#141 V for Vendetta

"I'm the devil, here to do the devils work." That's just one of the many lines the Wachoswkis chose not to use when adapting Alan Moore's 20-something-year-old comic book for the screen. But I think it's a telling omission. The line is a quote from Charles "Tex" Watson, a member of Charles Manson's family. He spoke the words before doing his unseemly deeds in the Tate mansion. And V speaks these words in the comic book, aligning himself with the one of the most despicable criminals our time has known.

But the Wachowskis make movies about heroes. And their movie, while a pale, watered-down version of Moores original work, is a pretty good superhero movie. I dig that the destruction of parliament works as a triumphant climax. I'm for any movie that uses Antony and the Johnsons on the soundtrack. And I'm happy that the Wachowskis seem to be learning from their mistakes. They've got a long way to go, but this is a start.

So I didn't absolutely love V for Vendetta. I actually have a ton of problems with the movie (both brothers deserve lashes for their chronic and criminal underuse of today's best actors). But when they're on, they're on. And the scenes around Evey's discovery of "the note" and V's most considerate kill are better than solid filmmaking. Those moments are moving and, unsurprisingly, near panel-for-panel recreations of the orignal comic.

So there. I like it. It's my site. I can like what I want. Considering the fact that I liked Daredevil, the bar for qualification is pretty darn low (blame the after-effects of my "movie pill" for that one.

By the way. If you haven't read the comic, I recommend reading the version that best benefits Alan Moore. Use this simple program to view. Or at the very least buy it used.