So, I spent part of the weekend reading Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, after having seen the movie Friday night. And though I know that like a lot of Alan Moore’s work, I’m going to have to read V slowly, a few times, before I really grasp the depth of what’s going on, I enjoyed the movie more than that from which it came.

Yes, yes, I hear the cries of blasphemy.

There’s a few reasons:

1.) The movie, as James Wolcott puts it, is *engaged*. A friend of mine wondered whether it would hold up, 15 years from now, or be seen as a quaint relic, and to that, I’d say that I don’t care what it’ll be like, 15 years from now, because what it is *now* is so compelling, and so … relevant, that even 15 years from now, I’ll be able to look back on it, and remember the atmosphere of public complacency in the face of evil that I’ll still understand the sentiment that drove it into existance.

2.) Hugo Weaving is extraordinary. That he could deliver the whole “V” monologue near the beginning of the movie and not only make it not seem ridiculous, but a very quick introduction to an extremely charismatic character was an incredible acheivement. Throughout the film, his performance is superb – slight shifts in the direction he’s looking seem to change the expression of the mask he’s wearing – emoting a face that cannot emote.

3.) While the source material is excellent, there are many plotlines that feel … superfluous, in many ways. There are a number of characters that I suppose I just didn’t really “get” – I didn’t see the purpose of their existance in the context of the story. Sure, they illuminate the world itself, but I guess I just felt like the level of complexity was … well, it was too much for something that should be accessible. But I suppose that’s not necessarily the point – Moore’s work isn’t “accessible” – it’s something you really have to put some time into to really “get.” I doubt if I got a lot of the details of The Watchmen until the fourth or fifth time I read it. Didn’t get the genuis of “Fearful Symmetry” until probably the third. Still, the level of complexity in the movie was exactly as it should have been – interesting, yet not explicitly convoluted. There were a few times where I wished they would have left a line out, as it went from a nice reference, to an obvious plot point, but such is life.

Anyway. Blah blah blah. Point being, I thought the movie was *spectacular*.