Voilà! A vibrant visual feast, and a veritable variant to a wonderful graphic novel

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2006)

V for Vendetta is amazing. There is no other word to describe it. It's a visual feast with a gripping plot and a message. You'll be glued to your seat all through-out the movie, and you'll come out sweating with your head filled with ideas. This is easily the best movie I have seen so far this year.
I had my reasons to doubt the quality of this film adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore at first. Although, I must confess, it is reading about this movie that made me interested in the graphic novel, it was simply written so brilliantly I was afraid it would be spoiled. Indeed, it wasn't an easy adaptation. The original graphic novel has very little action, and a mind-boggling amount of text, not to mention many numerous characters and subplots. There was also the matter of the Wachowski brothers. I did enjoy the first Matrix movie, but I was terribly disappointed with the sequels. To say the truth, this was a movie that was easy to screw up, and I had a feeling it would get screwed up. I was wrong, and I am oh-so-glad I was.
The plot was changed for the film adaptation. The year is no longer 1998. The nuclear war was replaced with a deadly virus. But the idea behind the movie remains, even if the chain of events is different. But the film also added something I felt the graphic novel was sorely in need of: more action. I enjoyed the graphic novel immensely, but I felt it would have been more interesting with more action. And the fight scenes in this film are incredible: swift, stylish, and exciting. I did not like the changed made in Lord of the Rings. But in V, I did not mind the changes. The Wachowskis created a story of their own, based on Alan Moore's original, but different. And it works.
There was, however, one change that was for the worst. In the graphic novel, V was insane, and there was no doubt about it. He wasn't simply weird, he was also unpredictable, mysterious and eccentric. V's character was brilliant in the graphic novel, and it was slimmed down in this movie. Hugo Weaving was great as V, of course, but by making the character of V more human, more sane, by making him romantically involved with Evey (who was also portrayed perfectly by Natalie Portman), he became less mysterious and less interesting. Not to mention, they made him more of a man with an idea, than an idea in itself. And that is a shame.
All in all, this a spectacular piece of cinema. It's highly recommendable for anyone who enjoyed the original graphic novel, for anyone who enjoys comic book movies, and for anyone who enjoys movies in general. But if you want a different, yet more fleshed out plot, with a more interesting protagonist, pick up the V for Vendetta graphic novel by Alan Moore. It's worth it.