I bought the V for Vendetta graphic novel shortly before the movie came out (as evidenced by my printing’s tacky “now a major motion picture” blurb), planning to read it before seeing the movie. I started it initially and didn’t finish it for some reason or another, and skipped out on the movie as well. I had added the movie to my Netflix queue some time ago and bumped it to the top in the past week or so, planning on quickly reading the book before watching the movie. I finished the book yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like Watchmen, which I read before it, Alan Moore masterfully interweaves subplots left and right, always managing to tie them all together into a coherent, layered and thoughtful narrative. With little time to let the impact of the book really settle, I decided tonight to move ahead with the movie. What a huge mistake. What a huge fucking mistake.

I don’t claim to be an expert in film and thus, filmmaking, but when your work is based on a comic book, to me it would seem that you have minimal work to do, as the medium you’re working with is both visual and narrative. Much of the work has already been done for you. It’s hard to point out exactly where V for Vendetta goes wrong, because there are so many things wrong with it that it’s impossible to lay the blame in one area. At the core, Alan Moore’s writing doesn’t transfer to film very well, at least not the kind of psuedo-intelligent popcorn movie that V turned out to be. It is to be expected when adapting a book into a two-hour movie that a subplot or two may be trimmed for time purposes, but when you trim even a single subplot from V for Vendetta, you not only lose a lot, but you alter the whole meaning and impact of the story. Essentially, those involved have turned the anti-totalitarian story I perceived to be about personal freedom and self-responsibility into a shitty “rah rah, the people will rise” pile of horseshit that only a Hot Topic customer in a Che Guevara t-shirt could love.

I knew something smelled funny less than ten minutes in, when Evey is harassed for breaking curfew, not for attempted prostitution. Had the rest of the movie gone on in a manner even loosely based on the book, I could have overlooked that detail. Unfortunately the film turned into a series of groan-inducing changes, rather mundane cinematography and an ending that would make anyone who’s read the book just shake their head in dismay at what should have ended as a cinematic abortion in the early stages of development.

One huge problem that modern-day “movies with a message” seem to be having is the lack of subtlety. Children of Men (which I liked) suffered from the same problem to a degree. It’s fine up to a point to want to make the events of a film relate to real events of the recent past or present, but when you change major plot points for no other detectable reason other than to preach to the choir, you’ve got problems. In the novel, the fascist government sets up shop after a vaguely referred to war and nuclear attack. In the movie, the St. Mary Virus, supposedly released by terrorists, is responsible for the chaos and ensuing fascist totalitarian government. Towards the end of the movie, V reveals to Finch that the government was responsible for the attacks, a rather blunt and ham-fisted bone toss to the 9/11 ‘Truthers’ who claim that our nation’s largest terrorist attack was an inside job.

After I finish a movie, often I’ll hit up IMDB to see what the user score is and how much I agree or disagree with the populaced at large. I was shocked to find that V for Vendetta currently enjoys an average score of 8.2, with over 120,000 votes, making it IMDB’s 144th movie in their top 250. Oddly enough, this places it right above Children of Men. Baffled, I checked Rotten Tomatoes as well, to find that it has a 72% approval rating there. It boggles the mind. One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in my lifetime is apparently well-revered by the public as well as the bulk of the critics. I’ve seen some shitty movies in my day, some of which have pandered to their audience pretty heavily, but they did so shamelessly (Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College, anyone?). Perhaps those involved in making V for Vendetta should take the time to re-read Valerie Page’s notes on integrity, or better yet, the book itself.