Slam-Pan For V For Vendetta

Why, this Jeff Giles must fancy himself a terrorist against the Wachowski Brothers.

The Time magazine piece I linked last week questioned whether the film would keep V an ambiguous hero, or anti-hero, or hero-villain, or whatever.

Apparently not:

"Vendetta" is based on an '80s-era graphic novel rife with outrage over Margaret Thostaer's England. But, as adapted by the Wachowski brothers and directed by their protégé James McTeigue, the movie plays like a clumsy assault on post-9/11 paranoia. It references "America's war," uses imagery direct from Abu Ghraib and contains dialogue likely to offend anyone who's not, say, a suicide bomber. Buildings are symbols, V tells a haunted young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman), after saving her from some vile, rampaging cops: "Blowing up a building can change the world." The filmmakers have insisted that V is not intended to be a hero. Which is bollocks. The movie grants him absolute moral superiority from beginning to end. Sure, Evey tells him he's a monster—and then tries to make out with his mask. In a movie, when the pretty girl falls in love with you and stays in love with you, you're a hero.

Sounds about right. "Nuance" is for little people.

Oh, and it's as talky as the Matrix sequels, too. So if you loved the endless elipitical pretentious philosophical banter there, you'll love V.

BTW: The Wachowskis, near as I can tell, made one good movie -- The Matrix. (Actually, I disliked it, but I seem to be in the minority.)

Let me review for you the other films these "geniuses" have made:

Bound. I think. S&M and Gina Gershon and it's still boring.

Assassins. Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas are the world's greatest assassins. Antonio Banderas wants to kill Stallone because Stallone is the Number One assassin (I forget if this was determined by the AP or coach's poll.) As Banderas says, fifty fucking times in the movie, as he tries to knock off Stallone, "Now I will be Number One!"

Smart, innovative premise. I think that motivation has been used in only seventy-three bazillion crude chop-socky flicks.

The Matrix Sequels. Good Lord, whatever. Yeah, they're really deep.

posted by Ace at 04:34 PM

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