74) V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta (2005)


Director: James McTeigue

Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Piggot-Smith, Rupert Graves, Roger Allam


One of the best feelings as a movie watcher is when you come across a film that really surprises you. A lot of the time you pretty much know what you are in for when you go to watch a movie. Often even the really good ones you will come into with an understanding that the film you are sitting down to watch has been well reviewed or whatever and you are expecting it to be really good. But when something really surprises you, in a good way that is, it is fantastic. One film which really surprised me when I went as saw it at the cinemas five years ago was V for Vendetta. From memory I went and saw if because a couple of guys wanted to see a movie on a Saturday night and there wasn't much showing. I expected it to be a run of the mill comic book movie, possibly a bit less because it was a character I'd never heard of, but it proved to be so much more.

In the year 2020, Britain has become a totalitarian state under the control of dictator Adam Sutler (Hurt). On the evening of the 5th of November, Evey Hammond (Portman), who is out after curfew, is saved from rape at the hands of a group of policemen by a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask known only as V (Weaving). Evey accompanies V to a rooftop where they witness the explosion of the Old Bailey which he has orchestrated. The next day V hijacks the television station where Evey works in order to broadcast a message that in one years time he will do what Guy Fawkes failed to do and blow up the Houses of Parliament. When Evey helps V to escape from the the television station she is forced to go into hiding with him to avoid being taken by Sutler's secret police. Over the next twelve months, Evey learns the political motivations behind V's plan, to unite the people against their fascist government; "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." Meanwhile, detectives Finch (Rea) and Dominic (Graves) have been given the job of trying to catch V, but their investigation into who V is uncovers the sinister side of the government which motivates V's fight.

The last ten to fifteen years saw an explosion of comic book adaptations. The success of the X-Men and Spiderman franchises opened the floodgates on material from the comic book, or should I say graphic novel world. Out of that there have been some hits; Iron Man, The Watchmen, Sin City, A History of Violence, and some misses; The Hulk (I'm talking the Ang Lee one with Eric Bana, not that Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton was all that much better), Daredevil, Superman Returns, The Fantastic Four. But I would say that probably the most interesting film to come out of the comic book cycle has been V for Vendetta.
Based on Alan Moore's graphic novel of the same name, released in 1982, V for Vendetta is a bit different. Firstly, the fact that the story is set in the UK rather than in America gives the whole thing a very different feel. You don't have the over the top Americanness which you get in a lot of superhero stories. But primarily V for Vendetta has a different tone to other superhero/comic book movies. V for Vendetta is a film about ideas rather than action. Our hero is a political activist rather than a crime fighter, with the evil he stands up against being a fascist regime rather than a super villain. His goal is to empower the people to stand up for themselves. What makes him an even more interesting character to consider is that he is a terrorist. He blows up the Old Bailey and plots to blow up the Houses of Parliament in order to make a political point. Terrorism is not an overly popular concept these days which makes it so interesting the way in which the viewer is encouraged to side with V and accept his justifications for his actions.

The screenplay is written by the Wachowski brothers, Andy and Lana, who are most famous for the Matrix films. I read one review which suggested the Wachowski's were Hollywood's equivalent of John the Baptist, having a seemingly strong interest in proclaiming Messiahs. It is a fair comment when we consider the characters of Neo of the Matrix films and V from V for Vendetta though I'm not sure if the analogy extends as far as Speed Racer.As you watch V for Vendetta you can't help but think of a number of different texts, whether that is because of intentional allusions or just thematic similarities. I had two which really jumped out at me this time. The first was Phantom of the Opera. The character of V, and particularly his relationship with Evey, is quite similar to the Phantom. Obviously there is the mask and the underground lair, but you also have a character who has a score to settle and controls those around him through the use of their imagination. Also much like the Phantom, V is a very ambiguous character who, as a viewer, you are unable to justify all of his actions making him an uncomfortable hero. I've seen V for Vendetta before and can't recall making the Phantom of the Opera connection then, but it was inescapable for me this time.

The other connection, somewhat more logical, is to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and the film adaptation by Michael Radford. For those unfamiliar with it, Nineteen Eighty-Four also deals with a dystopian fascist Britain. Particularly the scenes in which we see Sutler (played by John Hurt who also played the lead role, Winston Smith, in Nineteen Eighty-Four) on the big screens barking orders at his underlings on massive screens make you think of Nineteen Eighty-Four's 'Big Brother'.

V for Vendetta is a film which doesn't quite have the profile I think it deserves. People who see it generally love it (it currently sits at 168 on IMDb's Top 250, compiled from the ratings of IMDb users), the only problem is that not as many people have seen it as have seen some of the more average comic book movies of recent years. I think it is probably the most interesting film to come out of the explosion of comic book adaptations over the last decade. It's a superhero movie which is about ideas more than action. Until Christopher Nolan's Batman films raised the bar for comic book movies I'd say this one sat at the top of the pile.