V for vendetta

In this time of finacial hardship, we look for things to be thankful for. And this movie gives us one: fake blood. Without this film, I would have thought that fake blood was used only to portray serious injuries in film. But apparently that isn’t the case. You can have it just spray all over the place for no reason.Written by the directors of The Matrix Trilogy, comes an action movie VERY LOOSELY based on the Alan Moore graphic novel. Fans of the original book will likely find the film abhorrent, and I suggest they avoid it. However, for anyone looking for a good action movie, you need look no further than here, as this bloody showdown commences.

We open with a shot of Guy Fawkes being hanged. Already we can see how optimistic and happy the rest of the film is going to be. We then cut to about five hundred years in the future, when Britain is run by a group of dictators, all of whom answer to one high chancellor (played ironically enough by John Hurt, who starred as Winston, the character who fought against government control in “ 1984” ). I would make a joke about how Britain is already run by dictators, but I go to an American public school, and thus have no idea how any governments, including my own countries, work. In this grim future, a young girl, Evey (Nathalie Portman) is walking home from work when government agents attack her. She is saved, however, by a masked man named only V (Hugo Weaving). V wears a Guy Fawkes mask, but unlike the current Wall Street "occupants" who wear similar masks, V actually accomplishes something. He’s a terrorist set on destroying the evil control of the chancellor, but he’s the GOOD kind of terrorist. The kind that gets things done by blowing up buildings and torturing people… wait…           

V makes Evey an unwilling accomplice when he destroys the Old Bailey in London with a large quantity of dynamite. He then uses her ID to hack into a government broadcasting station, where he proclaims to all of England that he intends to destroy the Houses of Parliament in one year’s time. In the process, Evey is indicted as V’s helper, and forced to take shelter with this rather romantically poetic madman. While she stays with him, however, she soon learns there is more to him than just his speeches of freedom. Behind his mask is a dark secret. While she gets to know her captor, a government investigator, Detective Finch, slowly begins to track down this threat to government control. Can V and Evey survive the year and see freedom brought to England ?           

With some great performances and a very memorable climax, “V for Vendetta” serves as a politically minded viewer's action film. While it doesn’t bring up any new ideas, it certainly re-enforces the thoughts of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, or anyone else named Tom, as well as an overall patriotism. While it isn’t comparable to Alan Moore’s original comic, it is still pulse-pounding, thrilling, and ultimately quite enjoyable. I give “V for Vendetta” a 7/10.