V For Vendetta

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November..."

Based on the popular comic book, this moovie is about a look into the future of a 1984ish England. Having read the book, I had high expectations for this moovie. Unfortunately early reports stated that author, Alan Moore, did not want to be associated with the film because of past projects failing miserably (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). This did not send out a good signal to me but the film was being produced by The Wachowski brothers, creators of the Matrix films.

The moovie centers around a mysterious, masked man who is determined to topple the fascist government that has taken over England and revitalize the life of the people. What is very eary is that this comic book was written in 1982 but parallel many of today's current events. One can not help but invision a similar future for America if we are not careful.

The Ups: The moovie stays very true to the book and only leaves out small side stories and minor characters. Fans of the book will not be disappointed as most of the dialogue and important scenes are nearly perfect. Even people who are not familiar with the work will enjoy this as there is a lot of action and the characters are beliveable and play their parts well. This is capped off with a very Matrixesque style fight scene at the end that tops anything attempted before it. You are also given a lesson in 40 words that start with V that you didn't know in this introduction by the main character, V:

Voilà ! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.

The Downs: The only major difference that I did not agree with is that they made the moovie version of Evey, the female lead portrayed by Natalie Portman, a bit more intelligent then her counterpart in the book. Also some of the backstory was not explained very well and could be very confusing to piece together to someone who wasn't familiar with the book. You get the main idea of the moovie but some of the details could be missed unless you pay very close attention.

Overall: This is an excellent rental for anyone in the mode for a little action-political moovie. The fight scenes alone are worth the admission and much more movie to spare. The moovie sends a good message that has been repeated time and time again, don't trust the government.

Verdict: 6 pack of pounders and the biggest bag of Fritos you got.