DVD | V For Vendetta

Rating: R13 - Contains Violence, Offensive Language & Sexual References.
Duration: 133 mins.
Genre : Action and Adventure.
Actors: Hugo Weaving, John Hurt, Stephen Rea, Natalie Portman, Tim Pigott-Smith, Rupert Graves, Stephen Fry, Sinéad Cusack.
Release Date: Available now.

V for Vendetta is the Wachowski brothers follow up to the Matrix trilogy, and as you’d expect is not only visually stylish, but also has a message. Loosely based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel of the same name, Vendetta finds England under a totalitarian government, with strong Orwellian overtones, and plenty of nods to Nazi Germany.

But these are only visual clues to what’s going on in the movie – the real target is the current American political system, and seems all to timely to be a piece of fiction.

The movie starts out with a brief history lesson on Guy Fawkes, narrated by Natalie Portman, Vendetta’s tough heroine. It’s necessary to set the tone for our hero’s, who wears the mask and cape of Guy Fawkes to disguise his true identity.

Britain is once again a superpower, America is in turmoil, but the British people are far from free. They have succumbed to government control in every aspect of their lives, and have forgotten what individual though is. That‘s where V comes into play. He knows the truth, and he’s about to start opening eyes whilst embarking on a less than noble journey.

As a movie there is plenty to like about Vendetta. The comical side to the ever-smiling Mask that V hides behind is pure genius. The plot never seems to go in a predictable direction and the action is never far away.

Beautifully filmed, the attention to detail is not left only to the visual sense, but the audible senses are delighted with whimsical verbose, where unending strings of nonsense some how make perfect sense.

There are quotes a plenty to be remembered, the main one being “People should never be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people”. This is a movie that deserves to be watched more than once, and is destined to become a cult movie.

Food for thought
But again, if truth be told... if you are looking for the guilty, you need only look in the mirror.