Where do I begin? "V for Vendetta" is a fun movie, with an annoying aftertaste that gets more pronounced as you leave the theater and begin the walk home.
I never read the book. I don't believe that a movie must stick to the dogma of the book that was its inspiration. It's a movie, with liabilities and assets that don't necessarily work in both mediums.
It should be noted that as a right-of-center libertarian type who believes that the United States is the last hope for maintaining liberty in the world, I view things from a particular perspective.
I like the concept of fighting for freedom in a repressive society. I'm not against the concept of using violence to overthrow tyranny. I don't mind borrowing themes from different movies and books. And I think that Natalie Portman is maturing into a decent actress. I don't even mind the occasional cliché, even if it pokes fun at my wonderful United States.
But you know... you can't base a movie on clichés and political correctness. And that is exactly what the core theme of this movie is all about.
I don't believe what I'm about to say involves spoilers and apologize if it inadvertently does, but in this flick, the villains are Christian males of European extraction, hereafter referred to as "Pale Faces." The film takes place in England. The United States is a warmongering trouble maker who has screwed up the world and the British Torries are a bunch of authoritarian tyrants who have turned Great Britan into a police state.
In England everyone is a "Pale Face," because they have expelled or killed everyone else. Naturally, the expelled Arab Moslems, West Indians and Africans were total innocents. They were in no way responsible for the violence, drug dealing and terrorism that apparently made the "Pale Face" majority kick out the Labor Party and vote for Torry fascists. And the British Labor Party (renoun for passing anti-free speech legislation and firearms confiscation laws) has passed from the scene.
But wait folks, because it doesn't end here. Homosexual "Pale Faces" have been forced back into the closet and the Koran has been banned because it is a tremendously beautiful and profound work of art. Naturally, nothing is mentioned of the Bible where the Book of Psalms is generally considered to be one of the best done prose ever written. That goes well with the rapist pedophile Christian clergy that support the tyranny and are even in it's government.
After all, we know that Moslem clerics are universally peaceful, never condone violence, believe in free speech, religious freedom, strenuously object to honor rapes and slowly sawing infidel's heads off like turkey legs.
The only thing omitted to make this skewed scenario complete would be to have a few Jewish Doctors harvesting the organs of illegal aliens for sale in Tel Aviv. But I guess that would be too much, even for the Worchowski brothers to capitalize on. And by the way, I'm a practitioner of the Jewish faith and a military officer, so get over it.
What a world! What a world! This is definitely not Kansas anymore.
Up from the ashes comes a "Pale Face" hero in a mask. But wait a minute. He's not really a "Pale Face," because diabolical genetic engineering has morphed him into a scarred and mangled "any man" (or "any person" if you wish).
Natalie Portman gets her head shaved, truth and justice reigns and it can be assumed that ethnic drug dealers, terrorists and illegal aliens are invited back into England to restore civilization under a Socialist Labor government.
Somebody give me a break.
I never read the book. I don't believe that a movie must stick to the dogma of the book that was its inspiration. It's a movie, with liabilities and assets that don't necessarily work in both mediums.
It should be noted that as a right-of-center libertarian type who believes that the United States is the last hope for maintaining liberty in the world, I view things from a particular perspective.
I like the concept of fighting for freedom in a repressive society. I'm not against the concept of using violence to overthrow tyranny. I don't mind borrowing themes from different movies and books. And I think that Natalie Portman is maturing into a decent actress. I don't even mind the occasional cliché, even if it pokes fun at my wonderful United States.
But you know... you can't base a movie on clichés and political correctness. And that is exactly what the core theme of this movie is all about.
I don't believe what I'm about to say involves spoilers and apologize if it inadvertently does, but in this flick, the villains are Christian males of European extraction, hereafter referred to as "Pale Faces." The film takes place in England. The United States is a warmongering trouble maker who has screwed up the world and the British Torries are a bunch of authoritarian tyrants who have turned Great Britan into a police state.
In England everyone is a "Pale Face," because they have expelled or killed everyone else. Naturally, the expelled Arab Moslems, West Indians and Africans were total innocents. They were in no way responsible for the violence, drug dealing and terrorism that apparently made the "Pale Face" majority kick out the Labor Party and vote for Torry fascists. And the British Labor Party (renoun for passing anti-free speech legislation and firearms confiscation laws) has passed from the scene.
But wait folks, because it doesn't end here. Homosexual "Pale Faces" have been forced back into the closet and the Koran has been banned because it is a tremendously beautiful and profound work of art. Naturally, nothing is mentioned of the Bible where the Book of Psalms is generally considered to be one of the best done prose ever written. That goes well with the rapist pedophile Christian clergy that support the tyranny and are even in it's government.
After all, we know that Moslem clerics are universally peaceful, never condone violence, believe in free speech, religious freedom, strenuously object to honor rapes and slowly sawing infidel's heads off like turkey legs.
The only thing omitted to make this skewed scenario complete would be to have a few Jewish Doctors harvesting the organs of illegal aliens for sale in Tel Aviv. But I guess that would be too much, even for the Worchowski brothers to capitalize on. And by the way, I'm a practitioner of the Jewish faith and a military officer, so get over it.
What a world! What a world! This is definitely not Kansas anymore.
Up from the ashes comes a "Pale Face" hero in a mask. But wait a minute. He's not really a "Pale Face," because diabolical genetic engineering has morphed him into a scarred and mangled "any man" (or "any person" if you wish).
Natalie Portman gets her head shaved, truth and justice reigns and it can be assumed that ethnic drug dealers, terrorists and illegal aliens are invited back into England to restore civilization under a Socialist Labor government.
Somebody give me a break.