V For Vendetta: Not The Book, But Close Enough.

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2006)

Allow me to say first of all that as films go this movie is spectacular.
With that said however, it is just as apparent why the writer, Alan Moore, is unhappy with this interpretation of his graphic novel masterpiece. Though I personally feel that most of the same themes and messages from the book were conveyed in the film, the plot was dramatically different; almost definitely made so in the hopes of inciting controversy. The plot device of the British government using chemical warfare against its own people had nothing to do with the book and was to my thinking superfluous. But plot and ending aside, what bothered me most were the blatant mis-characterizations, the worst of which was V himself. The uncertainty and lack of planning exhibited by the movie version of V were far from the brilliance of the character from the novel. Indeed the scenario of Evey having to spend the year with V under the pretense of his 'not knowing what else to do' struck me as horrifyingly like a reality television show. And then there was Evey herself, roughly ten years older than she should have been and in possession of a wholly different background and set of personality traits.
It is my recommendation that you, if at all possible, read the book prior to seeing the film... not only for the thrill of the several scenes in which lines were word for word from the book, but also because I believe it lends a better understanding to the world that is V for Vendetta than any film ever could. And yet specifics and disloyalty to the graphic novel aside, this is not a movie to miss.