Blowing Shit Up For The Cause

As my first movie review was well-accepted by the populace, I have decided to review new movies regularly. So for the second in my series of movie reviews, I bring you

V for Vendetta

There are two main reasons I watch action and/or science fiction movies –
1) Kung fu fighting and general bad-assery
2) Metaphorical renditions of the conflict between good and evil, between right and wrong, and between justice and injustice.

Admittedly, this leads me to watch a great deal of absolutely horrendous movies (re: Ultraviolet). I generally don’t mind watching a terrible movie now and then, because I can see what goes wrong, and why. But more importantly, it makes me appreciate a good action/sci fi movie done well. The Matrix trilogy. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Star Wars trilogies (minus Episode I). Serenity. The Spiderman and Batman franchises, especially the last offerings of each. Ambitious, compelling movies with heroic characters dealing with difficult issues of politics, religion, individual rights and liberties, philosophy, etc. The plots of these movies are premised in fantasy, which allows the fighting and adventure to be exciting while wholly unrealistic. But the conflicts, and the basic themes and ideas behind them, can easily be transposed to actual issues we face today. The common theme running through each is that good people take action against injustice, and by doing so become heroes, regardless of whether or not they succeed. And when done well, a movie like this dazzles me visually with action while engaging me intellectually with ideas.

With this as a basis, V for Vendetta is a fantastic movie. The premise is that a totalitarian government has been elected in Great Britain after multiple terrorist attacks and other scares. This government cracked down on the threats of terrorism by introducing highly intrusive and restrictive methods of surveillance and control, such as phone taps on everything, color-coded curfews, and government vans driving around using devices to listen in on the conversations going on in private homes. Conformity is mandatory, and any type of behavior outside of the norm is strictly prohibited. They also control the media by having one television station with acceptable programming only, and using propaganda to assure the citizens the government has everything under control. The citizens have accepted these measures as necessary to combat the awful threats, allowing their civil liberties to be rolled back for the sake of security.
V is a hero, if not the hero of the piece. A masked man who believes in the use of symbols as a means of altering history and changing perceptions. He comes off as a dashing, heroic intellectual, who brazenly challenges the status quo. However, his methods involve, simply put, acts of terrorism. He blows up buildings, takes hostages, and assassinates those who oppose him. Of course, he takes pains to blow up only empty buildings and to not kill innocent people. But his methods are undeniably terroristic. And therein lies a provocative question of the movie - - is the use of terrorism acceptable to combat tyranny?

One minor qualm I have with V for Vendetta is that it makes the argument for V a little too easily. The villains he targets are, for the most part, unequivocally evil. Therefore, V’s actions seem not only just but entirely righteous. Sure, he’s killing people; taking human lives is absolutely central to his MO. But these people are so dyed in the wool evil, it’s hard to care that, ultimately, he is committing murder. The question of whether such acts of terrorism are acceptable would be a much more compelling question when the targets aren’t so clearly evil.

To be fair to the movie, some of V’s targets are more morally ambiguous. And though willing to kill for the cause, V does express remorse for his actions. And, after all, the movie is principally there to entertain, so delving any deeper into this question would most likely have detracted from the entertainment value. The fact that the movie raises such a powerful question and provides a thoughtful allegory to explore the issues involved is laudable in itself. Therefore, stacking the deck in favor of the hero isn’t much of a flaw.

I’m not going to go much further into the plot, as I did with Ultraviolet, because some of you may actually watch it at some point. And I’m still foggy on some of the exact details involving the back story, which weren’t all that clearly portrayed. But I will say that the movie is challenging and thought-provoking as well as exciting and enjoyable, and the themes are especially relevant now, in a time when clashes between liberty and security are at the forefront of politics. Overall, an ambitious film with ample vicarious thrills of fighting injustice, both physically and symbolically.

My score: A-
Recommendation: If you’re anything like me, this is a must-see