V for Vendetta

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Summary on Google: Following world war, London is a police state occupied by a fascist government, and a vigilante known only as V (Hugo Weaving) uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressors of the world in which he now lives. When V saves a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) from the secret police, he discovers an ally in his fight against England's oppressors.

This film is what I would love to see more with superhero movies. Amazing one offs that focus on the deep elements of the world the story is set in. When I saw it on cable for the first time I was 100% drawn in. This is what helped me learn about graphic novels and during this time was part of a small boom of graphic novel adaptations including Sin City and The Spirit. Now don't think I'm dissing Marvel or DC superhero movies but I love seeing various sides of any medium and sadly superhero movies are becoming an area where newer franchises are afraid to adapt their heroes for the big or small screen. I mean look at Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl? All DC properties. Marvel: Agents of Shield, Daredevil (Netflix), Jessica Jones and so on are all Marvel. Remember when there was Hellboy? I mean how many superhero movies since have been anything like that? Too few in my opinion. Sure there are also the X-Men movies and Deadpool which are with Fox but there is a certain level of sameness that bothers me. 

V for Vendetta was a dystopian political thriller that stood out from the pack. While not a huge hit at the box office, it's a movie that shows how fear and control overused by the government can tear down society. Not only that but our complacency in the situation as citizens also makes us responsible. The anti-hero of this movie holds everyone accountable for the terrible totalitarian government that had taken root and stole all their liberties. Before Captain America: Winter's Soldier brought up the right of freedom versus safety in their blockbuster. V for Vendetta went for the jugular and didn't let go. There is so much I could say that I enjoyed about this movie but at the end of the day I loved that it was different from a lot that was out there. Yes there were similar tropes but this movie turned them inside out. Evey went through a transformation not seen enough with female lead characters who these days either need to be super bad asses or damsels in distress. The transformation from a regular woman who is thrown into a perilous situation and has to decide for herself what to do is not covered often enough in this manner. When she is captured, tortured and set with an execution date it is very gripping. But the outcome was something else and one I hold up to the test of what an amazing screen writer and director can do with a film with the addition of talented actors.

So I'm going to leave it here and say I recommend this film for everyone. Love it or hate it you'll be treated to a piece of movie-dom not pushed into our movie going experience as much as I would like these days. There is a reason people say television has much better quality show viewings than what is available at the theaters. Because sadly that is true.