Comic Book Movies 101: V For Vendetta

• 3rd Apr 2011

I know a lot of people have got a problem with V for Vendetta. The most obvious one is Alan Moore’s famous request that his name be removed from the end credits. Fanboys see it as a sanitised version of the original story, which of course it is, characters and plots having been reworked to make it more palatable. And it’s true that it’s not the best film of all time, it’s not even the best Moore adaptation (take a bow Watchmen), but there is something about this film I really like.

V for Vendetta is set in a dystopian fascist future Britain and focuses on one man’s quest for revenge against the repressive society that created him. It’s basically the Count of Monte Cristo… with bombs. Perhaps it’s that that I like about it. Explosions? Good. Righteous anger? Good. Revenge. Good? Everything wrapped up in a neat little bow at the end? Good.

Critics didn’t share my enthusiasm however and refused give it or its stars an easy ride. Their main complaint seemed to rest at the door of the usually reliable Natalie Portman and her portrayal of Evey, the vulnerable waif who is saved by and eventually falls in love with the eponymous V. While it’s true that Natalie Portman’s atrocious English accent falls down whenever the script requires her to say a word with a vowel in it, if you can put that to one side her work is as effecting as ever.

The emotional gut punch you get as her tiny frail form sobs and shakes when she’s subjected to torture shows that her performance transcends the need for a good vocal coach. She throws herself into the part with a dedication evidenced by her willingness to have her head shaved, for real, on camera. For me, she makes Evey’s transformation from terrified little girl to fearless freedom fighter wholly believable.

Perhaps her struggle with the English accent is a bigger problem than it would be in a different film because voice is so central to Hugo Weaving’s thundering performance as V. He manages to convincingly convey his character’s determined thirst for vengeance and later his redemption through love, without being able to use that most obvious tool in an actor’s repertoire: his face. He spends the movie in a Guy Fawkes mask meaning all the subtle changes in mood and meaning usually conveyed through the face and eyes now have to be shown through body language and voice. And so good is Weaving at doing this that at times you find yourself forgetting he’s wearing a mask at all.

Weaving is one of those actors whose skill comes primarily from having an amazing voice (his polar opposite being Keanu Reeves who would be a better actor if his voice was less drippy). It’s Weaving’s line delivery that made Agent Smith the memorable character in The Matrix (“Do you hear that sound, Mr Anderson? That is the sound of iiiiiinevitability”) and it’s this vocal talent that allows him to bring a faceless character to life, to make him believable and even sympathetic.

As wonderful as Weaving is, the real star of the piece is a character we meet only in flashback for about 10 minutes. Such is her impact that she elevates the movie from being just another comic book adaptation to a really moving and affecting piece of cinema. Her name is Valerie and her letter dominates the second act. She’s just an ordinary woman, another victim of the fascist regime that has created V. It’s her life story, eloquently narrated with a hint of sorrow and acceptance that not only explains the dystopian hell the characters find themselves in, but allows the audience to understand and sympathise with V’s actions. V is a terrorist out of necessity; he wants revenge not just for himself, but for what was done to Valerie, a woman he has never met. She has become a symbol of everything good that the ruling elite have destroyed.

What cannot be overlooked is that although Valerie’s letter gave V and later Evey the strength to live without fear, her real message was one of love – the only thing that cannot be destroyed by death. I can’t help but feel that lesson was lost on V until Evey was forced to read it too. I defy any person with a soul not to get choked up when Valerie says that she knows she’s going to die and will never get to meet her reader, but she loves them just the same.

This emotional core elevates the movie for sure, but it doesn’t make me blind to its flaws. Coming off of the success of the Matrix trilogy the Wachowski brothers were clearly unhappy with a hero who stands by delivering alliterative monologues whilst blowing things up or quietly kills by injects his victims with poison. Where is the kung-fu?! Where are the quick cuts and rock music?! I can only assume it was this thinking that lead to a ridiculous bullet-time knife fight, which sees V shot multiple times as he takes out a circle of henchmen all in tedious slow-mo. Worse still are the LSD trailbacks you get as the knife spins (oh so very slowly) through the air. Although I understand the importance of the scene itself, I feel that the bullet-time shots were shoehorned in to please teenage boys who would be expecting Matrix style special effects.

I guess the real problem of the film is that it’s a popcorn movie masquerading as a movie with a deep political message. While Moore’s comic was a searing attack on Thatcherism the loose parallels this film draws between the swing to the right in the first decade of the 21^st century and the rise of the fascist Adam Sutler following terror atrocities and ‘America’s war’ are muddier. The film kind of winks at the audience to draw those parallels but never pushes the point home to earn its credentials as a political protest movie.

Putting its faults to one side, what makes the film unique is the reaction it encourages the audience to have to V. We know he’s a terrorist. He blows up the Old Bailey then hijacks a TV station to announce to the world that he will make an even bigger splash next November 5^th. It’s a jarring feeling in this post 9/11 age to find yourself actually rooting for a terrorist, especially one whose favoured delivery system for explosives involves a tube train. Yet somehow, by the time the bells at the finale of the 1812 overture start, you can’t help but get a surge of elation pulse through your body. You know what’s coming – the end of an oppressive state and a fantastic fireworks display.

While V for Vendetta may not be great critically, faithful to Alan Moore’s original vision or as big a box office hit as Watchmen, given the choice between the two I would rather watch V. For all its faults it’ll leave you feeling like you’ve gone through an emotional wringer, but come out the other side hopeful about the future of humanity.

Suzanne King