Let's play the "count the number of words that begin with V" game...
I saw the first showing of V for Vendetta tonight. For the most part, I thought it was excellent. It strayed tremendously from the book, so it's hard to make a comparison, but I think it succeeded on its own terms.
I'm not going to comment on most of the changes the Wachowski's made in adapating the story, since most of them were just for the different rather than for the better or worse. For me, the only truly detrimental change was the kiss at the end. V and Evey specifically don't have a romantic relationship. How could they? V is not a person, regardless of what the ending narration says, but a symbol. Furthermore, the whole story is about V's elaborate plan to give the people of England a fresh start. Taking the power out of his hands at the very end of the movie makes the conclusion seem less like a chain of events he had intricately constructed and more like something that happened by coincidence. I understand the need to make Evey more of a player in the movie (she's sort of a bystander in the comic) but she is supposed to be just another cog in V's machine right until the last few panels when he's dead and she becomes his successor. Yeah, in the book she becomes the new V. But in the book he doesn't let everybody become V. Again, for the different.
One change that I found particularly interesting, if a bit expected, was the black and white morality that the movie has. One of the things I thought was particularly brilliant about the comic was the way there were no set "good guys" and "bad guys", per se. Yes, Evey is good, but the government and V are left to speak only through their actions. Is V a terrorist or a freedom fighter? Is anarchy really better than order at all costs? In the comic, V is a bit darker and the government isn't so evil. Obviously, you can't get away with that in modern America; you have to take pains in today's world to show that any terrorist protagonist is fighting a clearly evil, nazi-inspired regime (because we can all agree Nazis are evil, right?) or risk being labelled as some sort of evil sympathizer. That's probably fair. I'd hate for V for Vendetta to convince the movie-going public that terrorism is okay in general. At least they get people thinking about some Locke-inspired power to the people sort of stuff.
I'm still parsing the movie, and I sorta want to read the comic again to really remember all the details, so I think I'll stop for now. Also, I'm tired. But go see the movie, because it was really good, and really cool, and what else can you ask a movie to be?
I'm not going to comment on most of the changes the Wachowski's made in adapating the story, since most of them were just for the different rather than for the better or worse. For me, the only truly detrimental change was the kiss at the end. V and Evey specifically don't have a romantic relationship. How could they? V is not a person, regardless of what the ending narration says, but a symbol. Furthermore, the whole story is about V's elaborate plan to give the people of England a fresh start. Taking the power out of his hands at the very end of the movie makes the conclusion seem less like a chain of events he had intricately constructed and more like something that happened by coincidence. I understand the need to make Evey more of a player in the movie (she's sort of a bystander in the comic) but she is supposed to be just another cog in V's machine right until the last few panels when he's dead and she becomes his successor. Yeah, in the book she becomes the new V. But in the book he doesn't let everybody become V. Again, for the different.
One change that I found particularly interesting, if a bit expected, was the black and white morality that the movie has. One of the things I thought was particularly brilliant about the comic was the way there were no set "good guys" and "bad guys", per se. Yes, Evey is good, but the government and V are left to speak only through their actions. Is V a terrorist or a freedom fighter? Is anarchy really better than order at all costs? In the comic, V is a bit darker and the government isn't so evil. Obviously, you can't get away with that in modern America; you have to take pains in today's world to show that any terrorist protagonist is fighting a clearly evil, nazi-inspired regime (because we can all agree Nazis are evil, right?) or risk being labelled as some sort of evil sympathizer. That's probably fair. I'd hate for V for Vendetta to convince the movie-going public that terrorism is okay in general. At least they get people thinking about some Locke-inspired power to the people sort of stuff.
I'm still parsing the movie, and I sorta want to read the comic again to really remember all the details, so I think I'll stop for now. Also, I'm tired. But go see the movie, because it was really good, and really cool, and what else can you ask a movie to be?