Antihero Extrordinaire (V for Vendetta (DVD))

Member Name: SmilingBuddha

Product:	V for Vendetta (DVD)
Date:	30/06/09 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Slick and stylish, Interesting political and social messages

Disadvantages: Few extras,

Set in a dystopian future Britain where a totalitarian dictatorship rules the plot follows masked antihero V on his path of vengeance and his quest to enlighten the ordinary citizen on the evils of their tyrannical government that they have let slip into power.

Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), an assistant at the British Telecom Network and whose parents were political activists is saved by V from the secret police and becomes reluctantly entangled in V's pursuit.

Having never read the comic books, or in fact ever having heard of V For Vendetta until this film, it was entirely new territory for me and I was absolutely blown away.

The sideplot follows Inspector Finch, one of the more human characters aligned with the government, as he attempts to chase down V. His story gives us a unique perspective on the regime by taking us deep into the corrupt organisation. This sideplot is extremely useful as it gives us a much more well-rounded impression of the V For Vendetta universe.

The wide array of characters seeks to cover different aspects of and perspectives on the governments villainy. From the zealous "Voice of London" TV presenter (Bill O'Reilly anyone?), Creedy, the leader of the gestapo-like fingermen to the elderly pedophile priest and the guilt-ridden concentration camp doctor. Despite the numerous characters they each get their unique points across and they fit together like a perfect jigsaw.

The plot overall is fantastic, the closest thing to a fault I could pick out would be the prison sequence which I found a little peculiar Even though it was intended to be a sort of shocking psychological breakdown I found it asked more questions than it answered. Some of the speech is immensely articulate, especially those speeches made by V. The fight scenes are very slick, well filmed and sometimes quite clever. It should be stated that V does not continuously get his own way throughout the film like an invincible video game character as some comic book heroes do, which in my opinion would make it far more dull.

Even though the ending was rather pantomime I could easily forgive it as you could see the director was trying to give the impression of immense solidarity and given the quality of during rest of the movie.

The film manages to tackle a wide spectrum of themes, including race, homosexuality, religion, totalitarianism, and terrorism. Although, you may agree or disagree with some of the messages presented it can do no harm to consider an opposing point of view.

There is a lot of rewatch value. Every time I watch it I am able to spot something new, maybe a seemingly innocent line with a more sinister meaning or a particularly subtle witty phrase.

On the down side, there are very little extras. There is one feature "Freedom! Forever! Making V For Vendetta" which goes behind the film in some detail but not enough. That said, the film itself is entirely worth shelling out the money for the DVD.

Summary: An intelligent political thriller.