Tim Pigott-Smith is an instrument of the dictator. In addition to Hurt as the sinister dictator, we see Stephen Rea and Rupert Graves as the police assigned to lead the search for V. Still, Portman’s Evey has expressions enough for most purposes, as she morphs from a dutiful citizen to V’s sympathizer, and the film is populated with a gallery of gifted character actors. Behind it is the actor Hugo Weaving, using his voice and body language to create a character, but I was reminded of my problem with Thomas the Tank Engine: If something talks, its lips should move. One difference, and it is an important one, is that V's facial disguise does not move (unlike, say, the faces of a Batman villain) but is a mask that always has the same smiling expression. V and the Phantom are both masked, move through subterranean spaces, control others through the leverage of their imaginations and have a score to settle. The character of V and his relationship with Evey ( Natalie Portman) inescapably reminds us of the Phantom of the Opera. Is this movie a parable about 2006, a cautionary tale or a pure fantasy? It can be read many ways, as I will no doubt learn in endless e-mails. This movie is more literary and less dominated by special effects (although there are plenty), and is filled with ideas that are all the more intriguing because we can't pin down the message. "V for Vendetta" has been written and co-produced by the Wachowskis, Andy and Lana, whose "Matrix" movies also were about rebels holding out against a planetary system of control. The similarity may have come easily to Moore, whose graphic novel “ From Hell” was about the Ripper, and inspired a good 2001 movie by the Hughes brothers. (V seems more like Jack the Ripper, given his ability to move boldly in and out of areas the police think they control. And is: Sutler is played by John Hurt, who in fact played Winston Smith in “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (1984). is he a terrorist or a freedom fighter? Britain is ruled by a man named Sutler, who gives orders to his underlings from a wall-sized TV screen and seems the personification of Big Brother. Its hero plays altogether differently now, and yet, given the nature of the regime. This story was first told as a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and published in 19. ![]() But V commandeers the national television network to claim authorship of his deed. The state tries to suppress knowledge of his deeds - to spin a plausible explanation for the destruction of the Old Bailey, for example. We see a police state that hold citizens in an iron grip and yet is humiliated by a single man who seems impervious. Stephen Fry, John Hurt and Stephen Rea are also solid in their roles, rounding out what I found to be a surprisingly well-acted ensemble cast."V for Vendetta" will follow his exploits for the next 12 months, until the night when he has vowed to strike a crushing blow against the dictatorship. Hugo Weaving is also grand in what was basically a voice acting performance for him, as his face is never revealed in the film. One of my favourites, Natalie Portman, delivers both a heartbreaking and inspirational performance as a TV studio assistant turned revolutionary icon. ![]() The film also showcases some fantastic performances. However, most of the London we know is still intact, there are very few futuristic technologies and the day to day lives of the citizens are generally quite similar to ours creating a frightening portrait of how close we are to this type of authoritarianism. The media operates as a constant propaganda machine, police arrest without evidence and a curfew is placed over the entire country. He utilizes power and fear to institute tyrannical reforms dominating the lives of citizens. An opportunistic dictator named Adam Sutler (John Hurt) has taken control of the British government in the aftermath of a war. Most films from the genre ( The Matrix, Total Recall ) seem distant or impossible in their futuristic assumptions, but Vendetta is eerily close to home. ![]() The dystopian setting is set up frighteningly well. He gains a reluctant ally in Evey (Natalie Portman), and through murder, revenge and spectacular knife throwing, attempts to dismantle the authoritarian structure of the nation. Everyone has gotten pretty used to the general crappiness of the situation when a man donning a Guy Fawkes mask, who is known only as V (Hugo Weaving), blows up an historical landmark. ![]() Citizens are under constant watch, have limited speech and are often thrown into prison camps as punishment for minor crimes. V for Vendetta takes place in the not all too distant future where fascism has gripped the nation of Great Britain after a war. Little known fact: Alan Moore wrote, directed and starred in several L’Oreal commercials between novels
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