"V" for Vedetta

the screenplay by Larry and Andy Wachowski
(Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore)

EVEY

Since mankind's dawn a handful of
oppressors have accepted the
responsibility over our lives,
responsibility that we should have
accepted ourselves. By doing so,
they took our power. By doing
nothing, we gave it away.

The voice booms over the mesmerized crowd.

EVEY

Tonight, our world will change.
Our leaders will be gone and we
must choose what comes next. A
return to the chains of others or
lives of our own. A world of the
past or one of the future.

"We'll give 'V for Vendetta' a B for 'could be better'"
"Almost five years after 9/11, are moviegoers willing to endorse such an avenger, even in a fictional context? Judging from the crowd reaction at a recent preview of "Vendetta," the answer is yes -- a response that will trouble some and delight others, yet perhaps be less significant than either side believes."

Rotten Tomatoes movie review by Bob Bloom
"The idea of a terrorist-as-hero is bound to stir controversy and debate. For, as we have learned ... one man’s terrorist is another's freedom fighter."

Shadows on the Wall review by Rich Cline
"Yes, this storyline has strikingly resonant political undercurrents, which might strike too-biased ideological notes for some viewers. As a whole, the themes are subtle and clever, but there are razor sharp points along the way, and as the story sweeps to a nicely controlled finale, it becomes edgy and deeply provocative, lingering in our minds and forcing us to thing about terrorism from the other side of the coin--namely, the terrorism that gave us "liberty" to begin with.

"A Dystopian Heroic Epic" by Matthew Wanniski
"It strongly echoes Orwell's 1984, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Aldous Huxley, "The Star Chamber," "The Phantom of the Opera," Batman, and Robin Hood, to name just a few of its seemingly endless influences. Yet this is not your traditional comic book-based film. It is far more original and daring, a classic in its own way, and deeply relevant to any age. Expertly balancing the cerebral with the physical, it challenges us to think for ourselves and draw our own conclusions. It is not anti-anything. Instead, it promotes hope, imagining a better world while at the forefront is a hero representing the death of the old."