Great movie, but not as great as the graphic novel

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2006)

I just came back from seeing this movie and was pretty pleased with it, though, having just reread the graphic novel, it suffered through constant comparisons to the original to which it is inferior. There were a lot of changes, many of them I understood, like setting it further in the future since the original was set in the late 90s. I also didn't hold the removal of the sort of end of the cold war era mindset that the original seemed to be written in as it would have made the sentiment of the movie feel a little dated. I did miss, however, seeing more details of V's activities. He came as much more clever in the book, because you saw just how deep and who subtly he had managed to invade the government. I missed the side stories unveiling the deep madness and corruption inside the government. And I don't like how the cruelty of the government was softened (in the original, you saw more suppression of culture than in the movie) and how even V himself was softer. I think they were trying to make him more sympathetic to a wider audience, but I think in doing so they might have underestimated how moving V was in his original incarnation as well.
That all said, I felt the movie remained the sentiment of the original, which is what mattered. And had I not had the original so fresh in my memory, I probably wouldn't have spent much time picking it apart. But there were a few things I thought the movie improved upon. I was particularly tickled by the transformation of the old voice of Fate (in the book) into the voice of London, because Prothero was so wonderfully modeled off of many cable news host (particularly ones from Fox). That was a brilliant and fitting adaptation.
So yes, I'd recommend this movie. It's both exciting and thought provoking. But after you watch it, you should definitely pick up the graphic novel if you haven't read it already. Much deeper story, and I prefer the way it ended much better.