V Better Than Munich
V for Vendetta topped the box office this weekend and I have a feeling it'll be up there for a while. The movie was successful in combining action and political drama. V, played by Hugo Weaving, is a masked character terrorizing the totalitarian government of future Britain. He is marked as a terrorist by the government and indeed, his actions of consistent with present-day terrorists (blowing up buildings, assassinations). However, the movie leaves the V character ambiguous. Is he a hero? A villain? Or maybe his motives are right, but his methods are immoral. The audience is left to decide.
Steven Spielberg's Munich, released wide in January, asks the same question, but it uses the true story of the Munich Olympic massacre--where several Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists--as a basis for the moral play. Munich was a flawed movie. The movie achieved its purpose, but Spielberg played it out too long and too narrowly. Spielberg focused much of the movie on Eric Bana's character. As a result, after movie had reached its plot climax and spoke its moral message, it continues with an unnecessary epilogue about Bana's character that leaves the audience emotionally drained and wishing for an end.
V, on the other hand, was adequately paced. It's 30 minutes shorter than Munich (Munich has a whopping 2hr 44min playing time), but delivers the same moral play with as much--if not more--impact as Munich. The audience will go back and forth as to whether to support him fully or partially (or not at all, if that suits you). The pacing is consistent with an action flick as the suspense builds-up for a big pyrotechnic display of terrorism (or is it freedom fighting?).
V for Vendetta also beats Munich in terms of packaging a likeable movie for all. V exudes enough action to entice a larger percentage of the movie-going demographic. V will attract teenagers and young/middle-age adults with its comic book based story and characters. Munich, on the other hand, was a emotionally draining drama that will only attract the most politically serious adults. I can see V as something lazy history and English teachers would show to their students about totalitarian governments and allusions to George Orwell's 1984. Munich is just too depressing and violent to watch in a classroom setting.
Even without the contrast and comparing to Munich, V for Vendetta was an excellent movie that brings fun back to the movie theater. It was funny, exciting, and emotionally and politically intriguing. Hollywood is horribly lacking originality and creativity (did anybody see Disney's The Shaggy Dog?) I haven't been to the movies since January. Ironically, the last movie I saw was Munich.
Steven Spielberg's Munich, released wide in January, asks the same question, but it uses the true story of the Munich Olympic massacre--where several Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists--as a basis for the moral play. Munich was a flawed movie. The movie achieved its purpose, but Spielberg played it out too long and too narrowly. Spielberg focused much of the movie on Eric Bana's character. As a result, after movie had reached its plot climax and spoke its moral message, it continues with an unnecessary epilogue about Bana's character that leaves the audience emotionally drained and wishing for an end.
V, on the other hand, was adequately paced. It's 30 minutes shorter than Munich (Munich has a whopping 2hr 44min playing time), but delivers the same moral play with as much--if not more--impact as Munich. The audience will go back and forth as to whether to support him fully or partially (or not at all, if that suits you). The pacing is consistent with an action flick as the suspense builds-up for a big pyrotechnic display of terrorism (or is it freedom fighting?).
V for Vendetta also beats Munich in terms of packaging a likeable movie for all. V exudes enough action to entice a larger percentage of the movie-going demographic. V will attract teenagers and young/middle-age adults with its comic book based story and characters. Munich, on the other hand, was a emotionally draining drama that will only attract the most politically serious adults. I can see V as something lazy history and English teachers would show to their students about totalitarian governments and allusions to George Orwell's 1984. Munich is just too depressing and violent to watch in a classroom setting.
Even without the contrast and comparing to Munich, V for Vendetta was an excellent movie that brings fun back to the movie theater. It was funny, exciting, and emotionally and politically intriguing. Hollywood is horribly lacking originality and creativity (did anybody see Disney's The Shaggy Dog?) I haven't been to the movies since January. Ironically, the last movie I saw was Munich.
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