An "Interesting" Take on a Brilliant Novel

Rating: 6/10 (18 March 2006)

Though an interesting movie, and surely entertaining, V for Vendetta takes execrable liberties with the story by Alan Moore (so much so that Mr. Moore preferred his name not be attached to the film). Gone is the prevailing theme of anarchy as an alternative to fascism. Gone, too, are many of the lesser truths of the movie; but then again, as they said, "artists use lies to tell the truth." I can forgive the usage of television instead of radio for the use of propaganda, I cannot however neglect the drastic changes that go far beyond nuance.
In Moore's graphic novel, no mention of Guy Fawkes is ever made. This is but one of the many things that in the movie is spelled out for the audience, but that the novel leaves as unsaid, though understood. Also, the novel does not take place in the future. (Though it should be noted that when written, the novel's time would have been the future, so this is understandable.) In the novel's beginning, Evey Hammond is trying to solicit herself upon the Fingermen, who then threaten to rape and kill her. V blows up the House of Parliament and then The Old Bailey, quite a drastic difference from the film. The graphic novel makes no mention of America, or "America's war," both of which grandly offended me in this movie. That places a completely unnecessary element into the film, one that changes the viewer's concept of fascist Britain. And as for the St. Mary's Virus... I don't even know where that came from. Maybe the Wachowskis just wanted to throw another 'v' word into the mix. And as for how Finch was able to enter V's mind so ably at Larkhill, in the graphic novel, he was on LSD. No such mind-altering drugs are mentioned in the film. Which also reminds me that the theme of Britain's genocide seemed drastically down-played to me in the movie in comparison to the novel, though that may just be me. A huge discrepancy betwixt the graphic novel and the film is the manner in which V dies. I will not spoil that fact, but I shall just say that the bullet-storm V endures at the hands of Creedy is quite inaccurate. Lastly, the army of Vs, so flagrantly displayed in the the trailers, is an interesting idea  I will go so far as to say that I thought it was kind of bad ass  but entirely new to me. And as for V's final words to Evey in the movie... I nearly violently vomited.
That said, I knew the movie was going to be a drastically different take than the graphic novel. As such, I was not entirely shocked by these massive changes. To put it as best I can, the differences between the book and the movie are much like the differences between Christianity and Islam. Yes, there are very noteworthy departures, but both have at their core a similar message, and at the end of the day, both accomplish the same goals.
All in all, I would recommend this movie, though remind those that read the graphic novel to be prepared for a completely different view.