V FOR VENDETTA (2005)
Label: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free (UHD), A (BD)
Duration: 133 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 with Optional English Subtitles.
Video: 2160p UHD, 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: James McTeigue
Cast: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Pigott-Smith
Synopsis: Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V for Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey (Portman) who is rescued from a dire situation by a masked vigilante (Weaving) known only as “V.” Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he detonates two London landmarks and takes over the government-controlled airwaves, urging his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V’s mysterious background, she also discovers the truth about herself – and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plot to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with fear, cruelty and corruption.
Produced by The Wachoswkis (The Matrix Trilogy) and directed by James McTeigue (The Raven) the anarchist action-flick V For Vendetta was an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by writer Alan Moore (The Watchmen) and artist David Lloyd, which tells the revolutionary tale of a not too far distant future which takes place in Britain, where a fascist government regime with Nazi leanings has the country in a tight-grip, establishing a national curfew and plying the citizenry with a state-run media that propagates falsehood and maintains control with fear-mongering. The corrupt leader of this fascist regime is High Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt, Hellboy) who maintain authority by imprisoning "undesirables", among them political opponents, free-thinkers, homosexuals, minorities and immigrants. His corrupt network of power includes a ministry of propaganda known as The Mouth, a corrupt Ministry of Investigations known as The Nose, an audio-surveillance division known as The Ear, and a secret police force known as The Finger.
The film opens with a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman, Annihilation), an employee of state-run British Television Network, walking home after curfew when she is attacked by a pair of Fingermen, she is saved when a cloaked vigilante wearing a Guy Fawkes makes short work of the
secret-policemen, dispatching them with deadly force. The vigilante's name is V, and he invites Evey to then join him on the rooftop to watch fireworks. This turns out to be a terrorist attack of his planning, the fireworks are in fact the demolition of the Old Bailey building, accompanied by fireworks and Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" which plays out on the government's hijacked PA systems throughout the city.
The next day Evey is at work as a production assistance at the British Television Network when V arrives, seemingly by coincidence, hijacking the airwaves and countering the regimes false claims that the destruction of the Old Bailey was a planned demolition. He claims responsibility for the terrorist attack, and encourages his fellow citizens to join with him to rebel against their fascist government one year from today, on November 5th during Guy Fawkes Night, to meet him outside the Houses of Parliament, to take back their country. Evey helps V escape the TV station and in the process becomes a target of the government, unable to return to her normal life for fear of imprisonment or death. Her eyes now having been opened to the corruption of the government she joins V on his anarchist quest to topple the corrupt totalitarian government through selective assassination and a phenomenal large-scale terrorist attack.
V For Vendetta had balls of brass coming only a few years after the 9/11 attacks, keeping the original elements of the graphic novel of an avenging-angel protagonist, who is a terrorist with a penchant for blowing-up building to make his point! While the film was not directed by the Wachowskis their fingerprints are all over it visually, never more so than with the cool dagger-time visual effect when V throws his deadly daggers, mimicking the bullet-time FX of The Matrix films.
The flick has an outstanding cast, lead by Hugo Weaving as V, hidden behind a porcelain Guy Fawkes mask he manages to conveys a lot of complex emotion and intent with only his voice, assisted by clever camera angles and creative lighting. Natalie Portman as his protégé gives a solid performance, even if the British accent seems to come and go to varying degree throughout, she seems more of a cypher than a well-developed character at times, but it worked for me. We also get a venomous turn from John Hurt as the fascist leader, his take is as frightening as it is alarmingly prescient. We also gets solid turns from Stephen Rea (The Butcher Boy) as an inspector of New Scotland Yard who uncovers the corruption of the regime and begins to see the light himself, and Stephen Fry (A Fish Called Wanda) as Evey's cool boss, a secretively gay TV talk show host.
V For Vendetta has aged extremely well, having been made during and a refection of the George W. Bush era it is even more analogous to the Trump-era, but it can be enjoyed by all no matter your affiliation, it's a film about freedom more so than any political ideology. When I watch it this is just a bad-ass vigilante movie with V being the avenging angel against a corrupt political system, but there's plenty to read between the lines if that your thing.
I remember seeing a sneak peek of the flick at the University of Arizona a few weeks before it was released into theaters. At that point I was a Alan Moore fan but had not yet read V For vendetta, I went in completely cold. However, someone standing in line to see it was definitely not a first-timer, the guy (or girl) was decked out in full V regalia with a black cloak and Guy Fawkes mask, which I thought was cool and a little bit unnerving as they remained silent standing behind me the whole three-hours we waited to get admittance tot he theater, I love it when people go the extra mile to show their fandom, even if it's not something I would do.
Audio/Video: V For Vendetta (2005) arrives on 4K Ultra HD in 2150p UHD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen, sourced from a new scan of the original camera negative. The source is pristine and looks fantastic, we get a natural looking layer of fine film grain that is barely noticeable, offering crisper and tighter looking details when stacked up against the 2008 Blu-ray. The black levels get a great boost from the HDR color-grading, as do the pops of red throughout the film. The greatest beneficiary of the HDR would be the deeper blacks throughout, this is a dark showy film and the blacks are greatly improved, with good shadow detail throughout. The flick also gets a Dolby Atmos upgrade that is bombastic and dynamic, the dialogue is crisp, clean and upfront, with the explosions having plenty of booming low-end, those surrounds and height channels get quite a workout, plus the Dario Marianelli (Shrooms) score sounds phenomenal.
WB carry-over all the archival extras from the 2008 Blu-ray which are included on the recycled Blu-ray disc that accompanies this release, so it does not feature the new transfer. New extras on the UHD disc include a new 14-minute interview with director James McTeigue And Lana Wachowski, 14-minutes of VHS-sourced audition footage of Natalie Portman, and a 24-minute EPK-style featurette from 2006 that I do not believe was previously released on home video, at least here in the U.S., containing interviews with the cast and crew at the time of the making of the film.
The two-disc release arrives in a black eco-case (ugh) with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring an image of Portman as the shaven-headed Evy, and a glossy slipcover featuring alternate artwork of V holding a blood-covered dagger with Evy's reflection on the blade, of which I prefer the slip artwork. Inside we have the UHD with the new 2160p transfer along with the new extras and the Blu-ray disc which is the same disc as the 2008 release with the older HD transfer (which was solid for the time) with the archival extras. There is also a code for a 4K digital copy of the film as well as the three new extras, but the digital copy does not include the archival extras.
Special Features:
- NEW! V for Vendetta Unmasked (2006) (24 min) HD (UHD Only)
- NEW! Natalie Portman's Audition: Explore the depth of Evey's character with Natalie Portman's
never-before-seen audition (14 min) (UHD Only)
- NEW! James McTeigue & Lana Wachowski in Conversation (14 min) UHD (UHD Only)
- Freedom! Forever!: Making V for Vendetta – The cast and crew of V for Vendetta reveal the intense filmmaking process (16 min) HD (BD Only)
- Designing the Near Future – A look at the artistic process of creating the frightening future world of V (18 min) HD (BD Only)
- Remember, Remember: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot – The history behind the story of Guy Fawkes (11 min) HD (BD Only)
- England Prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics – The origins of the original V story is illuminated (15 min) HD (BD Only)
- Cat Power Montage – Cat Power song played under images of the film
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD (BD Only)
- Cat Power: Montage Music Video (2 min) HD
- Easter Egg: Hidden Bonus: Saturday Night Live Digital Short (2 min) HD (BD Only)
V For Vendetta not only holds-up well but is actually more relevant in the current socio-political climate than it was in 2005. It's a potent and engaging action-film that can be enjoyed as either a deeper anarchists social commentary or just a fun action-flick with a fascist-hating avenging angel, or both depending on the depth and breadth of your interests. The new 4K Ultra HD release from WB is fantastic with a new scan of the OCN plus we get both new and archival extras, which make this well-worth the 4K upgrade in my opinion.
