People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
V for Vendetta is a 2006 film based on the comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.The title character is V (Hugo Weaving), a government experiment Gone Horribly Wrong. Armed with extraordinary intellect and fighting skills, along with some home-made high explosives, he escapes from the facility that created him and sets about committing terrorist attacks against the fascist government of Britain. He is The Faceless throughout the film, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in order to conceal his true identity. The fact that Guy Fawkes was arrested for trying to blow up the king has something to do with it, of course.Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) is rescued from rapist policemen by V, and this act of kindness starts the film. She is taken to his Elaborate Underground Base, and, although scared by V at first, she decides to join his campaign to bring down the Government, replacing it with an anarchist society.Where the original comic was influenced by Alan Moore's fears of Thatcherite Britain becoming a repressive dictatorship, the film owes more to critics of the second Bush administration along with several other changes with the characters and plot to condense the story and reconfigure it to resemble a more standard superhero tale, complete with super powers for V.
Stephen Fry plays an erudite gay man in the entertainment industry, which he is.
John Hurtin a movie about a totalitarian London? Notably, Hurt's presence is a sort of inversion. In the 1984 version of... well, 1984, John was portraying the protagonist, Winston Smith, and thus was a victim of the totalitarian government. In the film version of V for Vendetta, meanwhile, he portrays High Chancellor Adam Sutler, and thus became the leader of such a government.
In a similar manner, Hugo Weaving is in a movie about totalitarianism. However, like Hurt, Weaving is an inversion: In the first Matrix, Weaving played the antagonist, Agent Smith, who had a role in the totalitarian government (initially). In V, however, he plays the protagonist who is fighting against the totalitarian government.
Adaptational Badass: Inverted with Gordon Dietrich. The movie turns him into a chubby, middle-aged comedian (played by Stephen Fry, no less) when he was a younger, more physically imposing career criminal in the book. Then again, the film also has him defying the Party's laws by hiding banned books and films in his house, and openly mocking Chancellor Sutler on his show (which he is eventually executed for), which is far more badass than anything the character did in the book.
V: Voilà! In View, a humble Vaudevillian Veteran, cast Vicariously as both Victim and Villain by the Vicissitudes of fate. This Visage, no mere Veneer of Vanity, is a Vestige of the Vox populi, now Vacant, Vanished. However, this Valorous Visitation of a bygone Vexation stands Vivified, and has Vowed to Vanquish these Venal and Virulent Vermin Vanguarding Vice and Vouchsafing the Violently Vicious and Voracious Violation of Volition! The only Verdict is Vengeance; a Vendetta held as a Votive, not in Vain, for the Value and Veracity of such shall one day Vindicate the Vigilant and the Virtuous. Verily, this Vichyssoise of Verbiage Veers most Verbose, so let me simply add that it's my Very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.
"Vi veri veniersum vivus vici".note Translates to: By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe
After the End: At least according to the Government.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: Some contemporary reviewers find the idea of "concentration camps" for homosexuals, eradicate homosexuality even as an abstract concept, etc. to be sort of an invocation of Godwin's Law by comparing Thatcher's England to Nazi Germany. However, in the early 1980s Margaret Thatcher did indeed make the suggestion, as a public health policy, that all gay men should be put into quarantine in closed institutions as a strategy to stop the spread of HIV infections. Alan Moore's Word of God says this aspect of the dystopia was a direct commentary on the implications of such proposals. It should also be noted it was Christopher Monckton, one of Thatcher's advisors, who was really proposing the AIDS quarantine, not so much Thatcher herself. The idea never took off.
Apocalypse Anarchy: Invoked by V, who's trying to bring about the end of a fascist system by increasing the amount of disorder. He inspires the population to more acts of violence and vandalism, which causes the government to crack down, which leads to more uprising...
Inverted in the backstory, in which a minor apocalypse brings about not anarchy, but fascism.
Apocalypse How: Class 1 — Societal Disruption or Collapse on a Regional or Continental scale.
Attempted Rape: V meets Evey when he saves her from a police gang-rape.
Audible Sharpness: Whenever V breaks out his knives expect lots of "cutting the air" noises. In V's grand battle they even have visible sharpness.
Author Filibuster: There's still technically the question of is this right or is this mad, but the film really really wants you to cheer on the anarchists. In the montage, as narrated by Mr. Finch, where V's plan involving the masks and the train cars is coming to fruition, a quick exchange takes place as such:
Mr. Finch: This is what he wants. (cut to convenience store being robbed) Fawkes-masked robber: ANARCHY IN THE UK! (cut back to Mr. Finch) Mr. Finch: Chaos.
Creedy: You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns. V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'll no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
Badass Long Hair: V. Even if it's a wig. (His real hair was burned off in his escape from the testing facility in his backstory.
Beware the Superman: V, if you consider him a villain. His backstory is basically the archetypal superhero origin story in its most distilled form (downtrodden man is injected with experimental chemicals that give him peak-human abilities, dons a costume and goes off to fight evildoers) but his experiences also drive him insane, leading him to become an anarchist terrorist instead of a crime fighter.
Big Bad: Adam Sutler is the movie's obvious antagonist.
Bittersweet Ending: Britain is free of the Ddictatorship that had been ruling the country, but V lost his life in the process, and we don't know how well Britain will be able to take care of itself without a government in charge. The comic also ends with Evey possibly training the future government as the second V, potentially leaving the identity to a third party.
Black Market Produce: On Evey's first morning in the Shadow Gallery, she is given toast with her breakfast and is astonished to find real butter. V explains that he stole it from the Chancellor's supplies.
Blown Across the Room: V does this to two of Creedy's guards with thrown knives in the film's climax.
Body Horror: The descriptions of what happened to the people tested are enough to make you want to smack the lead scientist, Delia Surridge, but MAYBE not kill her.
Book Ends: The 1812 Overture. The film opens with the first notes and ends with the crescendo.
Bottomless Magazines: Averted. V mentions that when the mooks are out of ammo, they'll be dead before they can reload.
Broken Aesop: The movie goes for a pretty unambiguous Aesop about the importance of individual freedom and thinking for yourself, even making V a "freedom fighter" instead of an anarchist and nixing the book's post-apocalyptic setting to make his bombing campaign seem more heroic. Fine...but his crusade against Norsefire still relies on kidnapping and torturing an innocent girl to make her more sympathetic to his cause, and it ends with him being hailed as a martyr by a mob of his devoted supporters, who proceed to show their devotion by donning identical black outfits and marching in lockstep towards the nation's capital. You know...for freedom.
Bulletproof Vest: V wears one. Subverted at the end, however. After taking several handgun magazines to the chest, V pulls together enough Heroic Resolve to kill every one of his attackers, but he pulls off his bloody, bullet-riddled armor and dies of his wounds shortly thereafter.
Bullet Time: Well, Throwing Knife Time in this case.
Bury Your Gays: Gordon Dietrich, who in the comic is a petty criminal (but still Nice Guy) who sleeps with Evey before getting stabbed to death by a Scottish gangster, is in the film a closeted gay television host and comedian. He ends up being arrested for making fun of the Big Bad on TV, then executed when they find out he's gay and has a Koran.
Byronic Hero: V, perhaps moreso in the comic than the movie.
Crapsack World: It's a post-nuclear wasteland, the second coming of the Nazis has taken power over Britain, and the only person who dares to stand up to them is an apparently insane terrorist who wants to replace them with... nothing. Though it mainly focuses on Britain, the movie also frequently hints at the chaos breaking out in the rest of the world. Apparently, America is now in the middle of a second civil war, it's described as "the world's biggest leper colony," and its leaders beg for humanitarian aid from the UK, sparking Lewis Prothero's rant about how they should blow up the Statue of Liberty as revenge for The American Revolution.
Demoted to Extra: Conrad Heyer, the head of The Eye, briefly appears near the beginning when Sutler's advisors are assembled, but the subplot about his wife manipulating him into trying to usurp the government is cut.
Did Not Get the Girl: In Evey's case, she did not get the guy, since he died in the end.
Disaster Dominoes: V sets this in motion for Norsefire. Scenes of the effects are interspersed with him setting up and toppling a massive number of dominoes shaped as his logo.
Dissonant Serenity: V's rampage at the very end can come across as this, probably because of that mask. Also, massive explosions set to gorgeous music.
The Dog Bites Back: Creedy killing Adam Sutler, with V purposefully arranging for increased surveillance on Creedy precisely to foster these feelings.
Sutler: Tonight, I give you my most solemn vow: that justice will be swift, it will be righteous, and it will be without mercy.
It was.
Expressive Mask: V's mask never moves, but it still manages to convey emotion through shadow and angles.
The Extremist Was Right: The film presents V as more of a good guy and Norsefire and 100% evil, resulting in a more black and white view.
Fallen States Of America: Prothero claims that the 'Ulcered Sphincter of Arse-erica' has become the world's biggest leper colony, and what remains of its government is desperately petitioning Britain to provide them with humanitarian aid and medical supplies. It's not clear whether or not this is true or fascist propaganda.
Fire/Water Juxtaposition: The scene of Evey basking in a rainstorm outside the Shadow Gallery following her "rebirth" late in the film is contrasted with a flashback of V experiencing a similar moment of renewal in the fiery ruins of Larkhill. The scene provides the page image for this trope.
Forensic Accounting: After the Norsefire bureaucracy stonewalls his investigation when it treads too close to the uncomfortable secrets surrounding Larkhill, Inspector Finch goes to the tax office to look through their records.
Evey: I don't want you to die! V: That is the most beautiful thing you could have ever given me...
Gory Discretion Shot: When the Fingerman who shot the little girl is cornered by angry citizens, one of the men swings a wrench at the Fingerman's face. The shot cuts away before it connects but it's easy to imagine what happened.
Particularly since there's a metallic impact sound when the scene shifts.
Harmful to Minors: One of the police spots a young girl in a V mask, and shoots her. This kicks the revolution into full swing.
Held Gaze: Happens twice between V and Evey, at one time verging upon an Almost Kiss. Somewhat subverted in that the film shows that V is always wearing his mask which conceals even his eyes but the romantic tension created is still clear.
Heroic Sacrifice: V himself goes through an anti-heroic sacrifice.
Heroic Willpower: V manages to hold off on any penalty to attack or agility for what looks like several minutes after being pumped full of bullets that penetrated a metal chestplate in at least two dozen places. Since the entire scene is in slow-motion, it's probably only about thirty seconds, but that's still more than most people would be likely to manage. Ten fingermen, all armed with Beretta Inoxes with 15 round magazines, and Creedy with his magnum, empty their magazines into him... he takes at leasta hundred-fifty bullets and still manages to kill them all. However, after that... he's spent.
Historical Hero Upgrade: The film did this for Guy Fawkes, even though that was never Moore's intent. In reality, his "hero" status is highly dubious. The Gunpowder Plot wasn't really to strike a blow for freedom, they simply wanted to replace the Protestant king with a Catholic one. Further, they packed in so much gunpowder that hundreds (possibly thousands) of innocent civilians would have been killed, including many children — the only thing the plotters worried about was whether too many Catholics would be taken out (which was what caught them up, since they sent a letter to warn the Catholic Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament on that day, who then told the authorities). By modern standards they were depraved terrorists, and just to put the cherry on top, Fawkes wasn't even a core member of the conspiracy, but a mercenary*
of course, he was also Catholic, and sympathetic to the plotter's cause, but still...
Kick the Dog: Initially, it's made apparent the government makes people disappear for "crimes" such as protesting (e.g. Evey's parents), but it's later done again harder when Gordon is detained simply for mocking Sutler, and V says after they found a Quran in his house, they ordered him shot. So apparently being a Muslim or possessing articles of Islamic faith is a capital crime.
Kill the Poor: Along with other "undesirables", the homeless are rounded up and placed in death camps.
The Kindnapper: V kidnaps Evey twice, both times motivated by some form of benevolent intentions. The first time, he saves her from being raped by the government's secret police. The second time, he is testing her — albeit in a horrible way — to see if she is worthy of being his successor.
Kingpin in His Gym: There's one scene in which V has some fun fencing with a suit of armour. As he exists somewhere in the fuzzy border between Anti-Hero and Anti-Villain, he's probably villain enough to count.
Latex Perfection: On close inspection in daylight, V's William Rookwood mask is pretty easily seen to be plastic. However, in the dark, partially covered by glasses, a fake beard, and a hat, it's enough to fool Mr. Finch.
Liberty Over Prosperity: One of V's points during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to all England (and/or humanity in general) is that they have accepted trading their freedoms in exchange for security. He does mention that he doesn't mean that they should go back to the Stone Age, but that they need to stop stagnating.
Life Imitates Art: Oh so very much. Many members of the Anonymous online community enjoy wearing Guy Fawkes masks in the style of this movie. Ironically, that mask design is copyrighted by Warner Bros., so the symbol of rebellion is actually owned by a large corporate entity similar to the ones that Anonymous occassionally target.
Living Legend: V deliberately invokes this so that he can inspire people.
Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: Give the Man in Room Five a garden plot, he'll grow roses. Give the Man in Room Five some gardening chemicals, he'll make napalm and mustard gas.
Meaningful Echo: Evey's rebirth is meant to echo V's "birth"; the movie makes this abundantly clear by using the footage of V at Larkhill merged into Evey on the roof.
Neocon Newscaster: Prothero, a talk show host who staunchly supports the Norsefire regime's Nazi-esque policies and calls out its opponents with a lot of macho bluster. Likely a Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh satire.
No Endor Holocaust: At the climax of the movie the Houses of Parliament are destroyed by a massive bomb on a tube train beneath them. An explosion of such size would devastate a wide area around it, but miraculously the thousands of be-masked V supporters watching the show from only a few metres away are completely unharmed, rather than being shredded by flying debris. Also, the fact that the government no longer exists is seen as very positive with no drawbacks.
No Name Given: V. He states: "I do not have a name. You can call me V." Even Delia Surridge doesn't know his real name, calling him just "the subject" or "the man from room five", and recalls that during her experiments, "The subject stated he could no longer remember his name, or where he was from."
Subverted in one scene, where it briefly looks like they're actually going to reveal V's identity. Finch sets up a meeting with a mysterious informant named William Rockwood, who turns out to be played by an unmasked Hugo Weaving. At first, we're led to believe that V has finally been unmasked...but then "William Rockwood" turns out to be a pseudonym, and the face that looks like Hugo Weaving turns out to be another of V's masks.
Played straight with V and Sutler's deaths. In the book, V was killed by Finch, and Sutler ("Susan" in the book) was killed by Rosemary Almond, the disgruntled widow of the first head of The Finger. In the movie, V and Sutler are both killed by Creedy's troops.
Oh Crap: The security guard's reaction to seeing V's rather incendiary undershirt.
"Fuckin' 'ell."
The General in charge of defending Parliament at the end when he sees just how many V's are showing up.
"Jesus bloody Christ"
The look on every one of Creedy's men when V's cutting his way through them.
Older Than They Look: A rough estimate of V's age puts him at anywhere from 30s to 60s. However, due to the experiments conducted on him, V can still move like an Olympic athlete.
Orange Blue Contrast: A rare non-advertising, non-simultaneous example for cinema, Evey's "awakening" takes place in a very blue rain storm and it is interspersed with images V's "awakening", which took place in a raging inferno.
Pair the Spares: Implied with Evey and Finch, during Finch's monologue about everything being connected.
Pay Evil unto Evil: V does this to Prothero, Lilliman and Creedy. While his torture is undoubtedly cruel, their deaths are nothing short of a relief.
Pet the Dog: Unlike his other targets, V doesn't violently kill Delia Surridge, but instead chooses to inject her with a lethal poison while she sleeps. He even seems sorry that he had to do so.
Playing With Syringes: V's origin. This is more overt in the movie since the tests apparently gave him Super Strength and possibly other powers.
Police Brutality: Norsefire Fingermen make a habit of it, and the regular police gun down an innocent man (admittedly he was disguised as V) when V takes over a news studio.
The Fingerman who shoots the little girl just for spray-painting graffiti.
Promoted to Love Interest: Inverted with Gordon. He and Evey were explicitly attracted to each other in the book (Evey even fantasizes about having sex with him at one point). In the movie, he's gay.
Punch Clock Villain: Eric Finch qualifies, at least at the start. Finch says he's been a party member for twenty-seven years, but it's probably not unfair to assume that joining Norsefire was the only way to have anything resembling a career in law enforcement, and it's certainly clear that Finch thinks of himself as a copper first and foremost.
Redemption Equals Death: Delia Surridge, who tells V she's sorry for what she's done to him. V shows mercy to her, and gives her a quick, painless death.
Refuge in Audacity: Gordon's last-minute script-change to his show, assuming that he was too famous to just be disappeared. He was wrong.
The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified: The revolution against the government is seen as completely positive. They kinda handwaved the fact that depending on your position a "revolutionist" is either a "freedom fighter" or a "terrorist", and there can be no argument whatsoever against the fact that Norsefire is a corrupt and oppressive regime that is guilty of terrible crimes against humanity. But there's also no argument that the comic's deliberately ambiguous morality is replaced in the movie with a much more black-and-white version of the conflict.
Sociopathic Hero: V. Literally. Finch describes him as being a clinical psychopath.
Sub Text: During Finch's monologue about everything being connected, there is a brief shot of future-Evey with her hair grown back, next to a vase of Scarlet Carsons. The mirror on the wall shows a reflection of a relaxed-looking Finch drinking some wine.
Too Dumb to Live: So you live in a totalitarian society, where your Chancellor is a bigot, a zealot, and a complete monster. People disappear for so much as having an opinion. The media is completely controlled and censored by law, your stories manufactured; in short, your government can kill you whenever he sees fit. Knowing all this, you see fit to mock your Chancellor on live television and you think the worst that will happen is you will be fined, and forced to write a letter of apology?
Oh, and you're also a closeted homosexual, which will get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
Undercrank: Gordon uses this in his comedy show when he throws out the approved script, right down to playing "Yakety Sax".
The Un Reveal: The identity of V is now simply "V". He removes his mask once, but his face remains unseen by the audience.
Viking Funeral: V gets a modern take on one; laid to rest on the train that delivers his bomb to Parliament.
Villainous Breakdown: Creedy suffers a nasty one after V rips his henchmen to shreds and is still strong enough to send Creedy to hell before expiring.
Villains Out Shopping: "Creepy" Creedy loves his botany and Sutler still enjoys a glass of warm milk.
Water Source Tampering: Norsefire released the virus into a water treatment plant, in addition to a tube station and St. Mary's School, from which it got its name.
We All Live in America: Mostly averted (like V saying "lift" instead of "elevator") but not always — several uses of "cop" which is generally an Americanism (Brits prefer "copper"), Finch pronouncing lever as leh-ver instead of lee-ver, Portman's accent (although YMMV on that last one).
Wham Episode: It's implied that the key formative event in the Man in Room Five's transformation into V isn't the experiments upon him, or the cruel and indifferent treatment he received from the prison camp's staff. It's the note from Valerie, which he delivers to Evey exactly as he received it himself. It has a similar effect upon her.
What the Hell Are You?: Creedy's reaction after V survives a hailstorm of bullets and proceeds to kill every last one of the men shooting at him.
Subverted however, in that while the initial salvo may not have stopped him, V is mortally wounded.
What the Hell, Hero?: Evey's initial reaction to V's torture of her and when he kills the Bishop. She forgives him for both times, though.
Why Won't You Die?: Because beneath his mask is more than flesh, beneath his mask there is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof. Also: an armor breast plate. Which is not entirely bulletproof, but does stop V from dying where he stands, instead allowing him to slowly bleed out as he stumbles his way back to his lair. What, you thought they'd pull the Only a Flesh Wound card?
You Are Number Six: Played straight. The camp dehumanized V to the point where nobody knew him as anything but the Man in Room Five, so he took it as his new identity.
Zerg Rush: V sends everyone in London Guy Fawkes costumes so they could overwhelm Norsefire troops by sheer numbers.
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