So we (Nathan, Dan, and I) saw V for Vendetta last night, so here is my customary review.
I really liked it. I had read the original story the movie was based on (in its original comic/graphic novel form) back in the early 90’s. It actually was published in the early 80’s, but at the time I was a bit young for that kind of story. I recently went and got the graphic novel reprint of it so that I could reread it again before the movie came out, and I just finished the book this week, in perfect timing.
As with any adaptation, there is always the temptation to compare and contrast the movie to the original, so I will briefly do that here, for anyone interested. Of course there are always subtle (or not so subtle) changes to the story when the transition to a different medium, and this was no exception. Such changes seem to be even more drastic in most comic book adaptations, since long running series like Spider-man, X-Men, Superman, Batman, etc. are usually trying to condense parts of a 40 to 70 year long ongoing story into a much shorter window. I guess I expected this one to be a bit different in this regard, since it was always a self-contained story, with a beginning and an end, not an ongoing series.
That being said, I don’t necessarily have a problem with most of the changes in this case, even though there were some significant ones. I won’t spoil anyone by telling you what they are, unless you’re really interested, in which case I will. Most of the changes fell into one of two categories: toning down certain potentially offensive parts (probably in an effort to be more appealing to today’s general audience), and secondly changes to the characters and events themselves (which were probably made for the same reasons). I don’t care for the first category of changes much, but I completely understand it, and I guess even support it. As for the second, I actually liked some of the new aspects of the characters and story a bit better than the original, and even those that I didn’t like better I didn’t really dislike either. But the important thing was that the theme and the idea of the original story was very much intact, and it is a story that (as I’ve mentioned before) I really like.
All in all, I highly recommend it. If you really want to pick up on all of V’s insightful insights on politics and human nature, you will probably have to listen closely as he speaks quite fast sometimes. This is complicated by other people in the theater distracting and making noise behind you, but that’s another matter. Some of his better monologues also didn’t make it into the movie, either, so if you’re really curious I’d recommend reading the book (or “graphic novel” if you prefer that term). I’ll gladly lend it to anyone who would like to do so.
UPDATE: Nathan posted his review on his blog earlier today, I just didn’t get around to catching up on blogs other than my own until this evening.