Movies, apart from historical dramas and ilk, are not noted for their complex structures. This lack becomes especially apparent when you compare a movie to the book it is upon. A movieproducer needs to limit him/herself to those facts that are essential to the plot, in order to cram an exciting story, with the traditional elements of introdutcion, personal development, and a climcatoc finale in a timeframe of two hours. At best.
That does not lend itself to an exhaustive elaboration about the existing political structure. Rather, the movie hopes to convey the images we all have of militaristic and ultraconservative politics.
What I like about the movie is that it dares to show a setting which does not readily comply with what us modern westerners like to believe in.
Good vs. Bad is purposely, as in the comic, being questioned, by portraying a hero with terrorist tactics and providing a 'bad government', villain, which presides over a country we don't equate with such totalitarian tactics.
excellent point, if this movie had been a fictional account of a "freedom fighter", taking on the nazi regime, it would have probably suited the conventions most people put on this type of story, but because it showed people who could be us doing things we'd "obviously" never do, it's deemed stupid or unrealistic
The criteria of a great movie for me is renting it (I missed it at the cineplex although my newphew saw it and kept nagging me to see it) and then buying the DVD. The production design is what one would expect from the creators of "The Matrix" and Natalie Portman was a knock out performance. The final scenes sent chills up my spine. Its ideology is going to piss off a lot of people but so what. It's as spellbinding and engrossing as "1984" while being more entertaining. Obviously, I love it.
Personally I love your criteria
I didn't like V at all. I copy-paste verbatim my IMDB review of the movie the day I saw it.....
Fails on every level, 1 November 2006
V for Vendetta is probably the worst film in the IMDb 250. It could even be the worst in the Top 1000. This film fails on every level and after watching it I'm amazed at peoples taste. V is full of clichés and frankly I could not find one redeeming aspect to this mess. Alan Moore - the creator of the comic character - disowned this film. Good for him! I never read the comic but I'm told it was quite good.
I'm stumped to list the problems with V because in order to criticize a movie, it needs to have a core, a treatment which you can disagree with. But V has no core, no structure, just a lot of pretensions and intellectual posturing without conviction. I've always liked Natalie Portman - see the amazing Leon - but she's the biggest joke of this film. Her accent is a mess and frankly she looks completely lost. For me, the entire film was a collage of ideas, scenes and themes from other movies. The resultant whole is direction-less, pointless and an embarrassment for the entire team that contributed to this rot.
