‘V’ for very provocative

  • By Robert Horton / Herald Movie Critic
  • Thursday, March 16, 2006 9:00pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

For “V for Vendetta,” the spirit of underground comic books graduates to the very visible saturation of a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. The results are startling.

V for Vendetta HHH

Terror alert: A startling big-budget blockbuster that

advocates the overthrow of the government, a futuristic English totalitarian state, to be sure, but analogies with todays world of terror are about as disguised as 1984.

Rated: R for violence,

language.

Now showing: Alderwood mall, Everett 9, Galaxy 12, Marysville 14, Mountlake 9, Stanwood, Cinerama

“V for Vendetta” is both an outrageous futuristic thriller with a superhero, and a withering, agitating piece of social commentary. Sometimes in a piece of pulp fiction the cultural or political analogies can be so deeply buried you could miss them. This one’s about as disguised as “1984.”

When Alan Moore and David Lloyd hatched the original comic book of “V for Vendetta” more than 20 years ago, their target was the Britain of Margaret Thatcher. In the film, written by “Matrix” creators Andy and Larry Wachowski, the futuristic milieu – still set in London – is clearly meant to echo the new world of terrorism and government surveillance.

Into the repressive regime that is England comes a masked man known only as V (played by Hugo Weaving, his face hidden throughout). V has a double-edged plan: take revenge on the people responsible for the horrible burning of his body, and rally the frightened populace against their intrusive government.

After rescuing a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman), V takes her under his cape and reveals his plan. She’s horrified by his thirst for vengeance, but intrigued by his plot for revolution. Plus, he has an amazing bachelor pad (“I call it the Shadow Gallery,” he says) full of priceless works of art and an excellent jukebox that plays Julie London songs.

Much is made of V’s resemblance to Guy Fawkes, whose plan to blow up the Parliament building in 1605 inspires V’s plot. The black-and-white mask, with its disconcerting grin, is a nod to Fawkes. I suppose the foppish hairdo is, too.

Meanwhile, the English dictator (John Hurt) puts his lethal Veep (Tim Piggott-Smith) and a conflicted Inspector (a perfectly cast Stephen Rea) on the hunt for V. Their religious government has outlawed homosexuality and Islam, among other things.

The Wachowskis and first-time director James McTeigue stage some truly exciting set pieces. Among them are V’s takeover of the government-run TV station; Rea’s Inspector suddenly realizing the vast conspiracy underlying his world, visualized as a series of dominoes falling; and a bang-up final act in which terrorism is elevated to an act of heroic proportions.

Yes, terrorism as heroic. Sound inflammatory? It is. But the movie wants to be provocative in suggesting that the “T” word depends on who’s telling the story, and it reminds us early on that to the English, the Boston Tea Party was an act of terrorism.

This would be easier to handle if the Wachowskis were cleaner in their focus (a puzzling prison segment for the long-suffering Evey is a narrative cul-de-sac), but a lot of it works.

A responsible viewer might feel queasy at the end, when the climactic ramp-up recalls nothing so much as Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi opus “The Triumph of the Will.” No wonder this movie had its release postponed in the wake of the London terrorist bombings last summer.

After a sleepy start to movie year 2006, a multiplex picture that advocates the overthrow of government is a shock. This crazy blend of “Phantom of the Opera” and “1984” does just that; it will be interesting to see how the dominoes fall.

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