V for Vendetta

Rating: 6/10 (6 July 2006)

I'd read poor newspaper reviews of this film, but had several friends who were impressed. So finally I relented and went, fearing a gloomy, hard to follow film.
Not at all was it that way. V is a man who indeed has a vendetta, but he is heroic NOT because of what he does, which, in earlier film eras might have been called swashbuckling: a heroic, daring fighter who seems to be reckless but always comes through. He's heroic because of why he does it.
But I only give it a 6 because I saw many 'holes' in the plot. Parts that didn't fit together, as well as unlikely events. To generalise about this remark, without giving anything away, I wonder how, in this fascist state, with so many security personnel and police, V could manage to live as he does and coordinate and pull off so many feats, all the while being untraceable.
Finally I realised that the film is more mythology than just fiction. I see the main points as: be true to your principles and be fearless in doing what is right and serving the higher interests of people.
Mythology doesn't seem overly concerned with the details. Some great literature, such as Greek drama, has gods interfering in human affairs and humans being in unlikely, perhaps illogical, circumstances. But it doesn't make us doubt the story, because we are looking for a higher message, not for a tightly woven plot.
While V is not the most complex hero, he is not all pure and noble, which makes for boring protagonists. His actions are based only partly on noble intentions of freedom for everyone. He also is reVenging the suffering that he had. So he is a bit interesting. And indeed, I wish we could have learnt more about his past, about how he got to where he is. And about who he is now, though the film does strongly suggest why he is in his present, masked, condition.
In this film the higher message is freedom. It does a good job of depicting how a government can manipulate the media and other aspects of society to keep people in fear, to mentally paralyse the people. And it shows, as I believe history does, that any society or nation needs a leader, a hero, to arouse their anger and courage enough to have the fortitude to overthrow tyranny.
Evey is not so convincing to me, but it may be that I have to think more about what she represents. Indeed, in the early part of the film her emotions are not very deep to me, but then that is a stage in her life when she is just trying to fit in, and perhaps understands only the need to be 'one of the crowd'. Later, as she becomes more involved with V, her character seems to come more alive, and also to express more emotional depth.
Other main actors seemed generally to fulfil their roles. Not many of them are challenged by the classic conflict of right or wrong, though at least one lead character who understands right from wrong seems to get off 'easy' in having to decide what is the noblest course to take.
There were shades of Matrix, in the seeming impossibility of the heroes succeeding to the end. But there seemed to be no doubt about who was right. Matrix tempts us to accept that the stronger or higher intelligence does know the answers. V for Vendetta was also a bit reminiscent of Bladerunner, but here V seems superhuman (mythological) in his abilities, and the source of repression or tyranny is more obvious. Some of the battles of fight scenes in V also had shades of innumerable Oriental martial arts films, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But in V, the good guy/bad guy was always more obvious than in many of the martial arts films.
Some of the symbolism was good, some obvious. For example, do you know the last name of the singer of "Cry Me a River", which is played throughout this film? The song helped me remember that even super-heroes need a bit of affection.