James McTeigue/USA/2005; R4
Warner Bros, NZ$34.95 | Reviewed by Simon Sweetman

COMIC BOOK adaptations? Hit and miss. Except these days the source material is given the lofty reverence of being called a graphic novel – does that change things? Well in the case of V For Vendetta it certainly does, because Alan Moore’s early 1980s story about V was set against the backdrop of Thatcherism and was most definitely a comic book for adults; rather than a Spiderman or Superman character-tale that kids and adults could bond over. V is vengeful – he is both hero and anti-hero combined, his form of vigilantism sits closest to Batman in terms of association with established comic/graphic novel heroes; but V is a creation that is fuelled by a hatred for society’s actions against him in a physical sense, where is Gotham’s Dark Knight is all about suppressing a rage within by acting out at society’s condemnation for itself. There are overlaps and underlays, both figures could be accused of being as much the problem as the solution – and that of course is prevalent in a dissection of vigilantism; it might well be a rising force to fight against conservatism and communism, but it could just as easily bring with it a tide of fascism – an ethos that is really just communism in shabbier clothes.

The Wachowski Brothers bored me senseless with The Matrix and not just with their overkill trilogy and cottage-industry of PlayStation games, anime add-ons and behind-the-scenes documentary features; I mean with the original film of The Matrix. It was an innovative sci-fi film (I thought it was a spoof!) that was, ultimately, an exercise in Emperor’s New Clothes filmmaking. But I did like Bound – their sexy, noir-ish thriller made on the smell of an oily rag, pre-Matrix, to prove they could write, produce and direct.

Here, with their screen version of Moore’s comic creation they are back on task. As writers and producers (allowing Matrix crew member James McTeigue to sit in the canvas-backed chair) the Wachowskis show empathy with the material, and wisely allow V to retain his Shakespearean soliloquizing, his mask-concealed stiff-upper-lip-ness; his very British-ness. And the story is set in England, in the future, with a government controlling its public by spreading fear and keeping the police and armed forces loaded, cocked and ready.

It’s so obvious – almost a little too obvious by the film’s end – that this is an indictment on the Bush government, but it’s pleasing that the movie stays in England. Firstly, Tony Blair is implicated for his political bed-hopping, and secondly, V For Vendetta is a very English story – even if its political allegory can now be viewed on a world level.

Vendetta is reminiscent not just of the obvious English examples of political allegory (Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984; the anti-hero that is Robin Hood) but also of Roger Waters’ The Wall as realised for the screen by Alan Parker. There are touches of The Wall’s hooded Nazism references, the colours and uniforms, and yet this film is very much its own creation, very much a tale to be told for the 21st Century, despite its grounding in 20th Century polemic.

But beyond the politics, and it is hard to see outside of this version of V For Vendetta’s parable, allegory and satire, this is a very human story. Just as the subtle strength in Bound (and exactly what was missing in the wooden writing and casting of The Matrix), Vendetta’s darkness is illuminated by Natalie Portman’s Evey and Hugo Weaving’s V.

As the Stockholm-syndrome affected Evey, Portman shows that she has become an actual adult actor, no longer a kid, no longer just a sex-symbol for Lolita-complex sufferers, but a woman capable of playing more than just sassiness and sexiness and capable of transcending sci-fi clichés. And Weaving, hidden by V’s mask, is superb with the sonorous spiel of polysyllable proclamation making, the alliterative words bounce off the end of his tongue, showing the beauty of language – even if its being sinisterly subverted with twisted payback logic.

V For Vendetta is not a mind-blowing film, but it manages to be so much more than so many comic-book tales; it has heart and brains. And it showcases both at every available opportunity. It’s a film that is visually arresting, and has certainly taken its cue, in more ways than one, from the best vestiges of the Batman film franchise (Dario Marianelli’s score instantly mining the same dark-blue musical tone of Danny Elfman’s finest work).

And it shows, importantly, that the Wachowski brothers are prepared to push the envelope, rather than riding on the one-note wave of hysteria and hype that still, somewhat bafflingly, swirls in around any talk of The Matrix.


SHORT on special features, the DVD's sole extra is a making of featurette entitled Freedom! Forever!, of moderate interest given its brief insight into the film’s orgins and thematic ambitions.