as good as the magazine

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 2006)

"V", now on film, is almost as good as the original magazine. The media are so different that we can make big mistake is we just film sequenced frames of the magazine. On the contrary, the movie brings us the expressions and the voice of the character we missed on paper. The Wachowski brothers have done a very good job on the adaptation, indicating they fully understood the text. The story remains sadly actual, with Blair and Bush Jr on the paper of Thatcher on our real world. Despite the horror of the deaths, it brings us again the appeal of anarchy: some governors are better off dead. Maybe the reality of terrorism of our days will shade some of the glow of the film. Nevertheless the power of Moore's text is evident and actual (credits do not include author's name was his will; the magazine's illustrator, Lloyd, is credited. The mixture of father and beloved turns V into a richer character; his relationship with Evey is above human's, idealized and work well. After two decades and in a entirely different medium, the original story gains strength. Both the adaptation and the direction achieve its goal, through the excellent performances of Portman and Weaving, not to mention Hurt.