Kill your revolutionaries
This is easily the best review of V For Vendetta I've found, although I am in near-total disagreement with the final paragraph (Fight Club is better? Really?).
Of course, a lot of my disagreement with Rowles' conclusion (specifically this: "Where Fight Club and V ultimately diverge is where I have to respectfully jump off the Vendetta wagon, because Fincher ultimately rejects violence as a means to express dissatisfaction, while the Wachowski brothers seem to insist that death and fiery destruction are ideal weapons in the war against government oppression.") comes from a differing perspective on what I think the end of the movie and Evey's decision mean rather than a disagreement as to the uses and ultimate acceptability of violence as a political tool. The Mauser thing, if you will. I kind of feel like I want to explore this at K-punk-like lengths, but I'm not sure I'll find the time.
And of course note, as some of the commenters have, that Moore and Lloyd's original work does reject violence as anything other than (at very best) a temporary, desperate corrective; one of the more unfortunate changes to the plot/theme of the story in the movie (although like Rowles, I ultimately come down on the side of liking the movie, quite enthusiastically).
Of course, a lot of my disagreement with Rowles' conclusion (specifically this: "Where Fight Club and V ultimately diverge is where I have to respectfully jump off the Vendetta wagon, because Fincher ultimately rejects violence as a means to express dissatisfaction, while the Wachowski brothers seem to insist that death and fiery destruction are ideal weapons in the war against government oppression.") comes from a differing perspective on what I think the end of the movie and Evey's decision mean rather than a disagreement as to the uses and ultimate acceptability of violence as a political tool. The Mauser thing, if you will. I kind of feel like I want to explore this at K-punk-like lengths, but I'm not sure I'll find the time.
And of course note, as some of the commenters have, that Moore and Lloyd's original work does reject violence as anything other than (at very best) a temporary, desperate corrective; one of the more unfortunate changes to the plot/theme of the story in the movie (although like Rowles, I ultimately come down on the side of liking the movie, quite enthusiastically).
