MOVIES: E for emotionless
Political thriller is forgettable, confusing
Ryan Hladun Volunteer Staff
Going into V for Vendetta, I had a few questions on my mind. How are they going to inspire sympathy for a terrorist? How cool is Hugo Weaving going to be? Was it really necessary for Natalie Portman to pull a Sinead O’Connor and shed her locks? These questions were bound to be widespread among audiences. One question I didn’t expect to have, though, less than 30 minutes in was: can I get some subtitles?
It’s tough to fault the Wachowski brothers for their ambition. Disguising a message-laden, dialogue-heavy political thriller as an explosion-filled, bloody popcorn flick is not something that’s easily done. One thing you can say about them is that they don’t alienate any of their audience. Unfortunately, as with their underwhelming Matrix sequels, they failed to find the right balance between intellectual commentary and action, leaving their latest a confusing, mostly forgettable, heavily-loaded splatter-screen with far too few thrills and boring characters.
Vendetta is based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel and takes place in a not-so-distant future where the United States has disbanded and Britain is under totalitarian control. Hugo Weaving (Mr. Smith from the Matrix trilogy) is V, a masked vigilante who blows up government buildings to shake up the oppressive regime. We learn V is on a mission of revenge after falling victim to a virus that was released purposely by the government to put the country in a stranglehold of fear. He recruits Evey (Portman), a young woman he rescues from state police, who aids him in his vendetta.
The movie is preachy and the comparison to the Bush administration is there, which is fine because they don’t hide it. But if you’re going to tackle a serious topic, like lumping America ‘06 in with a rather far-fetched fascist society, put some emotion into it! The Wachowskis are notorious for their brutal handling of human emotion, and the movie’s biggest problem lies here.
This problem starts with V who, between blowing up buildings in the name of freedom and slicing up government cronies, cites nauseating poetry, cooks omelettes and watches old movies. Talk about character development! The Wachowskis write humour like M. Night Shyamalan writes romance. Sure, V is meant to be an enigmatic character, but something — namely emotion — is sorely missing. Maybe the mask is the problem. It is always smiling! It is just more bizarre than cool.
We only learn about V’s character through the investigative work of a government officer, Finch (played by Stephen Rea), who leads a supporting cast of painfully dull and uninteresting characters, including corrupt government officials, media people and, of course, the leader (played by John Hurt), who we only see on a giant video screen and about whom we learn nothing.
And I’m afraid to say it, but Portman’s performance isn’t great. Perhaps it was the unrealistic dialogue (first George Lucas and now the Wachowskis — she can’t escape it can she?), but when she is actually called to deliver an emotional scene, it is usually overacted and awkward. This probably isn’t her fault. In one scene she is embracing falling rain after being released from a prison. “God is in the rain,” she says. The scene, a turning point in the film, has all the emotion of a chess match.
The last word goes to the action. V does get to kick some ass, but, unlike the big payoff in Matrix Revolutions, which is completely mesmerizing, the final battle scene in Vendetta seems very been-there, done-that. It doesn’t make up for the lack of action in the previous hour and a half.
See V for Vendetta if you’re a hardcore fan of the graphic novel or if you enjoyed the Matrix sequels, although apparently even Alan Moore wasn’t completely thrilled with the way they adapted his work. So if you’re planning to see one movie this spring, wait for X-Men.
