V for Vendetta

[Renew Deal]

This looks like and interesting, timely and topical movie. http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com

[Giant Robot]

1. Excellent comic book

HAve little hopes for the movie however. I know I'll give it a try anyway.

[Benfea]

6. Eh, I heard the author's criticisms...

…and quite honestly, most of them had to do with the portrayal of Great Britain (the srot of little details that we Americans are unlikely to notice), not the portrayal of the stories.

[Giant Robot]

10. Well to be honest

Alan Moore movies have a horrid track record as far as their quality. From Hell, The League if Extraordinary Gentlemen, Constantine(sort of), etc. all were pretty poor adaptations if you want to look at them like that, or just poor movies as a stand alone venture. I could not watch From Hell all the way through, as I thought it was just so painful to watch. And I watched all of Vanilla Ice's movie debut too!

[Benfea]

12. Yeah, I love Moore's comic books but...

…a thumbs-down from him on a movie is not necessarily a bad thing.

Of course, Frank Miller had a pretty poor track record with movies up until "Sin City." Anyone remember that awful Robocop sequel? *shudder*

[cynatnite]

2. Trailer looked great...can't wait to see it n/t

[tjdee]

3. It looks exactly like Aeon Flux.

I'm so tired of "women kick ass" films. Uncle, uncle, I say. I'm sick of seeing bad ass women fight with swords, knives, guns, whatever. Most bad ass women I know in real life don't feel like kicking ass every day to show how much they can kick ass.

Sigh.

[Benfea]

5. It's nothing like Aeon Flux.

It has a lot more in common with 1984 than with Aeon Flux.

The title character in this movie—the one doing all that violence—is a man.

V for Vendetta asks two uncomfortable questions:

• For governments, how far is going too far in the name of retaining power and opposing terrorism? The government in this case is an overbearing 1984-style fascist government.
  
  
• The other side of the question is: how far is going too far in the name of opposing fascism? The title character not only commits wanton acts of terrorism that kill large numbers of civilians, but he does unspeakable things to his closest friends, all in the name of destabilizing the government.

It's been a long time since I read the books, so I don't remember if the Natalie Portman character commits any violence herself, but if she does it is really minor. The maelstrom of destruction in this story centers around the guy in the silly theater mask.

PS—odd trivia: V never takes off his mask. We never see his face, and never discover his true identity.

[tjdee]

7. Oh, but you know what? I'm stupid.

:blush:

I feel really dumb--I got this picture mixed up with the new Milla Jovovich picture, which DOES look exactly like Aeon Flux. V for Vendetta, the Natalie Portman pic, does not, you're right.

Sigh. That's what I get for posting before coffee, again! :dunce:

[Benfea]

8. Actually, Ultraviolet is more of a rip off of "Friday" by Heinlein...

…if you ask me.

[Benfea]

4. It's scary how that story has BECOME timely.

It was written back in the 1980s as just another bit of dystopian sci-fi. I think it was meant to be an extreme exaggeration of the conservative tendencies of "Thatcher conservatives" of the time (the comic book is from the U.K.), but now it's barely exaggerated at all, and that really frightens me.

I think the Wachowskis knew exactly what they were doing when they took this project on, and knew exactly how it would be compared to the Bush/Blair regime.

To those of you unfamiliar with the story, know that it also asks some uncomfortable questions in the other direction: how far is going too far when you're opposing fascism? Much of what the title character does to destabilize the government is extremely immoral.

[StuckinBFE]

9. I had a very strange English 121 class in college...

where we read the comic book. I liked the book and am looking forward to the movie even all my friends think I am strange for being excited about a comic book movie. If this movie is taken seriously it will be interesting the relationship of V's world and the current U.S.

Side note: I did not intend to take the comic book class but I ended up in it and at the end was very glad I took the class.

[Benfea]

11. You had a very cool English teacher.

I'd love to know what themes/symbolism got talked about. I'm sure there's more in there than I saw when I read it all those years ago.