V For Vendetta

V For Vendetta is one of those movies that always intrigued me, but I never got around to seeing it until just recently. V For Vendetta is based off a graphic novel, the story is based in Britain in the near future as the people are controlled by fear from the government as a Supreme Chancellor limits everything the society can do and even uses the news to spin stories any way that benefits the agenda of the government and helps to keep the masses in line due to the fear that they can bring up. Yet, the government has to deal with a terrorist only known as V and his plans to create a change in the government on November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day) and because he only wears a Guy Fawkes mask the advances in technology do not the government the ability to use facial or retina scans to determine his real identity. Another movie about the way society can become a distopic one if we allow it plays a strong message to me.

Hugo Weaving in the role of V is not just a good one, but he gives an amazing performance. It is rare for a non-animated movie to have the stars performance to truly rely on solely his voice to exude all the necessary emotion, but this is exactly what Weaving must do. Being in a Guy Fawkes mask for the entire movie we never see his face so he cannot use his facial muscles to help convey meaning and emotions he is feeling. Weaving does a great job as I felt the intensity of his convictions come through in just his voice and the inflictions he produces that while he is out for revenge for what was done to someone he knew in a government controlled prison ans is killing those who were responsible the audience sees him as the protagonist and wants his plan to succeed even though the audience does not know exactly what his end game is, but has a sense that he wants a Revolution to happen on November the fifth. Natalie Portman in the role of Evey works well with Weaving onscreen. Portman gets pulled into the story after being saved by V. Being onscreen with V so much makes it not easy to interact and connect since she has no face with emotion to react to, yet she does a great job making her emotions and reactions coincide with the intensity that Weaving brought to his role. Also, I give any actress a lot of respect when a role requires her to shave her long hair completely.

The supporting cast all serve great purposes and give performances to match what Weaving and Portman bring to their roles. The role of the Chief Inspector Finch played by Stephen Rea is one that we are not sure if we should despise or root for as he is investigating into who the terrorist truly is. As he investigates we see what made V who he is and you want to actually root for the moral side of Finch to take control. As every part of the onion of his investigation peel off his eyes become more and more open to what the role the government is truly playing in keeping the society fearful. In complete contrast we have John Hurt in the role of Supreme Chancellor Sutler the audience instantly gravitates against him. As the Supreme Chancellor he has an air of untouchability as we are shown him through a video screen over and over again even in meetings with his heads of the different divisions. This only gives the control of the government an additional Big Brother feel to it. It is only when we see him in person that his power and untouchability is merely a facade and we end up seeing how weak he is when exposed. Hurt plays this strength and opposite weakness perfectly.

The story for V For Vendetta is not simply about a distopic society and one man's attempt to make changes to the society. As everything unfolds we learn that V's reasons far more then scratch the surface of revenge and in the end the recurring theme ends up being that while a man can be killed an idea cannot. It is for this reason that we end up getting a very minimal back story on V and even that it ends up being even more about the person who has give him the motivation for the idea. Also, for this reason that is why we never see V without the Guy Fawkes mask on because that is what keeps his revolution as an idea that no matter what it cannot die and because of this we do not get to truly see the human side of V. Being based off a graphic novel worked well for this movie, they used the feeling of a graphic novel throughout the movie especially in the color usage of how the film was shot. Most of the scenes throughout the movie has a dark and even hopeless fell to it, yet when in V's home it seemed to have more of a vibrancy to it.

V For Vendetta is a movie that will definitely have you thinking throughout the movie. I was astounded at how strong the performances were throughout the movie, especially Weaving's portrayal of V. The intricacies of the for the story worked so well and I greatly enjoyed trying to figure out the end game plan for V as well as everything else as it started to unfold.  I am giving V For Vendetta three buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie definitely worth watching if you happen to come across it on TV or on Netflix or even in a Redbox kiosk.

-The Movie Man