S for Soliloquy
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
I had the pleasure of seeing V for Vendetta the other night. I was excited about seeing a movie where the hero used throwing knives as his primary weapon because I own a few throwing knives myself. That's right. I used to throw them at a piece of cardboard in my parents' backyard pretending that the cardboard was an evil pirate holding some girl in my grade school for ransom. I thought about copying a page from the 'nerd manual to seeing movies' and bring my knife in as a prop for some reason but I didn't really see the point so I left it at home.
I was really disappointed by the movie. There were only 4 or 5 knives thrown in the entire 2 and a half hours. The rest of the movie was taken up endless talking. That talking was complimented by dialogue that efforts to pound the same ideas into your head. If you are feeling pretty high about yourself, V for Vendetta is a great way to spend a few hours being treated like a child.
We are introduced to the evil Hitler/Stalin-esque Arch Chancellor who spends all of his face time talking down to his minions. In case you are confused as to his role in the movie, the producers were nice enough to include visual aids.
Be sure to ask person at the ticket counter for a picture companion guide if you can't read.
The movie also has other characters but they are not as important as the blood sweating evil Chancellor.
Many of reviews state that this is an "amazing movie" with "stunning visual effects" but "it also makes you think"! This movie definitely makes you think. From one soliloquy to a diatribe to another soliloquy in flashback form you are told exactly what to think. The sad thing is that the whole point of the film is to display the fact that the characters have come to terms with their beliefs (that they can break free from an oppressive government) on their own. The problem is that coming to terms with your beliefs only can be achieved through broadcasting brainwashing videos, illegal torture, and blowing up important historical landmarks - which is on par with what the evil goverment was doing in the first place. I for Irony would have been a more apt title.
I learned that all common citizens are mindless drones and can be swayed in any direction provided they are told the same story in 5 different ways. Don't miss the end of the movie! There is a 3 minute montage of clips from everything that happened in the movie just in case you fell asleep during a monologue or are too slow-witted to absorb the entire contents of the film in one sitting. I asked the projector man to pause the movie like 10 times so I could look up some of the hard words in my dictionary, but he refused. Fascist!
Besides being endlessly talked down to, I still liked the movie and would recommend seeing it.
V for Vendetta gets half a shrug for each throwing knife.
posted by Ghengis @ 11:16 PM,
