Remember, Remember...

There's always something about adapted screenplays, especially ones that come from the graphic medium.  For the most popular novels, you tend to find less liberties taken.  With ones people may be unfamiliar with, perhaps liberties are more rampant than one would really desire.  At this point, it's a safe bet to just let all preconceived notions go and treat the film as a separate entity from the source material.  While some most faithful adapted works achieve their goals ( Sin City), there are those that while extremely faithful their success is alleviated by an overly-devoted method (the first two Harry Potter films).  Even worse is the case where the book and film diverge so greatly as to be virtually different stories (The Count of Monte Cristo).  This is why V for Vendetta really serves as a difficult review for me since it falls into the latter category.

Having just read the novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, the original story is fresh in my mind and barely digested.  Right off the bat, the film diverges in such a way that I can't rightly hold the idea of Mr. Moore and Mr. Lloyd's work in tune with what the Wachowski Brothers have tried to accomplish with the film version.  A few important sequences exist, but perhaps there's too much of the Wachowskis' own agenda to truly make it as much of a subversive work of fiction as V's original pulp cousin.  The only way I can really describe it outside of the obvious is that the source is much more psychologically stirring and subtle in its execution than the movie ever tries to be.  Whereas Mr. Moore draws out the plot with a deliberate scalpel, the Wachowskis have executed it with a detonator.

I thought the movie excelled at several emotional points, especially most scenes involving the interaction between Natalie Portman and the character known as "V," played by Hugo Weaving.  While many of V's monologues got me thinking of a certain trilogy, the ability of Mr. Weaving to create an identifiable character from behind his Guy Fawkes mask is a sight.  While Ms. Portman provides perhaps one of the most striking emotional portrayals in her young career, it's yet another successful foray for Mr. Weaving at playing an iconic villain.  Acting-wise, the movie was splendid, when it comes to plot, I'm perhaps a bit more mixed.

Much has changed in the plot.  Tightened down to provide more punch for a movie audience and modernized to alleviated the dated references, it's really a different sort of story.  There are a few instances that remain intact.  While these are in fact, very important to the anarchic theme, perhaps the film would have been better served had it been more faithful.  The power of the Graphic Novel, in my opinion, was the central conceit of anarchism vs. fascism.  This film however, places anarchy somewhere around chaos, which is quite clearly outlined by Mr. Moore as being asymmetrical.  The conclusion, as is typical in many films of this type, is also different enough to be jarring.  But this is why the film should stand alone.  

Vendetta itself, is one of the first movies this year expected to be a success.  The film really does a good job of establishing its own look and message with plenty of style, but the substance is mixed.  As a film, the focus is tight and never strays away from some more difficult spots, but there are moments where it falters.  I enjoyed the film for its own bluster, but  there were a few incidents, once omitted, that really effected the tonality and impact of the story.  Characters motivations, demeanor, and background also shifted considerably to the point of complete divergence.  While the novel made the future a much more paranoid place, perhaps the film's future was more familiar.  In that sense it succeeds in its unsettling hypothesis, however, the overall theory of the book holds more impact.

I can be happy with Vendetta on its own, separated from its source.  Its stylish, with strong acting, and a more dense plot than most comic book adaptations can boast.  In comparison to the original material, it falls short.  That shouldn't handicap the film at all, since Mr. Moore really wants nothing to do with it, but anyone who sees it in theaters should really do themselves a service and read the book afterwards.  Maybe you'll be in for a shock or two.

Overall Score: 3 out of 5 stars