I was sorta/kinda interested in "V for Vendetta". I wasn't going to line up days before to get tickets, or anything, but I thought a movie that had connections to "The Matrix", and some reasonably kool actors/actresses, and a moderately interesting rebellious storyline might be worth seeing.
I guess not. Washington Post:
In "1984," George Orwell really worked out the engineering details of such a place and understood its conceptual underpinnings, how the essence of totalitarianism was control of language, education and history. But that was a work of art and genius, where "V for Vendetta" is a piece of pulp claptrap; it has no insights whatsoever into totalitarian psychology and settles always for the cheesiest kinds of demagoguery and harangue as its emblems of evil.
Unlike the Count [of Monte Cristo], V remains a lone avenging angel to the big-bang end, which does help give this sluggish affair a much-needed resuscitating jolt. Made mostly on sound stages and computers, with 3-D models doubling for monuments, the film looks and sounds as canned as a Buck Rogers serial, though this weighs in less like a conscious aesthetic strategy than a function of poor technique.
I guess I'll wait for the video. I seem to be saying that alot these days.
(Oh, CNN sort of liked it, but what do they know.)
Posted by baltar at March 17, 2006 10:51 AM | TrackBack | Posted to MoviesOh now, Armand and I might drag you to the movies anyway. This looks like the kind of thing that is better viewed on the big(ish) screen. For the same reason he and I went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (craaaaaap!) in the theatah, we should see V. And no comment on the little "smack a blogger" snark at the end of that CNN review?
Coming out of "V for Vendetta," a friend of mine called it ''radical'' and ''subversive.'' He was awestruck with disbelief that a film with a harlequin terrorist as its hero could actually be released by a major American studio. I was awestruck at his naivete in a world where fight-the-power anarchy is now marketed as a fashionable identity statement -- by the corporations that helped raise a generation on bands like Rage Against the Machine, by the armchair-leftist bloggers who flog the same righteousness day after day.
"V for Vendetta" has a playful-demon vitality, but it's designed to let political adolescents of every age congratulate themselves. It's rage against the machine by the machine.
Oh, and the creator of the comic has disavowed any connection with the movie version.
Posted by: binky at March 17, 2006 11:24 AM | PERMALINKI'm wondering about the credentials of the CNN reviewer. Why is anyone surprised that the corporate machine that is Hollywood/LA (movies and music) promotes movies and music that are anti-corporate? There is one simple reason: money. If it sells, they'll sign it or make it. Rage Against the Machine is a great example: they were clearly marxist (or at least so left wing as to indistinguishable from marxists), but signed to Sony (if i'm not mistaken). Why? They sold millions of records, and made Sony a pile of money. Sony didn't care what their politics were.
By the same token, V for Vendetta bitches about totalitarianism. So what? If it earns money, the studio will be happy.
If you haven't seen this Kung-Fu Monkey post, it is worth reading.
Posted by: baltar at March 17, 2006 12:33 PM | PERMALINK