apparent meaning where there is none.....

Rating: 5/10 (18 June 2009)

There are two central problems one faces when representing the realities of human life in fiction. One is that our modern world is bewilderingly complex and intricate, and the chain of cause & effect is sometimes so incredibly tangled as to all but evade comprehension and mislead even the keenest of artists & social scientists. The second problem (and this is more relevant to cinema) is that reality is too prosaic to be marketable. Its why a film like 'Seven' sells and one like 'Zodiac' doesn't.
The guiding principle behind this film seems to be to toss together a bunch of half-understood, superficially provocative ideas that add up to nothing, mix in some glossy production design, an overbearing editing style and a wholly contrived sequence of events that are explained by character voiceovers (we have no faith in your intelligence so we'll spell it all out for you), stir liberally, and voila! You have a "subversive" work of fiction, ready for mass consumption. The bright colors and slick execution delight and distract the passive viewer, and the presence of simplistic & half-baked notions fools him into thinking that he's actually watching something worthy.
The film is so tight and enclosed that never for a moment do you believe that the world within it exists. And its so hopelessly literal and non-cinematic that its difficult to imagine that the Wachowski brothers wrote the screenplay. Its filmed straight, with little interest in the relations between the viewer and the narrative. VFV is not as dumb or empty as Equilibrium, but I find it horrifying that anyone could compare this to 1984. The two have as much in common as a swimsuit and a bulldozer. I'm guessing that the reason why this film is so highly rated is that most viewers cant wait to congratulate themselves for having seen a "political" movie. Contrary to arguments voiced on IMDb and elsewhere, VFV has little to do with life on this planet. Really, how can people think so little before giving their assent to something ??
The greatest scourge of modern life is not totalitarian government or even extremist religion. Its mass-marketed consumerism. There's comfort in knowing that what you like is also liked by at least a few others, and this comforting feeling, along with the equally grotesque phenomenon of shallow novelty intellectualism is what drives our current "globalized" world. Its what creates wealth disparities and leads to poverty, resentment and crime. It allows greedy hacks to thrive. Its why facile projects like this one get greenlit, and its why there are no writers like George Orwell anymore.