“V for Vendetta almost always has something going on that is actually interesting, inviting us to decode the character and plot and apply the message where we will.”
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 2006
George Orwell would recognise the totalitarian future London visualised in V for Vendetta (where John Hurt – Winston Smith in the film of 1984 – is now Britain’s totalitarian leader, Adam Sutler). It’s a place of fascist oppression – and resistance in the shape of a caped terrorist in a Guy Fawkes mask known as V (Hugo Weaving), who fights the corrupt government with assassinations, sabotage and spectacularly theatrical explosions. When an encounter with the secret police turns obedient citizen Evey (Natalie Portman) into V’s active ally, he regains his humanity by learning to love, and to fight for the good as well as against the corrupt.
The Wachowski brothers wrote and produced, but this time left the direction to James McTeigue, their assistant on their Matrix trilogy.
Graphic novels written by the Northampton-based Alan Moore have also provided the inspiration for the films From Hell (2001), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) and Watchmen (2009).
V for Vendetta (2006)
Written and produced by the Wachowski brothers, this comic-book adaptation drew flak for its sympathetic depiction of terrorism – and from the original’s writer, Alan Moore.
- 2006 USA, Germany, United Kingdom
- Directed by
- James McTeigue
- Produced by
- Joel Silver, Grant Hill, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
- Written by
- Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, David Lloyd
- Featuring
- Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry
- Running time
- 132 minutes
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