Alan Moore can't catch a break

Rating: 5/10 (17 March 2006)

Now maybe my harsh feelings stem from the fact that I am a fan of the Graphic Novel. I will be the first to state that my appreciation for the source material may cloud my judgment of the film. However I have tired to stay objective. I went in hearing only good things, and my only wish was for it not to suck. Despite everything, I came out disappointed. This isn't just me picking on changes to the comic. Cinema is a different art form, thus adaptation is necessary, and essential to the experience. Still I can't help feeling that this movie is simply.... watered down.
************SPOILER'S AHEAD****************** I have to agree with nineissix, everything I loved about the comic is gone. Gone is the Vicious Cabaret. Gone is the emotion and depth of the story. I've heard people stating that the plot is complicated and deep. Yes it is, but it is deeply spoon feed to the audience and is nothing more than exposition to further the plot. There is no sense of mystery to this movie. The story doesn't gradually unfold; it just hits you over the head like a hammer until its done. I feel all the characters were gravely disserviced. Evey is (despite Portman's efforts) is still not there on the page to be a fully developed character. The "torture sequence," one of the most powerful segments of the novel (and one of the most faithfully rendered in the film) doesn't have half the impact it should have because Evey really isn't there. And we don't see much of her imprisonment to make it feel worse. I mean what happens really? Shaved head, verbally abused, (I believe she is beaten) but for some reason it doesn't have the gravitas it should. Instead we have a montage until she is free. And the toilet paper note (a point that nearly broke my heart in book) is delegated to the cheesiest flashbacks I've seen in recent cinema. Honestly! I'm glad that in the future ARRI light equipment will be around to help shoot movies.
And let us talk about V. I feel that Weaving (like all the actors) did a fantastic job with what they had. Hugo sold the mask and the presence. But honestly they lost some of his mystique. The first vision of V rescuing Evey is so poorly handled as far a fight sequence goes, that it's beyond words. You have no sense of what he's doing (and not in the Batman Begins, whoaican'ttellwhatbatman'sdoingbut he'stotallymoppingthefloorwiththoseguys badass type way). And his first monologue is simply laughable.
And maybe that's my problem. Too much of the movie is laughable, and that's the last thing the comic was. It was dark and intelligent, filled anarchy and fear and mystery that hung over the whole piece and I don't feel that tone in this film. V serving eggs is goofy. End of story.
Did anyone else find the music horrid? What was that crap playing on the jukebox before their dance? Where's the classical music? I found the score overbearing and the source music oddly out of place. The song that was playing over the end credits cements that point. How do you not end with the 1812 overture? You're already playing it! I heard Alan Moore bashed the screenplay. I don't blame him. Nothing is worse than something that should have been good. The filmmaker's hearts were in the right place, but their execution is something left to be desired. They got the aesthetic, but not the soul.
Sorry Alan, it was better than League of Extraordinary gentleman, but that isn't saying much.