fantastic work done here by the film makers in updating a story for today’s audiences that was originally written nearly twenty years ago. A dash of humor that is not present in the source material is also a welcome change inserted here. The film makers have even done one better. They give us a better ending; excising possible anarchy in favor of unity. I wish I could go into it further, but suffice it to say the experience at the end is quite breathtaking.
What characters that are left in tact are also extremely effective. Stephen Rea’s Mr. Finch is a near perfect representation of Moore’s original. He’s an honest cop, simply doing his job of trying to track down a known murderer. But as he uncovers more about V , he discovers doubts within himself and about their society. Rea’s performance adds another human element to this story that gives V For Vendetta more emotional weight.
And speaking of near perfect representations, last but certainly not least is Hugo Weaving’s V. Seeming stripped literally off the page, V is everything he should be and more. He’s charming and funny. He’s heroic to the people and menacing to his enemies. This is a perfect union of character and actor, his voice permanently becoming the voice of V in my head. Even by taking away an actor’s greatest tool, his face, Weaving makes V a character that belongs right up there in the same class with Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Mickey Rourke’s Marv.
Now there has been some controversy about how the film may be symbolizing our own government and how the picture may glorify terrorism. As the English would say: bollocks! The society depicted here is the same dystopian nightmare that has had its rightful place in Science Fiction since its inception. If conservatives see themselves in this society, then that seems to be a personal crisis of faith, rather than an attack by film makers. V fights against a government that oppresses ideas, love, and freedom. These are the principles that revolutionaries have always fought for and will keep fighting for in times to come. V is a symbol of personal freedom, and even though his deeds are violent, they are justified.
