life - v part two
May 8th, 2007
NOTE: This post is an old post from MySpace copy/pasted into this one to add content. It is raw and unedited for content or formatting. Love it.
And here it is. My V for Vendetta reviewish thingamabobby. I don’t normally post true reviews because I don’t normally like reviews, so why would someone want to read mine? Not to mention the fact that many of the films I love are decried by the general public, including my friends, and vise verse. Though I won’t deny my love of many mainstream films as well, so I’m not completely devoid of taste for pop culture.
Simply put…this flick rocked. From an action standpoint: brilliant. From an effects standpoint: brilliant. From a story standpoint: brilliant. It has love, revenge, redemption; everything a good story has. Including a not-so-subtle political message. God, I love Hollywood!
So I’ll go there. Being an independant and a moderate, I can deftly poke fun at both Democratic and Republican politics. I can move to the right or left as it suits my personal opinions and benefit. Oh yes, my Friends. I have the innate supernatural ability to be both wishy and washy, then wishy again. That being said, I have to remark that though I’m sure the Wachowski brothers would consider their screenplay to be strongly liberal and Democratic, I am forced to dissagree.
As far as domestic policy is concerned, the Democratic party has traditionally been in favor of bigger government. Welfare. Federalised Social Security. Socialized medicine in some cases. Taking power away from the states and making unilateral decisions at the level of the Supreme Court. How does this support the views of V? In this way, I find that the film was more Libertarian than Democratic.
My only complaint is that the film, like so many others before it, assigns the character trait of “God-fearing Christian” to it’s villains. Unfortunately, this plays out in the news as well many times, so who can blame them? But rather than get angry at this portrayal, perhaps as Christians we should analyze WHY this is so common. Stop blaming the devil. If it is his strategy to deface Christians in the media, is it possible that the first step of this strategy is to convince us to behave like jackasses? As I see it, if Christians behaved as Christ and Scripture directed us, there would be no feul for the flames. People would watch a film that portrays Christians in a negative light and the general public would say “Well, that’s not like the Christians that I know.”
In the end, it’s just a story. We live in a world where religion is central to politics so a political film like V would not be complete without taking a shot or two at religion.
(SEMI-SPOILERS AHEAD…DO NOT READ)
There are some clutch quotes from the movie as well. When one of the baddies has V cornered and gives the classic “You and I, we’re the same.” soliloquy, V’s dry response is “The only thing you and I have in common is that we are both about to die.” I almost wet myself when he said that.
Being a British character, V is chalk full of poetry and class. And since he’s Agent Smith, the way he delivers his lines has so much Shakespearean tension you leave wanting to go to the theater. Well, if you like that sort of thing, that is.
I guess the true test of whether it was good or not lies in whether or not I want to see it again, and the answer to that is yes. I’ll probably watch it again in theaters. Then maybe again at the dollar movie. Then I might rent it and watch all the special features on the DVD. If the Wachowski brothers only ever make this and the original Matrix, they are set for life as artists in my book. We’ll forgive them for their other 4 wastes of time.
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