Filmmakers score victory with 'Vendetta' - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Holly · 03-20-2006, 05:17 PM

It works on so many levels, it's no surprise that “V for Vendetta” has been brought to the screen by the Wachowski brothers, the mentors of “The Matrix.”

That earlier film worked on many levels ... as visionary fantasy, straight action movie, and allegory to much larger social issues. So it is with the new adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel about a young woman caught up in a revolutionary's revenge plot against the British government in the near future.

Natalie Portman plays that young woman, an innocent who becomes a pawn in the scheme of the saga's anti-hero -- played by a masked Hugo Weaving, who also was a major cog in “The Matrix.” After being rescued from an attack by him, she initially backs his cause of retribution by violence, but subsequent developments force her to make her own choices between right and wrong.

That might seem a simplistic story on the surface, but the film's creators pile on atmosphere and a dazzling filmic style, also not unlike “The Matrix.” Director James McTeigue keeps you guessing as to what's coming next, and something that original has to be admired; he has an especially superb collaborator in Portman, whose on-screen transformation from innocent to rebel is a marvelous piece of acting that's right in line with the excellence of virtually all of her previous performances.

John Hurt and Stephen Fry are more familiar acting presences in “V for Vendetta,” but even then, they're cast in commendably surprising ways.

The fact that so many people can get so many different things out of “V for Vendetta” is not just one of the film's strongest suits, it's the factor that just might keep it one of this decade's most remembered and most-admired movies. It certainly is one of the year's best thus far.

(Rated R)

03-20-2006, 05:17 PM	#1
Holly I LOVE SUNSETS :) Forum Veteran Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: Albany NY Posts: 5,748	Filmmakers score victory with 'Vendetta' It works on so many levels, it's no surprise that “V for Vendetta” has been brought to the screen by the Wachowski brothers, the mentors of “The Matrix.” That earlier film worked on many levels ... as visionary fantasy, straight action movie, and allegory to much larger social issues. So it is with the new adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel about a young woman caught up in a revolutionary's revenge plot against the British government in the near future. Natalie Portman plays that young woman, an innocent who becomes a pawn in the scheme of the saga's anti-hero -- played by a masked Hugo Weaving, who also was a major cog in “The Matrix.” After being rescued from an attack by him, she initially backs his cause of retribution by violence, but subsequent developments force her to make her own choices between right and wrong. That might seem a simplistic story on the surface, but the film's creators pile on atmosphere and a dazzling filmic style, also not unlike “The Matrix.” Director James McTeigue keeps you guessing as to what's coming next, and something that original has to be admired; he has an especially superb collaborator in Portman, whose on-screen transformation from innocent to rebel is a marvelous piece of acting that's right in line with the excellence of virtually all of her previous performances. John Hurt and Stephen Fry are more familiar acting presences in “V for Vendetta,” but even then, they're cast in commendably surprising ways. The fact that so many people can get so many different things out of “V for Vendetta” is not just one of the film's strongest suits, it's the factor that just might keep it one of this decade's most remembered and most-admired movies. It certainly is one of the year's best thus far. (Rated R)