Product Description

Remember remember the 5th of November.Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked man (Hugo Weaving) known only as "V."Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception V ignites a revolution when he urges his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V's mysterious background she also discovers the truth about herself - and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plan to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption.System Requirements:Running Time: 133 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 012569823792 Manufacturer No: 82379

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3663 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-08-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .35 pounds
• Running time: 132 minutes

Amazon.com
"Remember, remember the fifth of November," for on this day, in 2020, the minds of the masses shall be set free. So says code-name V (Hugo Weaving), a man on a mission to shake society out of its blank complacent stares in the film V for Vendetta. His tactics, however, are a bit revolutionary, to say the least. The world in which V lives is very similar to Orwell's totalitarian dystopia in 1984: after years of various wars, England is now under "big brother" Chancellor Adam Sutler (played by John Hurt, who played Winston Smith in the movie 1984), whose party uses force and fear to run the nation. After they gained power, minorities and political dissenters were rounded up and removed; artistic and unacceptable religious works were confiscated. Cameras and microphones are littered throughout the land, and the people are perpetually sedated through the governmentally controlled media. Taking inspiration from Guy Fawkes, the 17th century co-conspirator of a failed attempt to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1605, V dons a Fawkes mask and costume and sets off to wake the masses by destroying the symbols of their oppressors, literally and figuratively. At the beginning of his vendetta, V rescues Evey (Natalie Portman) from a group of police officers and has her live with him in his underworld lair. It is through their relationship where we learn how V became V, the extremities of the party's corruption, the problems of an oppressive government, V's revenge plot, and his philosophy on how to induce change.

Based on the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore, V for Vendetta's screenplay was written by the Wachowski Brothers (of The Matrix fame) and directed by their protégé, James McTeigue. Controversy and criticism followed the film since its inception, from the hyper-stylized use of anarchistic terrorism to overthrow a corrupt government and the blatant jabs at the current U.S. political arena, to graphic novel fans complaining about the reconstruction of Alan Moore's original vision (Moore himself has dismissed the film). Many are valid critiques and opinions, but there's no hiding the message the film is trying to express: Radical and drastic events often need to occur in order to shake people out of their state of indifference in order to bring about real change. Unfortunately, the movie only offers a means with no ends, and those looking for answers may find the film stylish, but a bit empty. --Rob Bracco

On the DVDs
On disc 1 is a 16-minute documentary "Freedom! Forever!: Making V for Vendetta" with discussions on the movie's origin and themes by the principal cast and crew (no Alan Moore or Wachowskis, to no one's surprise, but the graphic novel's illustrator David Lloyd is on hand to call the movie "a very good version"). On disc 2 is a 17-minute production featurette, a 10-minute history of Guy Fawkes, and the 15-minute "England Prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics." Lloyd and others from the comics industry such as Paul Levitz and Bill Sienkiwicz talk about the graphic novel and how it appealed to a different, older audience. The second menu of the second disc also has an easy-to-find Easter egg of a rapping and swearing Natalie Portman on Saturday Night Live. --David Horiuchi

Beyond the Film

The graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd	More by Alan Moore	From Graphic Novel to Big Screen
More by Natalie Portman	More by Hugo Weaving	More by the Wachowski Brothers

From The New Yorker
A dunderheaded pop fantasia that celebrates terrorism and destruction. The graphic-novel creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd conceived the material in the nineteen-eighties during the reign of Margaret Thatcher. Setting their work in 1997, they projected a fascist future for England and a rebel hero—a terrorist in a Guy Fawkes mask who blows up the Parliament buildings and the Prime Minister's residence. The producer, Joel Silver, and the Wachowskis, Larry and Andy, grafted references to the current condition of warfare and fear onto this template, lifting details out of Orwell's "1984" and a variety of pop myths. Hugo Weaving is the caped and masked man who kills and blows things up; Natalie Portman is the innocent who becomes his victim and his follower. The movie has some visual life to it, but it's so foolish that you come out shaking your head. Among other things, the ineptitude of "Vendetta" suggests that pop isn't a very good mode for political allegory. With Stephen Rea. Directed by the Wachowski brothers' protégé, James McTeigue.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

To Vindicate the Vigilant and the Virtuous, see this.
I thoroughly enjoy this movie because it is so thought provoking. Some may watch it and just see it as another action movie, but I feel it is more. It is (as it was intended) a look into a possible (and believable) future where the government has exerted so much control that every facet of life is censored and measured.
When the audience is introduced to V, they simply don't know what to make of him. By the end, some see him as a villain, or terrorist.
Which brings me to the question that makes this movie so worthwhile:
Would you do what he did to save your country?

Almost as good as IMAX
The graphic Novel was excellent, but apart from that, the blue-ray disc is about as good as you can get outside of seeing this film on IMAX.

Not what I expected from the packaging
This film wasn't what I expected, from what I could glean of it from the cover picture and the blurb on the back of the case. I assumed V had a silent role, and that the film would be set somewhere in the former Communist eastern Europe.

Once I watched it, however, I ended up getting much more than I bargained for. In short, this movie can be interpreted as a very stern warning to those who abuse power---and reminds us who gave them that power. John Hurt plays perfectly the megalomaniacal chancellor who is consumed by a desire to control everything in sight, and Natalie Portman does an excellent job of portraying Evey, who first regrets being caught up in the deadly game V plays with his former tormentors, but finally becomes his willing tool.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that this movie has scenes which appear to be based on events in real life, as well as scenes from other movies. The analogy of the chancellor to Hitler is obvious, with the oversized symbol, marching before the platform, effective use of red and black to reinforce the propaganda effect, and the suggestion of a mentality meant to pervade all; the chancellor's chief servants eventually start to turn on each other, with disastrous results to his cabinet, a clear indictment of the infighting which shook the Bush administration to its core; the subway scene near the end, in which Portman cradles the dying V a la Luke Skywalker toward the end of "Return of the Jedi"; the ruling party's infuriation at being parodied, so reminiscent of Fidel Castro's ire toward the late cartoonist Antonio Prohias; the ending with thousands of extras which was based on an actual incident in the former Yugoslavia which resulted in the downfall of Milosevic's regime; and V's disguise, his chivalrous manner, and his expertise with blades, so reminiscent of Zorro. V reminds us in brutally graphic fashion why a gentleman should never hit a lady. The only thing absent from real life is the character who holds to account everyone who took part in the conspiracy which brought them to power; presumably, that is the greatest fear of some of our leaders who've failed us (and you know who you are).

As for the plot, I found it easy to follow despite its complexity and the penchant which most British film makers seem to have for dwelling a little too much on drama. About the worst I can say of this movie, however, is that Hugo Weaving as V can be a bit of a motormouth, though an impressively prosy and witty one. We eventually realize that a number of elements are introduced into the plot as it progresses, but the makers of this film do a good job of tying up all the loose ends and bringing the bouquet together, as the villainous party members take to feuding with each other as V picks them off one by one... except for the last, who finds out the hard way what it will be like to live in a changed world in which he is stripped of his power. Can you say "emotionally castrating"?

The crowning virtue of this film is the question of V's true identity. We realize at the end that the question is a moot point, but we still want to see the man behind the mask. But then, V wouldn't want me to spoil the ending, now would he?

I fully recommend this film. Control freaks will find it traumatizing, but I daresay the rest of us will find it well worth the price.