So, I just got back from seeing "V for Vendetta"

[TimeChaser]

I definitely recommend it :hi:

[Shine]

1. I didn't think it opened til tomorrow.

glad to hear you liked it. I'm sure we'll check it out.

:hi:

[TimeChaser]

2. It was a special early showing

at 10pm. I don't know if that was happening everywhere or just in certain cities or whatever.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. Ditto. n/t

[DanCa]

4. Dr Who is on tonight so I'll catch it this weekend.

Question what's it rated, my neice has been bugging me to take her to see it since the previews came out on tv. She's thirteen - just fyi

[gorbal]

8. I don't remeber the rating, but it's pretty violent

There are scenes of violence and torture.

[Benfea]

14. It's quite violent.

But given the subject matter and the fact that the source material is a comic book, that is to be expected.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

10. Google search tells me 'R'

[JackBeck]

5. We've already made plans with our buddy to see it on Sunday.

I can't wait.

:hi:

[AllegroRondo]

6. Is it appropriate for teens?

Im considering taking my 13 year old daughter.

[yurbud]

7. a pre-teen girl has a small but symbolic part in it

[Benfea]

15. That depends on you, really.

There are graphically depicted murders; the title character uses long knives on his victims, but it's nowhere near as gorey as a slasher flick.

A lot of people get killed by the government and a lot of people get killed by the title character.

There are graphic depictions of torture, but the horror there is more psychological than visual.

There are scenes of the government performing horrific medical experiments on prisoners, and we get to see a few brief glimpses of the burned and scarred flesh of the title character.

Although the movie is R rated, the depiction of violence isn't really much worse than you might find in a PG-13 movie.

Of course, as a parent, what may be more of an issue than the violence is the moral ambiguity of the title character V. Although he is working towards a good end (removing a terrible evil), in the process of doing so he does some pretty monstrous things. That might require some discussion between you and your child after seeing the movie. I would be uncomfortable about any 13 year old mindlessly seeing V as nothing but heroic as he really is only slightly less evil than the villains he opposes regardless of his redeeming qualities.

[Benfea]

18. Here's a full run-down on content:

Sex/Nudity: 4 scenes of innuendo, 1 scene of a near rape, and 1 scene with nude bodies in a mass grave. Violence: 28 scenes. Profanity: 48 instances, including 12 harsh ones. Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco: 8 scenes of smoking and/or drinking.

[leftofthedial]

19. I took my 12-year-old

she's very precocious and we talked about the violence.

She loved it, especially the contemporary political references.

there also is some language and non-graphic sexual dialogue.

[Benfea]

20. And naked dead bodies piled into mass graves. n/t

[leftofthedial]

21. that was much less horrific, I thought,

than standard-issue footage of WWII atrocities on the History Channel

but yeah. there were dead naked bodies piled into mass graves.

[Benfea]

23. True.

I'm just trying to mention anything a parent might find objectionable.

[leftofthedial]

25. thanks.

Sitting there with my daughter in the seat next to me (and my 18-year-old on the other side), I was more concerned about the beginnings-of-a-rape scene, somewhat the violence and the psychological torture.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised at the R rating. I've seen far more violent and explicit PG-13 movies.

I like this movie even more two days later than I did leaving the theater.

[Benfea]

27. Yeah, I agree.

The MPAA seems so capricious and haphazard, doesn't it?

Anyway, I was a little miffed about the opening scene that introduced Evey.

In the original comic book, she was so down on her luck that she decided to give prostitution a try. Her very first attempt at propositioning someone went horribly wrong as the people she propositioned turned out to be cops. That was when V saved her.

I don't think the sanitized version we got in the movie did anything to improve the Evey character. If anything, the comic book version elicited more sympathy.

[MadMaddie]

9. I just saw it on the West Coast.....Friggen Awesome Movie!!!

A definite must see!!

[Benfea]

16. Yep.

The Wachowskis hit this one out of the park.

[Benfea]

11. That movie was freaking amazing! (no spoilers)

Caveat: it's been a long time since I read the comic books, and I never finished reading them, so I can't comment much about the various deviations from the source material.

The only thing I can and will say about the faithfulness of the adaptation is that they removed some of the humanizing elements of the villains, which I'm not crazy about as it reduces the complexity of the characters and the story. On the other hand, they wisely left intact the vile characteristics of the protagonist anti-hero V, which gives the viewer some uncomfortable things to chew on. For all that his actions ultimately lead to the removal of a great evil, he is every bit the monster Evey proclaims him to be. I won't go into details because I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it yet.

It was a bit melodramatic in places, but I haven't been that moved by a movie in a long, long time. As I drove home, I turned off my car stereo (which I almost never do) so I could continue to savor the feelings left behind by the movie.

[DS1]

12. 2 more enthusiastic thumbs up

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Iniquitous Bunny]

13. Incredible movie!

Another recommendation. I'm grateful it was made. :thumbsup:

[GCP]

17. Excellent movie!!

Really really recommended to all DUers - if this takes off, it could do more for us than Fahrenheit 911 did.
I was ready to take to the streets when it finished - and it didn't hurt that the music for the end-titles is "Street Fighting Man" by the Stones.
I loved it and would see it again in a heartbeat.
:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[tomreedtoon]

22. Want to "Hayduke" Bill O'Reilly with a mask?

As you know, early in the film there's a slimy journalist, the equivalent of Bill O'Reilly, who is confronted and killed in the shower by V. And you know that the Guy Fawkes mask worn by V in the film is going to be very popular; you'll find it all over the place soon.

How about, every time the Falafel King shows up for a public speaking engagement, someone wears a black coat and when the King speaks, he quietly puts on a Guy Fawkes mask? If it happens often enough and regularly enough, it should freak him out. If he's speaking at a place with a bunch of DU'ers there, and several people put on the mask at once, it should make him faint.

[amitten]

24. Oooo...very twisted!

Me likey! :D

[Benfea]

28. Hee!

Goodness knows he's issued enough threats to other people. I'm sure he can take what he dishes out, right?

Right?

[Orsino]

26. Those masks won't be outlawed...

...but the Secret Service will be visiting anyone who wears one anywhere near a neocon.

[Orsino]

29. I just saw it. It was beautiful.

Horrid in places, and scary, but uplifting even as it makes me question the use of violence. In this, it's very true to the book.

The most beautiful part, that wrung the most tears from me? "I killed you ten minutes ago." The scene was tender in a weird way, and very well acted by the doctor.

The parts I missed from the book?


(SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK)


.



.



.




.




.




.



"Leader's" love afair with Fate, the computer. The voice of fate. The retro audio-only official communications. Finch's vision quest.

The parts I didn't miss from the book? The dominatrix lady. She was simply tawdry, without advancing the story. Good cut.

The things I didn't like so much? The Guy Fawkes lecture at the beginning. The apparent need for a happy Hollywood ending, and the "I'm Spartacus" nature of it. It was well done, and good, but felt a bit artificial.

[iconoclastic cat]

30. I'm trying to talk my inlaws into watching the kid next Saturday.

Mrs. IconCat and I really want to see it.

[C_U_L8R]

31. V is Number One

with a BULLET !!!!

Number one at the box office this weekend...
$26.1 million across the United States and Canada in the three days beginning March 17..
blowing away all other films.


In other news.. freep eats crow.

[Benfea]

33. Great news!

Did the Freepers predict that the movie would bomb because it's not FOX-approved?

[MadisonProgressive]

32. Just got back from seeing it

It was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time (I say that everytime I see an awesome film).

My HIGHEST recommendation!

[Benfea]

34. They have movie theaters in Wisconsin?

I thought it was just cows and breweries. ;)

(j/k)

[MadisonProgressive]

42. Yes,and we have Theatre/Brewpubs too! Cows stay outside...

[Cobalt Violet]

35. Great movie.

Like mosts who have seen it are saying.

Wonder how the other side is going to take it?

[Benfea]

36. I'm sure they'll declare it a terrible movie without actually seeing it.

I'm not prescient or anything. That's what they always do.

[derby378]

37. I was more impressed with the political spin than with the movie

The plot has some problems, and some of V's choices rubbed me the wrong way. On the plus side, the acting is all top notch, and the political angle of V For Vendetta is terrific.

[Benfea]

38. Some of V's choices SHOULD rub you the wrong way.

He's not a hero, he's an anti-hero. He ultimately manages to remove a great evil and he has a "nice guy" side to him, but he's categorically insane as a result of what was done to him. Although the movie version softened him up a bit, he's still someone who doesn't entirely understand (or care about) the distinction between right and wrong.

I don't want to go into details about what V does that is morally objectionable because I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone, but suffice it to say that if you blindly admire V as a hero, then there's something seriously wrong with you.

[Selatius]

39. In short, V is not Gandhi fighting injustice

Gandhi could at least claim he fought a "clean" fight and so could others who utilized largely non-violent, pacifist methods, but V was not afraid to utilize bloody, murderous tactics, and that's where controversy came because it provokes the question of where the line is drawn in the struggle against authoritarianism. Was what V did anymore morally justified than what the government was doing?

[Benfea]

40. In the comic books, V was an anarchist. n/t

[Selatius]

41. Heh, I wonder what Noam Chomsky would think

Most left libertarians I know are largely pacifist to some degree, but a few I've run into were of the more militant kind.