A few days ago I decided to re-watch one of my favourite comic-book movies, V for Vendetta. Some of you may already be aware that the original story for V was written Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell, and creator of the Joker character in Batman), but due to his difficult experiences with Hollywood in the past, he declined to have anything to do with V or any subsequent adaptations of his works (which I personally think is a great shame seeing as how V and Watchmen are among my favourite films, though I will agree that Hollywood did ruin From Hell and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).
So then, how best to describe V for Vendetta. Well, the first thing you should know is that it was produced by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), so as you'd expect the fight scenes are pretty spectacular. But what still impresses me most about this movie is its honesty to the story, and yes, I know the screenplay actually differs a fair bit from Moore's original work, but in my opinion the core principles are still there and as strong as ever. I love that as much screen time (perhaps even more) is given to detectives trying to find V as is given to V himself, and I love that I feel as though I'm seeing the world through their eyes and not just his. And of course the performances of Huge Weaving and Natalie Portman are both excellent, as it that of Stephen Fry.
I think this will remain one of my favourite movies for some time.
Let me start off by making it clear I'm not an Alien fanboy. In fact I'm not sure I've even seen them all? But I certainly have nothing against them. So I went into Prometheus with almost no expectations. I barely even saw the trailer.
So, what struck me first was of course the incredible CGI and the elaborate set design. It really is very pretty and very believable, so top marks there.
As the film progressed I then became enamered by the role played by Micheal Fassbender, which is essentially that of a slave. He is a robot tasked with keeping the ship in order and the crew happy. What I love about Fassbender's performance is that even early on you get the distinct impression that his character resents his job, but it's very subtle.
Of course, the plot quickly moves on and the human crew is off exploring the depths of some unknown planet until the inevitable happens, and actually this part of the film is fairly gripping, but while watching it I can't help but feel a bit lost, because I don't know which sub-plot I'm supposed to be more interested in; the humans fighting to survive in the caves, or the robot back on the ship struggling for equal rights. I think the writers want me to care more for the humans but I just don't. By this point in the film I don't know them well enough to care, although most seem perfectly likeable.
But maybe I'm nitpicking. Ultimately it is still entertaining to watch what's going on in the caves. And the other performances are good as well.
So, my overall thoughts? It's a very pretty film with a nice score and some impressive escape scenes, but for me it just lacked direction. I didn't really care when characters died. So, maybe give it a watch if you find it on Netflix, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.
