True to the intent

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2006)

Finally - an Alan Moore story that hasn't been butchered by Hollywood. Unlike The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, this film has been made by people who like and understand the themes within the novel, and it's good to see what is arguably the best graphic novel (disregarding Neil's Sandman series ) brought to the general public who - by all accounts - seem to be very receptive to the themes (for some strange reason).
It's not obviously as good as the novel which includes more and varied themes that are not even touched on in the movie. The end is let down by the Wachowski treatment which wants to make some sort of superhero matrix-like fight sequence as a highlight of a big-bang action ending. Totally unnecessary, as is a bit of Hollywood schmaltz at the finale. However, overall, the writing is tight and sharp and it's still so much a film for our times, as it was one for the Thatcherite period. Obviously fascist tendencies are an integral part of government - that desire for total control over the population, which is increasingly seen as little more than a tax base and a means of supporting privilege among the few who deserve it (since they were the ones smart enough to rise to a position of power).