V for Vendetta

[marcusmarcusrc]

I'll admit it. I was dubious. I thought V for Vendetta was a great graphic novel, but that Hollywood would ruin it in the transfer to the silver screen. But they actually did a really good job. There were some changes, which is fine, because stories sometimes have to adapt to their medium in order to be most effective. And the changes I noted were, for the most part, understandable consequences of the transferral process. A couple I felt were even actual improvements to the storyline that I think would have made for a better book. I do miss the "transubstantiation" line, but alas, some good things will always end up left on the cutting room floor in any creative process.

My critiques: there were two or three scenes that had too much Hollywood action sequence magic to them. There were a couple of times when there was graphic violence that I felt could have been elided, but this was balanced by the many times that the graphic violence was hinted at rather than displayed in its unrealistic and/or disturbing glory.

All in all, though, I was impressed with how the directors dealt with very difficult source material, and how the actors portrayed their characters. I laughed, I cried (okay, I didn't cry, but I was appropriately emotionally stirred at several points), it was better than Cats. Lives 9 days of game before being detonated in a glorious display of fireworks...

*I would like to thank medyani for organizing the movie mob, and Henry Jenkins for having introduced me to V in class lo those many years ago. Prof. Jenkins also introduced me to fanfiction, A Scanner Darkly (there's another upcomin movie which I am dubious about, and for which there was a trailer at this showing), and the concept of slash just a little while before hundreds of dollars worth were delivered to my doorstep. Er, MITSFS' doorstep. Anyway, moving on...

**And now, to sleep. After a very, very full and successfull week. 50+ hours of work, a presentation on much too little notice, a set of analyses that will hopefully get me another coauthorship, 2 dances, 2 dinners, seeing a great performance of Einstein's Dreams that included a surprise encounter with an old friend, and in general never a wasted moment.

Comments

[puffy-wuffy.livejournal.com]

Finally saw it today. I thought it was great! I actually felt that it was more human than the graphic novel...but I think there's some sort of "gotta be a human" effect on me when I can hear and see a character actually breathing and sweating than just seeing a picture of it.

The pacing of the movie was pretty good, and I liked the characters. Heck, I even thought the Chancellor was a good, solid character. I sort of felt that there were some ideas that overshadowed the overall point, if V for Vendetta can be said to have a point beyond "people should stand up for each other, for freedom and for life": 1) Nazi-type imagery, Holocaust and otherwise permeated the movie...and although they permeated the graphic novel, I really wish they hadn't made it such a highlight since its somewhat distracting for anyone who knows about the Holocaust; 2) this version was really open about QLGBTPWDDPWACS(QueerLesbianGayBisexualTransgenderedPeopleWhoDon'tDislikePeopleWhoAren'tCompletelyStraight) which really distracted me from the story; And 3) Those damned random flashbacks/forwards(which are becoming Wachowski standards) which made me feel even more distractable than I normally am.

Other than that, it was delightful. I laughed, I actually cried and in general wanted to bring more friends to see it.