Freedom! Forever!

This is actually a review of V for Vendetta, the Wachowski brothers (the Matrix) latest work.

V for Vendetta is based on the 1980s comic (sorry graphic novel) of the same name. Its the story of a fictional Britain ruled by a facist dictator - High Chancellor Sutler, and how a revolutionary - or terrorist (depending on your view point) named V, goes about undermining the government, murdering figure heads left, right and centre, and blowing the shit out of places like the Old Bailey and Houses of Parliament.

The original comic was written in the 80s for an 80s audience, using Thatcher's government as inspiration, however the movie takes on a modern theme suggesting that the facist govt is a result of the middle east conflict and terrorism. This works, and makes the story more relevant to modern audiences - it has pissed the writer off though, who distanced himself from the film.

This is one of the best political thrillers that I have seen - it is far enough removed from our reality to be entertaining, and would reach a far broader audience than most in this genre.

Hugo Weaving's performance as V is fantastic - wearing a mask for the whole film meant he really had use his voice to project V's emotions - no mean feat, and this isnt a robotic masked character like a Darth Vader, V is still just a man.

Natalie Portman looks the part of Evey, big innocent eyes and comes across strong, but her accent slipped in just about every scene - I wonder if they should have just abandoned the accent and had her speak naturally?

Anyway V for Vendetta is fantastic, this is definitely another purchase.

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