It's all about government authority being an illusion at the end of the day... albeit a very persistent illusion the majority assent to for fear of the unknown alternative which in people's minds is likely a state of pure chaos.
@@HouseOfAlastrian Well, not an illusion, Creedy's black bags and batons were certainly busting real heads. What breaks in that scene is the government's *moral* authority. As nasty as it was, the Norsefire govt was legitimate. It had been elected and people welcomed the end of the "chaos" (so easily manufactured as we've seen in the last 18 months). What V really does is destroy that authority. And so people are finally forced to come face to face with what they government actually IS.
We have guns! V: No. What you have are bullets and the hopes that when your guns are empty, I'm no longer standing. Because if I am, you will all be dead before you have reloaded.
@@riograndedosulball248 They didn't stop all the bullets, as clearly shown (because he dies). That was never the message; they did, however, stop ENOUGH bullets, since they were likely hollow-points, to allow him to finish the fight then stumble back to his home.
I know, I know. Everytime someone has a favorite performance by an actor they say "SHOULD'VE BEEN NOMINATED/WON AN OSCAR!" But seriously, it was on the second or third viewing of this movie that it dawned on me that Hugo Weaving was wearing a mask through the entire movie. His ability to convey V's thoughts and emotions without benefit of facial expressions is a masterclass of acting.
Pretty sure a lot of what you see on screen is James Purefoy. Hugo Weaving came in later and redubbed the dialogue after Purefoy left the project, as well as filming additional scenes. There was a good 6 weeks of footage that was overdubbed rather than being reshot.
@@UKProgRock that's actually untrue. While he did to a good bit of shooting, when hugo was cast they reshot (almost) all of his scenes. So hugo was doing the physical performance for the large majority of the film
Ciaran Hinds, a man able to deliver a scene with a raised eyebrow. Alan Rickman. Winston Churchill. The human voice is the main character in every great story.
@@Real_MisterSir That would require no other people since mistakes are inevitable. It isn't even possible to uphold that standard for others if you choose to live by that code. A code you can't apply to yourself cannot be applied honestly to others by default barring very specific circumstances, such as bodily defense of family, etc. Even those exceptions mostly pertain to emergencies or moments of crisis, which cannot be the basis for a functional worldview since it has no concept of what its own success looks like separated from whatever it is reacting to (reactionary, or an 'anti-position'). This worldview, since it never truly establishes a core of its own that one can live by, should be discarded as something that one can only embrace by lying to themselves beyond what can be accepted as simple incompleteness or normal limitations of human nature. This is a pernicious sin against 'the self', where one must commit to 'being convinced' of a creed that cannot, as I laid out clearly above, cannot actually support its own weight under any burden of logic or lived-evidence.
"Voila! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V" Never get tired of that speech.
As a story that gets frighteningly more relevant as time goes on, I really appreciate this movie. It's not just a blatant sociopolitical message, it's not just gratuitous violence against the government, and it's not even about V. As she says at the end, he's all of us. It's about an idea that people should be free, to do good or bad, to make mistakes, to choose for themselves. That, I think, is one of the most basic concepts humanity can ever rally behind.
um you can't say that hahaha, great concept but our rights have been gone since 2001 maybe even before that, i dont know what we do at this point except maybe move to Sweden! maybe
Unless of course you're on the left, in which case you seem to love authoritarianism. Sorry couldn't help with the poke but Jesus, for the vast majority of them it's true.
I don't agree with V in that way. Humanity should not be free to do things that are known empirically to be bad i.e. Communism, worshipping Islam, etc. Bad and especially outright Evil options should never be a choice. Outcome-unclear and good options are fine
@@shadowpathfinder7723 Yes, but people will always disagree on what is bad. Their is NO empirically bad, it's all based on ones own morality/ideology. Therefore, people must be free to make their own choices.
As a Venezuelan, this movie had me crying by the end and I wasn't alone. I saw full grown men crying their eyes out. It's such a powerful movie and also very entertaining and different to the very bleak book.
Back around 2006 I saw it a little discount theater, and by the end, although I wasn't crying, I must have been close. This incredible feeling welled up in my core that I had never experienced watching a film before. I felt like I was going to leap up from my seat.
@@alex6677 Sorry for the lengthy response but Venezuela is quite the weird animal. Venezuela, as a territory, is absolutely stunning. How did it fail so miserably? Socialism. Socialism destroyed Venezuela. I remember hating the "schedule" you have to live in when you're there: running water services is from 6am to 6:30am. Then you have to cook really fast because stove gas only works for about an hour. Then the 2-hours-long blackouts, the internet is pretty much non-existent. Technologically wise, Venezuela is being a good 15 years and you will find very few cars from after 2012. You can't rent empty property you have because the law will side with the tenants, allowing them to stay for free as long as there's a minor living there. I don't know how a country whose main source of income was oil ended up without gasoline. At some point, we realized that we were all poor. Some more than others. My parents are pediatricians and finding a medication that was available or that didn't need the family to sell the child into slavery was very rough on them. The last time I saw my hometown, I was travelling to Colombia (by bus) and I almost cried because between my home and the exit of town, I didn't see a single light on. Noting. No public lighting, no traffic lights, not even the McDonalds sign. It was black all around me and I had the feeling the city was dying. I had to move to Colombia because I have MS and my neurologist (long time friends with my mom) said "Take her to Colombia because if she has a respiratory arrest, I don't have anywhere to keep her". And this was when I left on the first quarter of 2019, right after the nationwide 4-days-long blackout. Venezuela used to be the country that led the rest of Latin America. Electricity, TV, employee safety, social security, free colleges. The previous dictatorship (Marcos Perez Jimenez, around the 1950's) created a lot of infrastructure that worked perfectly fine for 50 years until the Chavistas grabbed a hold of it and just destroyed it. It is such a sad story to tell, and I'm leaving so much behind: newborns kept in empty carboard boxes because there's no cradles in the hospital, doctors and nurses crying in absolute despair because they can't do anything to save their patients' lives, political enemies locked in a place known as "the tomb", where they suffered white torture, people eating off the garbage (I saw this personally)... V for Vendetta's ending showed us what we couldn't do: overthrow a dictatorship. And I've left so much more out.
I love this movie. The “V speech” is one of the greatest uses of intelligence and a thesaurus i’ve ever heard. This is definitely a movie worth seeing and a cautionary tale for our times.
Voila! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified!!!! and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
John Hurt was the underdog hero in 1984, and the oppressive dictator in V For Vendetta. Great casting choice for two tales based on the same dystopian concept.
I still get goosebumps from the "Ideas are bulletproof" moment. Also, most people think they would be V in the dystopia, when in reality they would be Syme from 1984, or Winston at best.
Indeed. Most of the "cool radicals" on Internet, especially those calling for violence from the cushy comforts of their basements, would shit their pants, moment things will become hot. Which is why I absolutely despise those fuckwads: they want to bring their revolution by the blood of others. As much I hate zealots on both side of political compass, at least in a past decades, they had guts to die for their beliefs (and many did so). Those new generations of political activists on Twatter and the like, incapable of doing anything, but provoke others. What makes it more ironic, that in case of revolution, those cumstains would lose the comfortable lives and end up either dead or poor or oppressed, this time for real.
@@ShadowSumac Everything has to start somewhere bud. Organization is key. One man alone is a psycho. 10 are a gang. 100 a militia. 1,000 a protest 100,000 an army 1,000,000 a revolution But it all starts in the same place. With people saying "enough."
SPOILERS: I interpreted the last domino as V’s realization that his plan is bigger than his own, personal vendetta and views. He couldn’t knock all the dominoes over by himself. And, therefore, he must let Evey decide whether or not to blow up parliament. In the graphic novel, V is killed by Finch, and his death is announced publicly. Then, Evey takes up his mask and costume, which makes V immortal. In the movie, V is killed by Credey’s men, and, even though it isn’t announced publicly, the crowd is waiting in the streets. Then, Evey takes up his plan to blow up parliament, which makes V’s ideas immortal. I also think that’s why the last domino is on the train.
Could be. Could just be Evey herself; after all, she was not part of the original plan, she was something new to it, someone with knowledge and agency that he didn't control. I doubt even he knew that he was going to die and she'd have to pull the lever at the end, but she was definitely a new element. But it could also be himself; as the last domino prevented the image from being complete, so too did his continued existence mar the future--after all, the people might look to him for leadership, or loyalists might rally against him, leading to more factionalism. And the discovery of his identity might muddy the waters with small, irrelevant arguments that miss the big picture; his total destruction, remaining forever a mystery, frees the people to start over, find their own, new leaders. Or some other thing. That's the fun part about symbolism if done right; it's not obvious and clear-cut.
I thought the last domino represented himself as a person, and for his plan to come to its conclusion, V the flawed, vengeful human had to be removed from the picture. You either die a hero, or see yourself live long enough to become the villain.
I always saw it as V realizing that once his purpose is fulfilled, he has nothing left to live for. The movement is bigger than he is and he must be removed so that all the dominos may truly fall. More importantly, they must fall on his terms, because if he was removed by another force, then the movement would lose its power. That's part of what makes it pointed when Evey kisses him and he replies "I can't..." we even see that he's tortured and conlicted and wishes that he could just be with Evey. He mentions that there is a man behind the mask, and when he removes it, he shrinks, weeps, and shatters his reflection. He recognized that the movement was larger than its man, and the architect was not only without purpose, but could be detrimental to the message if he continued to live.
Love the movie. The idea behind the fact that "governments should fear their people" is truly a great ideology. They're supposed to be civil servants, doing their job for the good of the majority. We're their bosses and that's not something they should forget or try to flip on us.
@@KezanzatheGreat perhaps but there's been enough times were duly elected officials have done terrible things. The Philippines, as my friend told me, can attest to that several times over.
@@potato1341 If the government fears the people that will only cause them to look for ways to undermine them, likewise with the people fearing the government.
@@codieomeallain6635 Governments already undermine their citizenry in the name of greater power: fear doesn't even factor into it. The only way to keep someone honest when you have no proof that they'll be honest is to provide credible threat that you will destroy them should they be dishonest. If a genuinely honest person/government is in power, they have nothing to fear from the people, because transparency and explaining how things went wrong go a long way in mitigating anger. But if a dishonest person/government is in power, then if you don't have a backup plan you're just screwed. See the modern world for examples and confirmation.
I watched this only a week ago. What struck me the most was watching the television news media working so closely and supportively with the Government. it makes the alphabet news channels in the US look like a Bee article, come true.
Even though Chomsky is a senile old commie, the book Manufacturing Consent is an excellent breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between the mass media and government and the power of the media to deliver the messages and ideas that the government wants the public to think.
@@OrthoLou Probably that the media basically works directly with the CIA, FBI, etc. to craft the narrative they spread and have been going back decades. From Operation Mockingbird to the countless "anonymous sources familiar with the matter" that actively disseminated complete disinformation on almost a daily basis during the Trump administration, the CIA has been driving our national media conversation for a long time. I think the OP already knows that, though, 'cause he was saying our media is so bad that it looks like fictionalized, satirical exaggeration compared to the _actually_ fictional state-run media in V for Vendetta.
@@lonewolf9578 Mortal Engines got a lot of shit and I think it was in part due to it's marketing campaign being fucking stupid (the trailer tried SOOOO hard to make it look like a woke story when it really wasn't). Personally, I greatly enjoyed the movie's antagonists. Weaving is always a win and this was no exception, and Shrike stole the show every time he was on screen (his necron look was also badass).
I remember the first time I ever saw this movie, I was a young stupid 21 year old living in Las Vegas, the girl I was trying to get with wanted to go see a movie and had just randomly picked this one, I had no idea what it was about and didn't really care. At V's introduction speech, I literally rolled my eyes into the back of my head... I just knew it was gonna be a long boring movie and I was going to struggle to stay awake... But by the time the credits rolled, I had to scrape my jaw off of the theater floor, it had completely captivated me for the entire runtime and forever remains as one of my all time favorite movies, and I'm happy to see the drinker recommend it!
I remember seeing this movie in a film production class. After looking into the differences between the movie and the source material, I believe Moore's criticisms are definitely valid with this one.
"But it sounds fucking cool when Hugo Weaving does it." You can say this about a lot of Hugo's roles. The man is brilliant, and can make even the silliest projects work (cough Matrix sequels).
For years they were all I had to fall asleep to. To this day I can always find perfect pitch with the opening of the DVD menu. (It's an E on every octave)
People should be afraid of their governments. If we were afraid of those in power, we never would have handed over our liberties to stop the spread of a mild SARS variant. Likewise, it's when governments fear their people that we get gulags, concentration camps and death squads that lead to the eradication of political dissenters.
@@anthonyagureyev307 not even close. We have lockdowns, mask mandates etc because people put too much faith in their governments. And do you really think Stalin and Castro were purging people who agreed with them? History shows us that people should fear their governments and do everything possible to limit their power, and that governments that fear their people will commit atrocities to keep them from rising up or limiting their power. V for Vendetta is empirically incorrect and to believe otherwise is to ignore history and be doomed to repeat it.
Weird that the movie was written by left wing authoritarians. They (falsely) accused the Christian Right of doing what they themselves would end up doing. They became exactly what they thought the Christians were. That kind of projection actually kind of pisses me off and sours the movie a bit for me.
@@brunozachary Not a lead? 2nd most screen time (I would assume). He and Natalie Portman share top billing depending on where you look. Hell, the characters name is in the bloody title.
Stephen Rea as Eric Finch is like the straight man in a comedy duo that gets overlooked when praise is dished out. He really is the rock solid foundation that the film is built on. At so many points during the film a lesser actor would have messed it up by trying to grab the limelight. He played the part perfectly, held steady and enables the other actors to shine bright. Bloody legend.
Exactly! It was even a harder role to get right in the movie than it would have been if the film were a 1:1 transposition of the comic to the screen, as the movie has cut out a lot of the Finch scenes that made the source material so harrowingly strong.
When I saw this, I thought that Hugo Weaving did a great job as V because he was able to emote so effectively while behind a mask. Using his whole body to convey emotion rather than facial expression was amazing.
@@cannedbollocks It tells us that the desire to use any excuse to control people is universally valued by those who love power. In this case, the tool was a designer virus that was so lethal that they had to add ‘death with COVID (2+ co-morbidities)’ numbers to the actual ‘death from COVID’ numbers in order to sufficiently frighten those who are emotionally incontinent and easily broken.
What are Alan Moore’s socio-political stances anyway? I’ve always been too afraid to look it up and risk lessening my enjoyment of the film by knowing too much about the personal thoughts of the source creator.
@@yousaywhatnow2195 He was an anarchist back in the day. Unfortunately in 2019 he decided to join the cult of Corbyn because blonde man bad. But that's okay. This, Watchmen, and From Hell were the last time he was any good. I mean, come on, Lost Girls? Pseudointellectual excuses for gratuitous sex because he didn't have the balls just to write smut and have done with it.
@@yousaywhatnow2195 he's a far left ding bat, always has been.. (Although he claims that the novel V for Vendetta was supposed to be about an anarchist taking on an authoritarian dictatorship, and didn't like that the film just made it about liberals vs. Right wing). But from what I've seen others say, he's hopped on board with the overreach over the passed two years.
I don't know much about Alan Moore or his work. What I heard, is he is an anarcho-commie. He didn't like Thatcher and thought she was a authoritarian, but he's very much an authoritarian and a hypocrite, because of the communism. His views got us here. That's what I heard, not what I know.
I loved this movie and it actually elevated Natalie Portman in my eyes. The accent was somewhat questionable but she projected her emotional transformation extremely well and it actually felt pretty powerful. And Weaving was an absolute boss. I remember trying to make that eggy bread shit that was in the movie and nearly burned the fucking kitchen to the ground. I won’t be trying that again.
Took a few messy attempts but I did manage to pull off the Eggs in the Basket pretty much as well as V and Stephen Fry did in the movie. And yes... this was the first time I enjoyed seeing Natalie Portman's acting. The Star Wars prequels didn't give her much of a chance to flourish as an actress with its cringe dialogue.
Some of us could see this coming way back in the 1990s under the Clinton regime. (Waco, anyone? Elian Gonzales, anyone?) It didn't all just start with the plandemic. It didn't all start with 9/11 and the "Patriot" Act either. (I opposed the Patriot Act at the time, BTW, and also its earlier incarnation, the Antiterrorism and effective Death Penalty Act (ATDPA) of 1996.
Neither were ever farfetched. Stories like these are made by people who see something horrible just over the horizon, and their stories are how they *scream* at everyone to not let it happen.
Last time I was this early Scotland was still a relatively free country. I love this movie, btw. Hugo Weaving is brilliant as V, and Stephen Rea is his usual awesome self. Plus, the whole thing was very prophetic, methinks. Great review.
3:15 I just realised that V was born in fire and grew up to be an absolutely pure cleansing fire that will burn the system to the ground and seed it for its rebirth, while E was born in rain and water that usually follows an all-consuming fire and heals the land. I think that meaning is beautiful. He tore down the system as an extreme pure force of nature one that is not good or bad, just nature's ultimate agent against evil, and she's going to rebuild the scarred and destroyed world from its ashes.
I religiously watch this every year. Something that the Drinker missed was the amazing music score to compliment it all. One of my all time favourites!
This film legit got me into Tchaikovsky the guy was amazing though apparently hated the 1812 overture.... Made it as loud and annoying as possible so people wouldn't like it and had the exact opposite effect 🤣
What are your thoughts on this movie being pure projection? I have a feeling that the Wachowski brothers are perfectly fine with the way the world has imitated their movie, just with the political parties switched.
This was a movie I stumbled on several years ago while perusing my streaming channels one long lonely night and boy was I surprised at how good it was. I was in a state of mind that had placed Natalie Portman in a class of IDGAF about watching her again after the three Star Wars episodes. However Hugo Weaving had my interest after his Agent Smith gave Neo such a hard time in the Matrix. So I ventured to give it a go and wasn’t I surprised at how well this movie played out. It is now on my “Watch once a year” list of favorite movies and I’m glad you reaffirmed my choice, too.
For lack of so any words I agree with you 100% I can watch this movie about every six months and really get into it the characters are so intense and the believability While once seemed unbelievable it seems are relevant a lot more relevant than they were just five or six years ago so I’ll watch it again soon and probably be disheartened by the state of affairs in this world
@@yousaywhatnow2195 but in support of the papal authority and Spanish monarchy. The Anglican kingdom and Parliament at the time, though very conservative by modern standards was quite liberal and progressive by the standards of the late middle ages. James indeed was pretty light handed towards the catholics of the day compared to his predecessor and compared to the remaining catholic monarchies on the continent. So yes it was rather ironic because what the real Guy Fawkes wanted was far from creating a less totalitarian regime. Just a different and more totalitarian regime. Which is actually sort of funny considering what the so called antifacists of today want and the ones most readily dawning the guy fawekes mask.
One of my all time favorite movies, I always some how end up watching it at least once every year. It has become more and more realistic as the years have passed by
Weird that the movie was written by left wing authoritarians. They (falsely) accused the Christian Right of doing what they themselves would end up doing. They became exactly what they thought the Christians were. That kind of projection actually kind of pisses me off and sours the movie a bit for me.
@@the_once-and-future_king. - Like how everyone conveniently ignores that according to FBI statistics 80% of all domestic terrorism in the USA is carried out by right wingers.
@@Noplayster13 - Oh shit, here comes the water works. You right wingers ever stop crying? Doesn't the right-wing victim Olympics get exhausting after a while?
@@JM-vp8zc As V might say, "The media may cause strife to the masses, ignorant and informed, staggering the many ideas they hold dear and free within their innocent and insidious hearts and minds, but in the resounding echoed triumphs of the media's agenda, lies the perceived silence between men of individual thought, and their shared resolve to listen and wait, for the right time to pull the rug out from underneath the unassuming media's immense omnipresence. In this manner, ideas, inevitably, land the media flat on its face"
I will admit that while I liked it in the beginning (and it had some caveats and reservations), I've come to like this more over the years ... especially the irony that this is more relevant *now* than it ever was in 1982 and 2006 respectively.
One of the best movies I’ve watched. So many great and often ‘deep’ lines of dialogue spoken by several different characters. It’s also beginning to look more like a documentary these days which is terrifying. Evey: Are you like a crazy person? V: I am quite sure they will say so.
I saw this movie in theaters alongside my entire family back when it came-out in 2005. And I gradually learned that - with few exceptions - among my family and friends that had seen it, I seemed to be the only one who actually enjoyed it. And that perplexed me at the time as to why this brilliant film was being derided off as "boring" and "confusing." And it took me a while to realize that it was because I was the only one in my immediate group that actually _understood it._ I recently rewatched the film with my father in honor of the Fifth last night, at which point my Father now fully understood the movie and detailed that he knew _why_ I wanted to watch it, with it's relevancy being suddenly more _invigorated._ And we agreed that the only problem with the Film's message is that - being a product of the Hollywood propaganda machine - that the villains of the group are fingered as coming from one direction of the political aisle...while everyone with sense knows where the _true villainy lies._ What is so great about V's plan - from my perspective - is this. After he destroys the Bailey and gives his speech over the airwaves...he makes no more grand gestures to the public over the one-year he has before the Fifth. His one-year season of terror remains relatively _private;_ even when after the Censor makes the claim that he was shot and killed at the BNN tower, he could easily expose them yet again by making a public statement that he _is indeed_ still alive. But he doesn't, because he knows he doesn't _need to;_ and that's for at least two reasons. Almost immediately after, we see evidence that the commonwealth know that the reports of his apprehension and death are bullocks, so they don't believe it. It's obvious that what V's speech was about was the truth that everyone was either too complacent with or too afraid to admit within themselves, so they take a bit of pride in seeing someone finally speak-out against the shite that their establishment has become. But the _real_ reason is as follows...because it's like the Inspector says - "He knows us better than we know ourselves." When you get down to it, the rest of the year and all the killings that V conducts are a relatively private if not a personal matter. Yes, each victim he takes is an established party member that contributed to the rise of Sutler's Fascist Regime - and thereby killing them is a necessity to not just punish them for their crimes but to cleanse their influence from the world - they are _also_ the ones who played a personal hand in his suffering and the complete destruction of his humanity. Killing them is the _Vendetta_ he holds to himself and is the severing of the last ties he has to his humanity; becoming fully the _idea_ that the UK needs. But what is interesting is the response to what happens in light of these deaths as, had they simply been reported that the three had been murdered with no other details or connections, people might of course suspect it was him, but not everyone would be quick enough to come to that conclusion. It is instead that the Party-Controlled Media decides to _censor_ the deaths, giving them all comfortable passings to maintain their dignity that _confirms_ to the people that they are lying, that they were all murdered, and it was V who did it... And _therein_ lies the genius of V's plan... He doesn't need to make a grand gesture to the public anymore; all he's doing now is setting the stage, be it clearing a few players from the board or moving the pieces he needs into position. And he does so all without the public eye watching him. Instead he let's the establishment continue to censor, lie, manipulate and try to scare people into complacency. His ultimate goal is to simply let them showcase who they really are and emphasize what they have done and always have done. He's literally letting the system collapse on itself as their mad scramble to keep their power crumbles. And the best part is Creedy - he is the man who is ultimately responsible for securing the Party's success, but he knows that means he is the one who holds the most blame and the one with the most to lose. In essence, he knew one day that if things took a turn it would be him or Sutler, which is why he personally outfitted Sutler's security detail with men that were loyal to _him_ that would turn on Sutler on his word. V just put him in the position where the opportunity to strike was coming. It showcases that even those at the top knew the structure was precarious and it was literally crumbling beneath them. And Sutler, being the arrogant man he was, didn't for once think that he couldn't say and do any of those things without experiencing consequences.
Sun-Tzu wrote in 'The art of war' how the king who has the way/road (Tao) will win. I translate this to: the King who does the right thing. Sutner did not do the right thing, he and his men knew it, and it brought them down. Like you said with more words. Completely agree.
Didn't read all of that... But I definitely agree that conservatives were demonstratized and liberal ideals upheld. And it makes sense for when the comics were written. But for when the film came out...? No. Not to say all political parties aren't manipulative corrupt bags of shit at the end of the day, but these days, I see it more on the liberal side.
Part of the brilliance of Weaving as Agent Smith is the newsreader tone he delivers lines with (he explains this somewhere but Ican't recall if it was a video or text interview). Even his pronounciation is crafted to sound like a precise machine creating the words. "...with th(e) surrrrownding environ-ment..." The voice is perfect for a seemingly detached, rational machine who has to act like a human at times in order to interact with them, but is secretly going insane.
It always rubbed me the wrong way. The Wachowski brothers projected their own left wing authoritarianism onto the fictional Christian Right wing government in the movie. In a vacuum, the movie is incredible. However, when written by 2 people who actually WANT a government like that enforcing their own ideology, it leaves a sour taste.
@@Noplayster13 An excellent point, most of the Wachowski’s films deal with oppression and control, and since both men have become transgender I’m guessing they have always felt persecuted. Each to their own……..but I do wonder what kind of childhood those guys had, both of them think they are now women?
@@80krauser I also think the film is better. It cut out unnecessary, bizarre side stories and adapted the political aspect to a modern audience. Because really, are 2005 audiences going to be as interested in a film about the politics of Margarate Thatcher? come on.
@@lizf2664 They cut out the fact that the rest of the world has been rendered uninhabitable by nuclear disaster and fact that Norsefire's dissolution may spell the extinction of humanity. They only missed out the biggest moral question mark over V's actions and the main source of ambiguity in the ending, thus depriving the entire story of it core dramatic pillar.
Ah, I was hoping for this on the 5th. One of my favorite movies reviewed by my favorite critic. I'm getting married in exactly a year on the 5th, and I need an officiant for the ceremony. I know it is a long shot, but it would be the cherry on top of a perfect day if you would be willing to perform that job. It would be an honor for myself and my fiancee if you would do it, we are both huge fans of yours. I am more than happy to bribe you with all the alcohol you can drink.
The movie and the comic book both, without intending to, also highlight a massive blindspot in the minds of most creatives: they can only see fascism and authoritarianism if they approach from the right. Threats - or realities- as bad or worse from the left they simply don’t or won’t see, or, worse, apply all of their energies to minimizing or hiding such threats because they want that world. They are too often not against fascism, they merely want it to be done by their side and continue to call it anti-fascism.
Fascism IS a left ideology. It is a form of socialism invented in Italy by Giovanni Gentile. Revisionist history, specifically starting in the late 60's and 70's due to Soviet agents infiltrating Western institutions, claims it is a far-right ideology. This is the lie that is perpetuated today. Point in the opposite direction and claim 'they' are the ones doing what you are doing. EDIT - I really hate Wikipedia. The mods there continuously change things to further the narrative. In the Fascism article, there has been a back and forth in the revisions section between far-left and far-right as the opening line in the article. Actual history, of which there are plentiful, not-yet-memory-holed texts, clearly show the Marxist idealism that fascism is based on. In fact, both fascism and communism are almost exactly the same, they just go about it slightly differently.
@@SydBat didn't Mussolini like work with this ideology and then he said nah I'm going to start my own and he was the father of fascism and then Hitler says yeah I want to do that too.
Just wanna point out that although they did write the script and supervised, the wachowskis didn’t direct it - James McTiegue made his directorial debut with this. Pretty impressive really.
Ever since I purchased the special edition DVD set over 15 years ago I've made a point to watch this every November 5th, as well as posts the most relevant monologues from the film on my media pages. Ironically here in The States we are practically living large parts of the film which demonstrates just how much of a success the adaptation from graphic novel to movie was. While it was simplified from the original graphic novel, there is enough of the original to make the viewers actually think about what they're seeing and listening to. Something that's been growing scarce these days in films.
@@John.anti-carnist Well, yes, because our Bill of Rights is actually written down, ratified, codified, and disseminated individually to all 50 states.
@@DarkMatterX1 Yes, even though it was never intended to apply to the states and only does so because the military invaded half the country and forced them to vote to ratify such an extension of federal authority. Codifying it helps but is merely a speedbump. as the last year and half have shown, as such rules can be tossed aside so long as there is a plausible excuse.
Was the US War between the States about slavery? Or was it really about power and control? Remember Lincoln said (essentially) that the war was much more about preserving the union than ending slavery. The North wanted to “preserve the Union” by declaring war and subjugating the South. That’s like a man beating his wife as a way to keep her in a “good” marriage. A marriage isn’t by definition “good” if you are coerced by violence to obey an abusive husband.
I rewatched this movie during the pandemic, it still holds up quite well and is sadly a lot more relevant today than it was when it initially released.
Love this film. And I have watched it every 5th of November for 10 years now. As the years roll on, I find myself more chilled by it, as I see what is happening in the UK.
Brilliantly appropriate Drinker! Wait, it was Hugo Weaving? Damn he has range. Fortunately for us, we live in a more incompetent, earlier version of this setting.
Not for much longer I'm afraid, Global Wealthy Elite have had plans to transform society by 2030 in their sick and twisted image going back to the early 2000's. The Wachowski's are modern day prophets in Cinema. Their films are a real mirror of truth, told "slant" for those who are awake and aware enough to see it. The original Matrix movie blew my mind with the truth it was portraying (told slant) and really set me on a journey of truth seeking / knowledge.
@@Bonez0r I'm taking nothing away from Alan Moore. What I'm trying to say is the Wachowski's have been consistently choosing to direct movies that the story is telling us the truth of our reality "slant". The Matrix Trilogy, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending. All of them provide powerful deeper insights into our reality and this information is (in terms of social awareness) WAY ahead of it's time.
The parallels between the overreach by the govt in this movie and in real life are getting a tad scary. People often reference 1984 to current events and there are some undertones of that to be sure but this movie certainly hits on a few points like the govt exploiting fears of a pandemic to trample individual Rights. Also, that scene where Natalie Portman is getting her hair cut, I don't think she was acting there. She was legit crying.
V for Vendetta world is pretty be the precursor to 1984 which has a far more totalitarian and controlling gov, if V's character didn't succeed or didn't appear 1984 would be the outcome eventually, what's worrying is that we are really very close to the V for Vendetta world right now.
@@AscendantStoic Australia and New Zealand are pretty much there with their "Covid camps". The U.K. isn't too far behind. While I'm sure there are those in the U.S. who would like to implement a camp system, we're a tad too well armed for that although that hasn't been enough to stop all the tyrannical overreach with people losing their jobs and/or businesses being destroyed because they're "non-essential" (a term I despised). hell, there's even instances of people being denied medical care from what I've seen which is a blatant violation of the Hippocratic oath.
@@MegaShangus Comply. Submit. Obey. Live in fear. Cower before the virus with an over 99% survival rate and line up for you boosters so as to beg big daddy govt to give you your rights back.
"People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." Ever more prevalent with those protests in Belarus, Hong Kong, and Russia last year. And Hugo Weaving is an amazing actor
Ironic thing is that now in Scotland thanks to the "Scottish Government" fireworks are almost effectively banned. We can't celebrate Guy Fawks night 😉 Nicola took the wrong message from Demolition Man it seems
That's not a bad thing my dude. Sending explosives into the air doesn't do any good for anything. It's visually entertaining but honestly what's the point?
To celebrate the 5th, one must follow in the footsteps of the man himself. No one does though, parliament still stands. (For legal reasons, this is a joke, I do not condone terrorism...)
I always thought that 5th was government's celebration over people by the people. No matter what happens, government and royalties will stand. But I am not British, so what do I know...
I love this movie so much!! The performance by Mr. Weaving is just out of this world, the suspense is amazing and I also love the looks. When I first watched this movie, I re-watched it three times in the span of just over a week.
People need to take a long hard look at this film. We are already losing more freedoms everyday and if we're not careful then the sociopolitical climate portrayed in the film will become a reality for most countries and without a real life V to help us all, the world would turn into the Orwellian book 1984
@@nhmooytis7058 That's what I mean dude, same thing is happening in Scotland. Now you can be arrested in Scotland for possessing a 'spice meme' on your phone or just calling someone names with the new hate speech law. A guy was arrested for calling Nicola Sturgeon (the head of the SNP) a Nazi. Which judged by the way she's running the country and her policies, she practically is. I live in England so I don't have to worry about any repercussions but I an worried about my Scottish compatriots.
@@StubbornBullet YEESH! I’m 69 and grew up at a time when you could say whatever you wanted as long as it wasn’t a credible threat, and we used ‘ethnic slurs’ as teasing with friends. This is ridiculous, but as with all the other inanities if people allow it if will just get worse. BTW Nicola may or may not be a Nazi, but her face would drive a hungry dog off a meatwagon.
@@StubbornBullet Don't call her names, then. Photoshop her head onto a donkey's body and plaster the image all over every city. The only thing totalitarians can't control is laughter. So turn them into a joke and help everyone remember how to laugh.
It's movies like this and They Live that I find so interesting. They were likely written with "anti-right" criticism in mind back in the 80s, but now you could easily see them as "anti-left," politically. I guess it just goes to show there are timeless aspects of stories that transcend even the intentions of their creators.
They were. Being old and having experienced both, while the 80's was no wonderland where everyone walked hand and hand and sang in perfect harmony (there were plenty of problems as in every era), it was light years better than this. Listen to the 'Mircosoft Ignite' introduction and the absurdity of it. They are actively making a nightmare world and calling it good. Something like that would have been inconceivable to the 80's folk. People would have contended 'I know you're going for satire, but it's too over the top.' Except it's real and it will get worse.
They're anti-tyranny, although portraying the evil government as right wing is political bias. We're all blinded by it to a degree. Now with vaccine mandates V for Vendetta is more relevant. This film and Demolition Man now seem like horror films/documentaries than action films.
Good movie, the only thing is V is more of a hero in the movie while the book portrays him with moral ambiguity he comes across as a deranged psychopath walking the line between hero and villain.
Yeah this barely qualifies as an adaptation and I much prefer the comic. But I think this film is very good in its own right, and one that definitely reaffirms the reputations of the Wachowskis despite their several missteps.
@@lizf2664 In order to save the world from tyranny. In the comic he did it to save the world from tyranny, and possibly usher in the complete extinction of the human species.
One thing I love to point out about the comic is that there are no sound effects. No BOOM, crack, *bubbabubbabubba* , slam, boink, blam Back in the 80's this was ground breaking stuff. Alan Moore drove the art form forward like Grand Masters Will Eisner and Hugo Pratt, becoming one himself. V for Vendetta is one of the canonical Masterworks in Comics history. It is well written, beautifully drawn, perfectly paced, layers on layers onion of a comic. Only From Hell is better than V. Go read them!
@@DonVigaDeFierro I understand your urge to use the words 'graphic novel', but the words come from insecurity, from pretentiousness. Eisner thought he had to invent a word to describe the literary capabilities of comics as a medium. He took the basics: it's graphic and it tells stories = graphic novels. Now it sounds acceptable to the literary world! It didn't. What they call it, or what you want to call it, doesn't change it's value. Calling comics this or that doesn't encourage them to read them. Calling them graphic novels do not increase their readers nor their value, but it sure does make everyone feel mighty fine about themselves, because in their eyes at least they're not reading comics. I read comics and I love them.
V for Vendetta first appeared in an anthology comic called Warrior, drawn originally in black and white but the story was not completed in those pages. DC completed the rest of the story over 12 issues and colourised it and then bound it into one volume. A really great story but I always prefer the other great run that also appeared in Warrior - Marvelman. Both appeared prior to Watchmen but Marvelman (which became Miracleman after Eclipse comics finished Moores story) is still a story I think about regularly even today. If you ever get a chance to read it , I wholeheartedly recommend it. Maybe one day Neil Gaiman may even finish his story as he took over from Alan Moore.
The themes behind this film resonate so well with what's going on today. The politically connected medical company in this film that makes a fortune selling the drug is very similar to the real life shareholders of Pfizer who've used their drug patent granted to them by the government to make tens of billions worth of profits. Not to mention that the lockdown has resulted in other wealthy corporations such as Amazon dramatically increasing their market share similar to the various corporations in bed with the totalitarian government from V.
@@CsDanex21 The governments have been paying Pfizer far more than they should have and the fact that the patent has not been removed means that other manufacturers have not been able to make the vaccine leading to tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of deaths across the developing world. As for where I got the tens of billions of profits, it's been all over the internet.
@@CsDanex21 literally nothing in this world is free. Governments around the world have purchased them using taxpayer money. Did you really think big pharma is producing and distributing them out of the kindness of their hearts and sense of care and duty to common people?