Well adapted...

Last night Karlen asked me if I wasnted to go see V for Vendetta, and I am loathe to pass up a chance to go see just about any movie in the theater, so off to the Rave this afternoon.

It's a pretty standard answer to any movie that's been adapted from a book that I want to say read the book - it's better, and I'll get that out of the way now.

It's a faithful adaptation. There are a few changes that were made from the book that do make for impressive on-screen moments, and the added moments don't detract from the story. I don't know that they add all that much to the story either, though, even if they do make the ultimate scene a little more visually impressive.

I don't know that the movie will be reviewed all that well because it's a political allegory (oddly enough, one written as a commentary on the Thatcher administration) that plays as a very damning critique of some of the things that are happening today (an impressive trait for a work of graphic fiction to be relevant and current a quarter century later). It's not the kind of thing that loads of people are going to go to as a popcorn flick and just come out of the theater raving and cheering. It's a thinker, this one is.

Alan Moore's work is phenomenal, and it retains almost all of its power on the big screen. Hugo Weaving does a great job of acting behind the mask, and Natalie Portman does a good job of putting on a British accent.

It's a rough film with a big message buried in there (not terribly deeply, either), and one that's worth seeing. I'd go matinee for it, but it's a big screen treat.