— RATING: 44 —
RADICAL SCI-FI: Adapted from a controversial cult graphic novel, this visually elaborate, politically extreme noir parable, starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving as the Guy Fawkes–like title character, rates as the most anarchistic, nihilistic movie ever released by a major studio. Courtesy: Warner Bros.
CREDITS
Warner Bros./Virtual Studios; James McTeigue, dir.; Alan Moore and David Lloyd, graphic novel; Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, scr.; Grant Hill, Joel Silver, Wachowski, Wachowski, pro.; Dario Marianelli, mus.; Adrian Biddle, cin.; Martin Walsh, ed.; Owen Paterson, prod. design; Marco Bittner Rosser, Stephen Bream, Sarah Horton, Sebastian T. Krawinkel, Kevin Phipps, art dir.; Sammy Sheldon, costumes; Gerold Bublak, model maker; Axel Eichhorst, story boards; Marc Homes, George Hull, concept artists; Rolf Hanke, Uli Nefzer, Marcus Schmidt, Jens Schmiedel, Jürgen Thiel, F/X; Steve Adamson, Andrew Ainscow, Jonathan Fawkner, Mike Bell, visual effects; 132 min.; Color; 2.35:1.
CAST
Natalie Portman (Evey); Hugo Weaving (V); Stephen Rea (Finch); Stephen Fry (Deitrich); John Hurt (Sutler); Tim Pigott-Smith (Creedy); Rupert Graves (Dominic); Roger Allam (Lewis Prothero); Ben Miles (Dascomb); Sinéad Cusack (Delia Surridge); Natasha Wightman (Valerie); John Standing (Lilliman); Eddie Marsan (Etheridge); Clive Ashborn (Guy Fawkes).
MOST MEMORABLE LINE
Remember, remember, the fifth of November.
EVEY, ATTEMPTING TO RECALL AN OLD DITTY THAT SUDDENLY TAKES ON NEW SIGNIFICANCE
BACKGROUND
Author Alan Moore collaborated with illustrator David Lloyd to create a continuing dystopian, futuristic fairy tale for the monthly British comics anthology Warrior. The first ten episodes of their black-and-white strip, V for Vendetta, appeared from 1982 to 1985, with two additional chapters left unreleased after Quality Communications closed down the publication. Top brass at DC were impressed enough to extend an offer to reprint the stories, now in pastel images, with color provided by Steve Whitaker and Siobhan Dodds and Tony Weare supplying additional artwork. When asked about the concept after V became a cult sensation, Moore stated that the most obvious influences were Orwell and Huxley, both highbrow writers, though Judge Dredd comics and the performance art of David Bowie had also made strong impacts, as had the writing of iconoclastic novelist Thomas Pynchon, particularly his best-known book, V. (1963).
THE PLOT
In the early 2020s, following a nuclear war, the fascistic political party Norse-fire seizes control of England. Fingermen (Nazi-like policemen) wander the streets, doing pretty much as they please. Their attempt to rape young Evey is interrupted by V, a tall, dark stranger in a frightening mask. He whisks the stunned girl off to his secret hideaway, then insists she watch as he destroys the Old Bailey, the key symbol of once-great London. Even as authorities attempt to apprehend V, he seizes control of the airwaves in a guerilla-like fashion, requesting that people of the city rise up against their oppressors on November 5 to destroy the Houses of Parliament.
THE FILM
The plot resembles a combination of Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) and Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera (1910), with elements from the 1953 3-D House of Wax thrown in. As V slips through the city at night, he bears a striking resemblance to Vincent Price in that richly colored horror film.
Initially, Moore and Lloyd considered fashioning one more conventional superhero. However, they decided that, if their piece was to be taken seriously in its attack on Thatcherism in 1980s English politics, they should reverse expected imagery. So they chose as their model Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), the terrorist who attempted to blow up Parliament as part of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot.
Though James McTeigue (1967–) had never before directed a movie, he won this assignment owing to what the producers lauded as his excellent work as first assistant director on all three Matrix movies. Surprisingly to some, McTeigue explained that while the mise-en-scène would be comic bookish, he wanted to recreate the power and passion of Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966), a black-and-white docudrama about freedom fighters driving the French out of Northwest Africa.
Despite the film’s adherence to the style and substance of the graphic novels, Moore expressed betrayal at what he saw as a cop-out in the Hollywood-izing of his uncompromising work. At several points in the film, V states outright that the great cause he’s fighting for is freedom, a counterpoint to the fascism in the England of his time. Moore insisted that in the comics, the term had not been “freedom” but “anarchy,” a far more demanding concept for any writer to ask readers—or viewers—to sympathize with. Still, there can be no question that V is an anarchist from what he does as compared to what he says. Indeed, never has the cause of outright chaos been so openly championed in a big-budget commercial venture.
TRIVIA
Andy and Lana Wachowski, who worked on this screenplay long before they created The Matrix (though that series appeared in theaters first), were influenced by the themes and style of Moore’s V while creating their own original work.
In the comic books, the future date in which V and Evey meet is November 5, 1997. However, this had to be eliminated for the film version, which did not appear until more than ten years after the events as originally conceived by Moore.
The only actress other than Portman who was seriously considered for the role of Evey was Scarlett Johansson.