The Director:
James McTeigue
Cast:
Natalie Portman ………. Evey Hammond
Hugo Weaving ………. V
Stephen Rea ………. Inspector Eric Finch
Stephen Fry ………. Gordon Deitrich
John Hurt ………. Chancellor Adam Sutler
Tim Pigott-Smith ………. Creedy
Roger Allam ………. Lewis Prothero
The Movie:
A futurized England is governed by a totalitarian regime and Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) finds herself in the thick of things after befriending a mask-wearing stranger named V (Hugo Weaving). The story is clearly about the mission and plight of this title and masked character named V, whose veil is a tribute to Guy Fawkes, a, 18th century anarchist who attempted to blow up the British Parliament. The movie focuses on uniting against oppression and is based on a graphic novel of the same title, penned by Alan Moore.
The primary storyline of the film is based upon the idea of what happens when fear-mongering is promoted by those in power. Chancellor Sutler, the “Big Brother” of the movie for all intents and purposes, usurped power by running authorizing illegal testing and now must face V’s Vendetta.
When the movie first came out, there were two things that were almost synonymous with its title. The first was the involvement of the Wachowski Brothers (of Matrix fame), who scripted the story. The second is the resemblance that the movie has to 9/11, and the criticism that it received for its parallel to such a tragic event.
While the movie is clearly about V’s need for vengeance, there is no question that Evey Hammond is the central character because as she matures from a weak girl to a powerful politically-motivated outlaw, the story moves forward. Evey is the character that the audience can relate to, not only because she doesn’t wear a mask (even though she does in an inherent sense), but because she is quite emotional about the battles that she constantly finds herself in.
The story is a good one, and almost resembles the old courtroom cliché in V’s need to taste the sweetness of revenge. If V was the accused, it is like he slowly goes about killing the lawyer who failed him, the prosecutor who put him away, the jury who convicted him and the country that failed him only to find that no matter what he believes to be true, it is the general opinion of the public that can be his only salvation.
The DVD:
The Video:
The DVD is presented in standard 2.18:1 and appears clean. Facial tones do tend to lean toward the pinkish side, but this can primarily be blamed on the newness of the movie.
The Audio:
The drill is the same here as it is for most movies nowadays. Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. There are instances where turning the subtitles on is necessary, especially for a phenomenal monologue from V at the beginning of the movie where every word for an extended period of time starts with the letter of his name for a verbose vicissitude of vocabulary but for the most part, the sound works perfectly.
Special Features:
A couple of featurettes are the only bells and whistles associated with this DVD. The first appears on the first disc and is called “Freedom! Forever! Making V For Vendetta.” This primarily concentrates upon the adaptation of Moore’s graphic novel.
The majority of the extras appear on the second disc, starting with more featurettes. These include:
– “Designing The Near Future,” which runs for about 17 minutes and focuses primarily on the location and set design.
– “Remember, Remember: Guy Fawkes And The Gun Powder Plot,” which runs for about nine minutes and focuses primarily on the history of the movie from 1605.
– “England Prevails: V For Vendetta And The New Wave In Comics,” which runs for about 15 minutes and details the history of comics.
Other features include a hidden easter egg of Natalie Portman’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, a Cat Power music video, and the trailer of course.
There is also a music video available in the features. It’s by All Too Much and the song is called “More Than A Friend.”
The rest of the features are primarily geared toward hyping the show and are called “Showtime Shorts. None of these are worth your time.
| Inside Pulse’s Ratings for V For Vendetta – Two-Disc Special Edition | |
