Fridae

The superb British graphic novelist Alan Moore has had two of his
works turned into films before, The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen (2003) with Sean Connery and Before Hell
(2001) starring Johnny Depp. But he was so deeply dissatisfied with
both film adaptations that he did not want to have anything to do
with the new film adaptation of his V For Vendetta by the
Wachowski brothers and James McTeigue. He even asked the filmmakers
to take his name off the credits. Which is a damn shame because
the new film really kicks ass.

The Wachowski brothers, if you don't know, wrote and directed the
Matrix movies. Meanwhile, James McTeigue worked his way
up from being an assistant director not just for the Matrix
movies but many others, including Dark City (1998) and
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones (2002). V
For Vendetta marks his directorial debut, and boy is he ready
for the job.

Slick, solid and supremely entertaining, V For Vendetta
takes you into a post-apocalyptic future where Britain is ruled
by a totalitarian regime. The regime uses the threat of terrorism
as a way of instilling fear in people and manipulating their thoughts.
Natalie Portman plays an innocent woman who becomes embroiled in
the dangerous activities of a masked terrorist named V (Hugo Weaving).
Though initially reluctant to take his side, she is inspired by
the struggles of a persecuted lesbian to join him in his fight against
the oppressive government.

When Alan Moore wrote the novels in the mid-1980s, it was a reaction
against the strict conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.
He really hated that old goose. And now James McTeigue and the Wachowski
brothers have used Alan's novels to make a fierce political statement
against George W Bush's conservative America.

The film unflinchingly critiques the seamy aspects of the Bush
administration, and it does so with great technical precision (strong
acting, stellar direction, slick production design and the Wachowski
style of slo-mo action sequences). In short, the film has everything
that a good comic adaptation should have: brains, beauty and balls.