by Kfish » Sat 06 May 2006, 00:45:52
If you liked the movie, read the book!
The original "V for Vendetta" was a graphic novel by Alan Moore, one of the pioneers of the 'serious' comic book genre in the English speaking world. Moore is a master of the dark stuff: this is one of his lighter works.
While the movie is glitzy, action-packed and thrilling, and it does get the basic ideas across well, it's limited by the genre. The graphic novel is much richer and more complex, and delves deeper into ideas and their consequences. (I like to think I'm normal, unlike my D&D-playing boyfriend, and yet I spent $60 on a damn comic book.)
Part of the problem, I think, is that the fans who have read / heard of the book don't want to see Hollywood f*ck it up the way they did "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - probably the main reason Alan Moore refuses to watch "V for Vendetta". Find your local comic store, look up Alan Moore's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and you'll discover that it's much, much more than a shitty action flick. There's subtlety, subterfuge, irony, satire ... all the things that refuse to share a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio.
The movie is a good movie (unlike "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"). The book is a good book. They share a plot and a moral, but that's about it.
Oh, and "Watchmen", his other famous work, is in production at Warner Brothers. The book is a masterpiece, but even creepier than V. If they don't screw it up, it should be a good film.
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