Powerful

Rating: 9/10 (17 July 2010)

V For Vendetta was a powerful comic, and it is a powerful movie. There are a number of ways in which it has been changed for the screen - it has been simplified a great deal, with layers and characters stripped away - but the thrust remains the same.
One of the things which entertained me about the film was that, in many ways it remained true to the vibe of the original, but that it resonated as a comment on then current politics (ie. Blair's Labour government as opposed to Thatcher's Conservative government which was the target of Moore's comic) - British, at any rate - with a government which increasingly seeks to control what the population is allowed to do (an article in the UK papers at the time of the movie's release tells us that civic authorities are secretly installing electronic bugs in refuse bins which can be read by the garbage trucks, and which will tally evidence on what individual households are throwing away, enabling non-recycling penalties to be applied).
Despite Moore's left-wing polemic, the dramatic thrust of the piece remains undisturbed when the target is an authoritarian left-wing government rather than a right-wing one.
The main changes were:
1. Dietrich (Stephen Fry's character) wasn't in the book at all;
2. Evey's backstory was different; the involvement of her parents gave her motive for joining V;
3. In the book, Evey didn't use the Lilliman paedophile setup as a way to escape V (I thought the film was an improvement here);
4. There were a lot of minor subplots from the book which were omitted - the incomprehensible Glaswegian psychopath, for instance;
5. The ending differed - in the film it wasn't entirely clear whether Evey had taken on the mantle of V. Plus in the book, there was no public uprising (a good film moment).
Hugo Weaving's voice work is superb. Natalie Portman is excellent, although her accent lands haphazardly in the Home Counties, the East End, and the middle of the Atlantic at different times. The supporting cast is excellent, with Stephen Fry doing particularly well.
A unique comic becomes a most unusual, exciting, and somewhat thought-provoking film.