A couple of months ago SLIFR friend and contributor Benaiah got me interested in a project I had, to that point, never heard of before. The upcoming movie V for Vendetta stars Hugo Weaving as a harlequin-masked terrorist engaging in explosive resistance to a newly fascistic government holding near-future London in its grip, and Natalie Portman as a woman kidnapped by the terrorist, who is quickly swayed to his belief system and, most ominously, his methods. Dodgy subject matter for the post 9/11 universe, to be sure, but even more so in the light of the recent bombings in London. The movie, based on a well-regarded graphic novel by Alan Moore (From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), looks to be treading a very thin line indeed. But that line might thicken up a bit, provided the audience to whom Warner Brothers will be pitching V for Vendetta displays the kind of political awareness and sensitivity that appreciating the movie will require (assuming the movie is any kind of artistic success, of course), and provided that audience cares to engage it outside the inclusive universe of comic book appreciation, amongst the lingering, acrid smoke of the aftermath of real-life events. I got a look at the trailer over the weekend, which you can see here, and though I have been burned by raised expectations based on trailers before, what I could see of the look of this movie—even that highly stylized masked protagonist— seems very promising. Take a look and see if you agree. V for Vendetta, thanks to Benaiah and this trailer, has certainly gone from unknown quantity to queasy prospect to hopeful prospect in a very short time. Here’s hoping these hopes for an artistically solid and challenging movie won’t be dashed on the cinder heap of MTV flash and lowest-common-denominator demographic patronization.
I hope they don't ruin it, the original comic was one of my favorites.
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