V for Vendetta pre-review

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » December 14, 2005, 9:39 am

Found this review from a guy who have seen V for Vendetta at some preshowing. It made me happy to see that, i been fearing the V movie would suck since its the Was-something brothers (the matrix guys) who were making it.

Now im looking forward to it, and to the next trailer which should come out tomorrow.

But heres the review, should be fairly spoiler free, just outline the general themes of the movie. BUT if you should know absolutely nothing about, and havent read the BRILLIANT comic by Alan Moore, you might wanna skip this.

Oh, and to make everyone happy, link to the current trailer, but should come the new one tomorrow:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/v_for_vendetta

V For Vendetta

V For Vendetta was not just the single greatest film experience I had at BNAT. Rather, it is the Single Greatest Film I’ve seen all year. It is an utterly perfect, flawless film, ripe for debate and ready to be argued. It is a comic book adaptation of material now 23 years old, and yet, it could not have been made at a better, more relevant, more appropriate time. This is a film about revolution, a film about police states and terrorism. It is a film about what happens when people are afraid and let those that offer safety at the expense of freedom reign. It is a film about one man pushed over the edge, completely destroyed and ready to get revenge. But more important than revenge, this man wants revolution. This man wants not to cut the chains of slavery off of himself, but rather off of his people. And this man, this V, is a terrorist.

And that’s gonna piss a lot of people off. And it should. V For Vendetta is far from your run of the mill sci-fi. It is an important work of fiction that has more truth to it than is comfortable to most. In this country we have this conceit about terrorism in which we like to forget that we invented the ideals of modern “terrorism”. Despite being taught all about it in grade school, we forget that we won our independence through it. Sure, some will immediately fire back “The Boston Tea Party was not an act of terrorism, it was an act of vandalism.” And they’d be right. Of course those people don’t like to talk about our tactics during the revolutionary war in which brave British soldiers wore bright red coats, marched into fields and lined up to fight a “civilized” war. And those men were cut down by American men, hiding in the trees wearing street clothes that were indistinguishable from any other citizen. The Brits called us cowards. Uncivilized. But for over two hundred years we have operated under aegis of the motto “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Now the tables are turned. We call men cowards for dressing in street clothes and taking shots at an occupying army. What was once our proud methods of liberation, what was once our revolution against not only tyranny, but outdated methods of warfare, has now become our burden. And now we as a people have fallen into desperate times, times when instead of standing up, we chose the path of least resistance. We chose safety over freedom. And we’re paying for that mistake. And deep down, many of us are waiting for a V.

But V isn’t some action film glorifying a terrorist waging war against a “Right Wing” regime. It is a film about ideas, about the monstrosity on both sides, about discussing what exactly terrorism is while similarly showing the loss of freedom through control by the media. And while the Wachowskis have made a few changes to the original story, they haven’t changed it very much. The theme still remains, only having been slightly tweaked here and there to update the material and enhance its relevance.

This film is extraordinarily powerful. It is a genre fisted gutpunch that uses Science Fiction in the way it was originally intended – as an allegory for high-minded ideals. And while it is busy dissecting terrorism, it is also careful to illustrate the importance of simply showing up over the power of violence. Ultimately V For Vendetta is not a piece glorifying terrorism, but rather one that demands a catalyst to encourage the people.

Hugo Weaving owns this film. His ability to showcase the soul of V, despite the fact that he is a singularly expressionless character is amazing (insert Paul Walker joke here.) This is the single greatest masked character on film since Darth Vader, and while that seems like a bold statement, Hugo Weaving is there to back it up every step of the way. Natalie Portman gives her best, perfectly layered performance since The Professional (Leon), and Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry and John Hurt all deliver with the oomph we’ve come to expect from this trio of masters.

I cannot fully express the love I have for this film. It is strong, brash, unflinching science fiction that goes for the throat and never lets go. And it’s going to get attacked – in a big way. Fox News, particularly Bill “then I’m gonna massage your pussy with a falafel” O’Reilly (who gets beat up pretty bad in this), are gonna jump on this like nobodies business. They’re gonna highlight the terrorist hero, preach about a pro-gay message, roll out stories about sex change operations and just go all sorts of nutso on this. And God, I cannot wait for it. If Warner Brothers has someone with a big old hairy pair of balls sitting on high, they’d hold a screening just for O’Reilly and Fox news, then blatantly refuse to ask for an embargo. This is a film that will live and breathe controversy. The worst thing that could happen to it is that news stations decide not to talk about it. Because anyone who slams this, anyone who calls it un-American and a defense of terrorism, will lose all credibility with anyone that watches this. And to their credit, these holier-than-thou chuckleheads can’t resist talking about a movie like this. They can’t stop themselves. This is everything they find unholy, everything they stand against. And it’s so fucking cool, it’s going to make scads of money if WB advertises it right. The Re-Re right won’t be able to contain themselves. Terrorism, homosexuality, violence, attacks on the media – all rolled up in a nice little package and delivered through Satan’s medium “film”. They’re gonna shit themselves as their brains leak out their ears.

I loved this film. With all my heart I loved this film. As it came to it’s resounding end and unveiled its final shots, tears actually began to stream down my face. Now I don’t cry often – hardly at all. Not even when Kong died. But this – this made me weep. The climax is so perfect, the final shots so beautiful, that I couldn’t contain myself. I was weeping for the film and weeping for my dream, my dream of what this country was and could be again. That’s exactly what this film is about. The dream of freedom and those that would fight and die for it. When this film ends, it proves not to be about terrorism at all. It proves to be about patriotism. It proves to be about what you are willing to do to your very soul for the sake of your country. Sure the hero is a terrorist – he’s also the single greatest patriot put to film in decades.

V For Vendetta is an instant classic – a work of true genius. And the only thing that pisses me off about it is that I have to wait another three months to see it again. I hope Warner Brothers is taking this time to print up Guy Faulks masks to hand out at every press screening of this film. There’s nothing that makes me smile more than the idea of seeing five hundred people walk out of this film wearing the masks. You want Press Warners? You want to hype this? Do that. And watch Fox simply shit themselves.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » December 14, 2005, 3:33 pm

The comic book was a masterpiece. If they gave it the same treatment that Sin City got, then I expect this to be just brilliant.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » December 14, 2005, 4:43 pm

masteen wrote:The comic book was a masterpiece. If they gave it the same treatment that Sin City got, then I expect this to be just brilliant.

They didnt, thats why i have been so worries.
For starters, its the Wachowski Brothers, look at the matrix movies, 1 brillians, 2 sucky, bad odds.

And they managed to piss off Alan Moore enough for him to drop DC as the company to release his comics from in the future. I mean, there is ONE rule Alan Moore set about making movies from his comics. He dont want his name on it, he dont want cash for it. And they brag at a press conference about how exited he is to have this movie made, and plan to help on it. And then dont make a public apology during his 14 days deadline

.
And moving the movie release some months. Especially bad when the original release date was to be used as a gimmick, and are more or less the trailers tagline

And then chancing how Evey got involved with V, not like in the comic.
And a thing i noticed in the first trailer, that they refer to V as wanting chaos. Thats kinda the opposite of what he want in the book

.

But that review eased me somewhat, and looking forward to the new trailer tomorrow.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » December 14, 2005, 5:03 pm

People shouldn't be afriad of their government. The government should be afraid of it's people.

Great line.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » December 14, 2005, 6:42 pm

Yep, can highly reccomend the comic. Ill thow a torrent file up with it if anyone havent read it yet.

Sartori · Post by **Sartori** » December 14, 2005, 9:36 pm

I would love to read it if you could put it up.

Thanks in advance.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » December 15, 2005, 8:15 am

Dont have space to put it up like Winnow, but im seeding it on bittorrent ATM, you can get the torrent file here:
http://trackerb.zcultfm.com:6969/stats. ... 262c8ed732

Breagen · Post by **Breagen** » December 15, 2005, 8:48 am

Thanks for the torrent Hesten, started downloading it and I'll leave it running as long as I can for anyone else trying to get it.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 15, 2005, 12:58 pm

Hesten wrote:Dont have space to put it up like Winnow, but im seeding it on bittorrent ATM, you can get the torrent file here:
http://trackerb.zcultfm.com:6969/stats. ... 262c8ed732

I posted the first issue of the 10 issue series if people want to check it out before downloading the whole thing:

http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... 415#295415

Sartori · Post by **Sartori** » December 15, 2005, 10:04 pm

thanks guys

Abelard · Post by **Abelard** » December 17, 2005, 3:01 am

Totally psyched for this one.

I'm a big Natalie Portman fan

Drinsic Darkwood · Post by **Drinsic Darkwood** » March 18, 2006, 2:18 am

Just got back from seeing it an IMAX. It was fantastic. It deviates from the graphic novel quite a few times and changes a few story elements to better suit a movie, but it follows the same story at heart. I personally feel it did the comic justice. Go see this movie.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 18, 2006, 5:07 am

That's the only positive review I have heard so far, but I plan on seeing it this weekend anyhow.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 18, 2006, 5:54 am

Yeah I've seen reviews on both sides of the fence. So it looks like one of those Love It or Hate It movies.

I'll stick with the graphic novel version for now.. But I might see the movie version sometime in the future but it's not something high on my list.

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » March 18, 2006, 6:56 am

I just got back from seeing this. It was great- one of the better action films in a long time. There are definitely some over-the-top political messages at certain times and it's not completely void of cheese. Overall it's a damn good action flick with above par writing, acting and some hilarious dark humor.

Portman and Weaving were great as usual and the supporting cast was killer- particularly Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry.

Definitely worth seeing in the theatre.

Drinsic Darkwood · Post by **Drinsic Darkwood** » March 18, 2006, 12:50 pm

Boogahz wrote:That's the only positive review I have heard so far, but I plan on seeing it this weekend anyhow.

The only bad reviews I've read thus far are the ones that criticize its political message, bash it for being 'pro-terrorist', or call it 'pro-gay' movie (Valerie Page story / calling V's outfit 'gay'). Basically, they're all the reviews the original post on this thread warns you about.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 18, 2006, 2:22 pm

I don't know about those, but I have been hearing that all of those things are good in the movie. The bad part is based on how they apparently left way too much open. Like I said, I haven't seen it yet, and I plan to go today.

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » March 18, 2006, 4:04 pm

i loved it. some of the others were a little put off by the preachiness of the movie, but i quite enjoyed it... plus alliteration is such a turn on, so V had me from the beginning.

Post by **Xouqoa** » March 19, 2006, 3:20 am

This is a wonderful movie imo. It is well worth seeing.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » March 19, 2006, 7:05 pm

yeah, thoroughly enjoyed it. will be picking up the dvd as well.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » March 20, 2006, 5:04 pm

I saw this over the weekend and it was quite an awesome experience. Much more than an action movie.

-V is a complete badass cool character.
-Portman has a bad accent but is good nonetheless.
-V gets another mention for being totally stupid-cool.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » March 21, 2006, 12:16 am

Great fucking film. The little updates from the book were so appropriate it almost scared me how well they fit into the story.

[Show]: But if England is quarrantined, and America in the middle of another civil war, how come they still got so many shiny Pontiacs and Dell flatscreens?

masteen · Post by **masteen** » March 21, 2006, 5:17 pm

I was thinking about this last night, and the nuance that Weaving put into the character using only his voice and body language was simply amazing.

Anyone who focuses on V's life before his transformation is missing the whole point: he has transcended all that he was before. He is no longer gay or straight or Muslim or anything other than what he has become.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » March 21, 2006, 7:57 pm

Coming here on friday, already got PERFECT tickets in the best theater in Copenhagen (were wierd here, you order a numbered seat, so you can actually order a good seat instead of having to show up 3 hours early

).
Taking my brother in to see it, the guy need to learn some class.

noel · Post by **noel** » March 22, 2006, 10:17 am

Great film! Great adaptation of what has turned out to be an extremely timely graphic novel from 1987. Both Weaving and Portman did a fantastic job. I also really liked the acting done by the main police officer.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » March 22, 2006, 1:45 pm

masteen wrote:Great fucking film. The little updates from the book were so appropriate it almost scared me how well they fit into the story.

[Show]
But if England is quarrantined, and America in the middle of another civil war, how come they still got so many shiny Pontiacs and Dell flatscreens?

[Show]: it's all about the global economy! While I don't see Pontiac ever making it, Dell will soon be assembling computers in India to better serve that market in addition to the ones built here for this market. Soon companies will no longer belong to a specific country, those lines will fade away.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » March 22, 2006, 4:53 pm

Truant wrote:
[Show]
it's all about the global economy! While I don't see Pontiac ever making it, Dell will soon be assembling computers in India to better serve that market in addition to the ones built here for this market. Soon companies will no longer belong to a specific country, those lines will fade away.

[Show]: But one of the big points made was about the xenophobia that had developed and how Britain has closed itself off from the rest of the world. I know total isolation is impossible any longer, but you'd at least think they'd be driving Minis.

Cotto · Post by **Cotto** » March 22, 2006, 6:11 pm

Brilliant film, loved it! Even my other half who was kinda skeptical about seeing it enjoyed it immensely.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » March 22, 2006, 6:47 pm

masteen wrote:
Truant wrote:
[Show]
it's all about the global economy! While I don't see Pontiac ever making it, Dell will soon be assembling computers in India to better serve that market in addition to the ones built here for this market. Soon companies will no longer belong to a specific country, those lines will fade away.

[Show]
But one of the big points made was about the xenophobia that had developed and how Britain has closed itself off from the rest of the world. I know total isolation is impossible any longer, but you'd at least think they'd be driving Minis.

[Show]: Mini's are made by BMW which is also Chrysler! Ford has a plant that assembles the Focus in England, for England. Made by English workers and sold to English people, why wouldn't you buy it? It will all be one and the same soon, as far as economics and international corporations go. There will be no more 'foreign' and 'domestic' products. Each corporation will make their product in that country, for that country. It's really fascinating shit that I've enjoyed learning a great deal about this semester. That said, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » March 23, 2006, 4:22 pm

Truant wrote:
[Show]
Mini's are made by BMW which is also Chrysler! Ford has a plant that assembles the Focus in England, for England. Made by English workers and sold to English people, why wouldn't you buy it? It will all be one and the same soon, as far as economics and international corporations go. There will be no more 'foreign' and 'domestic' products. Each corporation will make their product in that country, for that country. It's really fascinating shit that I've enjoyed learning a great deal about this semester. That said, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

[Show]: I've been thinking that a xenophobic and totalitarian regime like that would elmiminate foreign trade as much as possible, even if the production facilities are inside their borders. Given the money grab that the party heads made after designing their little plague, I assumed that they would have then bought up all the core industries they could and used their govermental influence to drive out those they couldn't. England prevails.

Cotto · Post by **Cotto** » March 23, 2006, 6:33 pm

masteen wrote:
Truant wrote:
[Show]
Mini's are made by BMW which is also Chrysler! Ford has a plant that assembles the Focus in England, for England. Made by English workers and sold to English people, why wouldn't you buy it? It will all be one and the same soon, as far as economics and international corporations go. There will be no more 'foreign' and 'domestic' products. Each corporation will make their product in that country, for that country. It's really fascinating shit that I've enjoyed learning a great deal about this semester. That said, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

[Show]
I've been thinking that a xenophobic and totalitarian regime like that would elmiminate foreign trade as much as possible, even if the production facilities are inside their borders. Given the money grab that the party heads made after designing their little plague, I assumed that they would have then bought up all the core industries they could and used their govermental influence to drive out those they couldn't. England prevails.

[Show]: However nothing is so British as a mini, so Im sure they could give some spin on things like that (Dell PC's and such), saying how they were originally British designs, stolen by the damn yanks dontchaknow!

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » March 24, 2006, 7:27 pm

Just came home from seeing it, and i loved it. True, they did some modernizing, and some changes to the story, but most of it was either cutting side stories that could be cut, or to make it more up to date, or translate better to film.

I did have 2 gripes with it though:

[Show]: First, they kinda dropped the Anarchy theme. The only time its mentioned is that criminal that shout "anarchy in the UK, as he plunders a store", in the comic, theres much more weight on the theme of anarchy, and how it differs from chaos. But i can also see that making a movie about a terrorist (depending in how you view V's character, see debates in Current Events for lots of debates about that ) is provoking enough at the moment, and making a movie about a terrorist (or hero) that want anarchy are probably a little too rough for the audience. Still, i would have loved to have it in.

And the ending. Most of the changes were ok enough, but I had hoped for Finch to get V, and for Evey to do her wonderings and get her revelation about who V was. They tried to cover that ok, but i would have liked to visually see her various ideas about who was behind the mask, and see her pick up the mask herself (not pick up his mask of course, but do like in the comic, that smile was scary) and take over where V left.

But apart from those 2 things, it was a great movie, and i assume ill go see it again, and ill definitely get it on DVD.

Oh, btw, anyone know if you can find the "Freedom Forever" poster in print somewhere? The one 2nd from the left from the poster page at http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/index2.html. I would LOVE to have that up on the wall.

nobody · Post by **nobody** » March 24, 2006, 10:20 pm

i thought it was going to be just OK but ended up loving it.

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » March 25, 2006, 8:22 pm

I liked it a lot. For the most part, the changes to the comic book didn't have a negative impact on the story as a whole.

[Show]: I was bothered by some of the changes to Evey. She's portrayed as much more worldly and competent than she was in the comic. She recognizes many of V's literary and musical allusions, which she never does in the text. She leaves him after she's tortured, which she doesn't in the text. He falls in love with her, which he doesn't in the text. I thought that it was just a little too much, it changed the dynamic of their relationship and changed the perception of V.

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » March 26, 2006, 12:25 am

Just got back from this movie, and I absolutely loved it. They've already sold me on the DVD, and I really only buy a few every year.

I haven't read the comic so if someone could clarify this question, I'd appreciate it:

[Show]: What are the odds of a sequel? Is there a sequel to the graphic novel? Did the movie go beyond the text? Does Evey do anything afterwards?

I see full potential for a sequel myself, disregarding the text. With all the political leaders dead and the military overrun by the citizens, the movie could be about the rebirth of the country, or something of that sort - led by Evey.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » March 26, 2006, 1:36 pm

[Show]: i think a sequel would be the worst possible idea.

with a movie like this, it's better to let the audience imagine their best image of what would happen, rather than give them an image that doesn't match up to their ideas, which just tarnishes the opinions and feelings generated from the strong message of the first film/story.

but that's just me, and I could be fucking crazy.

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » March 26, 2006, 2:41 pm

Truant wrote:
[Show]
i think a sequel would be the worst possible idea.

with a movie like this, it's better to let the audience imagine their best image of what would happen, rather than give them an image that doesn't match up to their ideas, which just tarnishes the opinions and feelings generated from the strong message of the first film/story.
but that's just me, and I could be fucking crazy.

Matrix?

Post by **Xouqoa** » March 27, 2006, 12:54 pm

Hesten wrote:Oh, btw, anyone know if you can find the "Freedom Forever" poster in print somewhere? The one 2nd from the left from the poster page at http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/index2.html. I would LOVE to have that up on the wall.

Go to Art.com and search for "V for Vendetta" -- they have like three different prints there, I think. (Or did as of a week or so ago.)

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » March 27, 2006, 1:10 pm

Xouqoa wrote:
Hesten wrote:Oh, btw, anyone know if you can find the "Freedom Forever" poster in print somewhere? The one 2nd from the left from the poster page at http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/index2.html. I would LOVE to have that up on the wall.
Go to Art.com and search for "V for Vendetta" -- they have like three different prints there, I think. (Or did as of a week or so ago.)

Grrr, stupid page, art.com automatically redirect me to eu.art.com, which dont have any

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » March 27, 2006, 1:48 pm

did you try www?

http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--121 ... 1B382C980B

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » March 27, 2006, 4:38 pm

spoiler

[Show]: (_)_)/////////////////////////////////////////D BALLS DEEP

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 27, 2006, 5:05 pm

Clatis wrote:spoiler

[Show]
(_)_)/////////////////////////////////////////D BALLS DEEP

You must feel really clever since you have used that in two posts...

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » March 27, 2006, 5:55 pm

Rellix wrote:did you try www?

http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--121 ... 1B382C980B

Yep, that link redirect to http://eu.art.com/asp/default-asp/_/pos ... 3D97C7D801

Should forbid making different webpages depending on what country the viewer is from. Especially if the euro page dont have the same content as the orignal.
Managed to find it on 2 other pages though, and around 20 who only had the main poster

. Was sold out on one of the places, but the last one had it, AND it was even an UK based store, so cheaper shipping

. Still cost me like 35$ total though

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » March 27, 2006, 8:39 pm

A way around that next time would be to use a US Socks 5 proxy - but there are always security risks to go along with that.

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » March 28, 2006, 2:39 am

I just saw the movie, and I have to admit it was pretty f'n sweet.

and i don't remember usin that in a post before this, i prolly did tho, oh well.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 28, 2006, 11:26 am

Clatis wrote:I just saw the movie, and I have to admit it was pretty f'n sweet.

and i don't remember usin that in a post before this, i prolly did tho, oh well.

U HAV to ADMIT IT!

And you used it twice within about 24 hours and you can't remember?

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » March 28, 2006, 11:59 am

the penis thing?

OH WAIT yeah I did, in the post about renaming folders. haha, touche'. you win this round

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » March 28, 2006, 12:09 pm

http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product ... adID=21993

posters for the movie

Withefel · Post by **Withefel** » March 30, 2006, 4:53 am

The movie was ok. Nothing special at all. I wish i'd have rented it instead of going out to see it.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » March 30, 2006, 5:17 am

Clatis wrote:http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product ... adID=21993

posters for the movie

Hehe, i found that page too, but they didnt have the poster i wanted, i ended up getting it from http://www.moviemarket.com/Posters/T108158_504028.html

THIS is by far the coolest poster of the bunch.