Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Logoagogo]

I enjoyed this film actually. I was a fan of the original comic back in the 80s and when Alan Moore wanted nothing to do with it I could understand why, having sat through the godawful League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell. I think it was pretty well done and more thought-provoking than most Hollywood flicks.

[ChimpumCallao]

[Nowhere Man]

Umm, yeah, well...

I basically found this movie trying to go 2 directions at te same time.

****SPOILER WARNING****

Stop here if you haven't seen the movie.

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So, we essentially have an attempt at a comic book/political movie.

If it was going to go the comic book route, I wish it had gone hardcore in that direction.

a la Sin City

This was basically what I was expecting. I wanted a visually dazzling movie with a fast-moving plot.

I wanted her to shave her head about 10 minutes into, then amp up and amplify, join a militant group, and rage against the machine.

That didn't happen. It plodded along, then the political bit got more interesting. However, for political bit to be meaningful, I didn't need a guy with superhuman powers who kills gun-wielding opponents with his knife-skills.

In fact, when it got deeper into the political bit, I was thinking that a nice remake of 1984 would've served me a lot better than this half-baked concept of a guy who can get into anywhere (which is never explained) to kill people and a girl whose specialty is the hide-under-something tactic (used no less than 3 times in this movie).

Ultimately, I'm forced to believe that this dude has a basement pad with a mock prison camp and a subway running under parliament. Not to mention that he special delivered a few 100,000 masks, capes, and hats to people who in turn put them on and walk through military blockades.

I suppose there's a message in there, but it's lost in a lot of silliness.

If this movie is remembered, I believe it will be for how it suits the political climate circa 2006, but a far better movie could have been crafted just from the TV reports and civil unrest.

Does anybody remember a made-for-TV movie from the mid-eighties where this militant group has a nuke on board a boat and the whole movie is done as an unfolding news special report? Something like that.

To sum up, I think there were some interesting ideas, but I can't say that this film was a success.

[ajstew]

It was a good movie. It had a good character in V, but perhaps too much of an over the top character in the Chancellor... but I bought his part, since there have been over the top leaders of nations before. It reminded me of the original Matrix at times, and that's not a bad thing. There are certainly far worse movies out there to watch today... wonder why the OP hasn't ripped into the rest of them? I'll agree with joblo of joblo.com... one of the best movies of the new year.

[Asiablue]

Neo was the hero of the Matrix, yet he was a terrorist. It is easier to see him as a hero because the bad guys were machines and his whole life was a dream. Quite the contrast to the Terminator in T2: Judgement Day. In that movie the logic was reversed, with the robot hero trying to help rescue humanity from their real life illusions of a peaceful future.

In most movies the bad guys are usually human. In V, the most human character was hidden behind a Guy Fawkes mask and never shows his face. This allows the symbolism of V being any guy, you know, like you or me. So it's easy to see ourselves in him. Everyone wants to believe they could be a hero. I know I do. You know you do too. God help us on the day we are called to the test.

V wears a mask for symbolic as well as esthetic reasons. Due to his hideous appearance, caused by the government he now seeks to overthrow, the mask is a kindness to anyone who might see him. Remember the scene where he puts on his gloves?

In politics truth is the opinion that survives. Nelson Mandela was a terrorist who survived to become the first black President of South Africa. George Washington was a terrorist who survived to be the first President of the USA. Several Prime Ministers if Isreal were former terrorists and other notables of history not mentioned here. What would be the point? Names listed here would be terrorists for some and freedom fighters for others.

The best scene for me was near the end, when the crowd wearing identical Fawkes costumes begin removing their masks all at once. It reminded me of another movie about another terrorist. You know, the one where all those grungy losers stood up in manly dignity to say: "I am Spartacus."

Firstly, the goal of this movie is the same as any other: be watched by as many people as possible.

Secondly, it hopes to be finnancially successful as a result of all those folks watching it.

Thirdly, V hopes it's ideas are discussed long afterwards, in coffee shops, university classrooms and messages boards like this one.

But perhaps those who dislike this movie are most troubled by it's greatest achievement: revealing what they hold most dear, their political beliefs, ideals and even in part, their identity, as a lie.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I thought it was all right, though the serious political themes right alongside such a ridiculous and preposterous plot did look a little bit silly. Then again, a lot of Americans would be [a hem] enough to think it's all perfectly plausible and I guess that's whom the film is directed at.

How do you explain to a k-girl what a 'fingerman' is?

[Thunndarr]

For anyone who disliked the movie on the grounds that the themes were sophomoric...Consider that the social commentary in MOST sc-fi is pretty elementary.

Consider, in no particular order:

The Matrix (Oh, perception is reality! Whoa! We're only limited, by like, what we think we're limited by. Dude!)

Equilibrium (Like, emotions are, important, and stuff! Burning books is, like, way uncool!)

Starship Troopers, the book, not the movie (Citizenship only for the military, corporal punishment is better than incarceration. Get these bugs off me!)

Blade Runner (Whoa, that robot-replicant thingy is, like, emotional and, like stuff. Is he, like, a human or something?)

Armaggedon (France should be wiped off the face of the earth. Editor's note: I agree with this one.)

Minority Report (Like, what if, like I was going to like kill someone, but like, the time cops stopped me before I did it. Would I still be guilty? Pass the nachos.)

V for Vendetta was cool. Not the greatest movie ever, but certainly not as bad as some would suggest.

[IchiTK]

Just saw it tonight. It totally rocked, I highly recommend it.

And thanks to the OP for putting an extra burr in my brain to remember and check this flick.

I'd be interested to know why someone hated it--maybe expecting something more akin to Batman?

[hermes.trismegistus]

[Cohiba]

I thought this movie's dialogue was aimed slightly higher
than the usual 13-year-old level of most flics.

I enjoyed it. However, I'm glad I didn't pay for it.

[Bulsajo]

[jacl]

When that guy started going off on the v and the vicar vivarious vvvvvvvvvvvvv, I closed the window on my computer, right clicked on the movie, and chose "Remove all files".

[sillywilly]

I haven't seen the movie. I had intended to, though. i read the comic several years ago ( believe it was written in the 80s) and thought that it was a piece of crap. A lot of people disagree with me on that, though.

Well, maybe piece of crap is too much. Allen Moore wrote Watchmen, which is probably one of the best stories in comic history. the grandpapa of the genre. V for Vendetta did not stand up in comparison.

[Nowhere Man]

[Bulsajo]

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