magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

[ One month later: I was planning on writing these movie reviews while they were fresh in my mind, but I've kind of fallen behind in this whole writing in any sort of timely fashion lately. I'll do my best in any case. ]

Went and saw V for Vendetta this evening with Rob, his friend John, and Marie. Then, for the double header, snuck into Thank You for Smoking.

Watching V for Vendetta, despite the fact that we had pre-bought tickets, and that I arrived at the theatre half an hour early to secure a place in the ticket-holders' line, the only spot that we could find four seats together was all the way in the back. Personally, I like sitting in the fifth or sixth row (adjusted appropriately for screen size and height). If I'm going to be paying to see a movie in the theatre, I want the experience to be significantly different than it would be at home, even at a hypothetical home with a large-screen TV and surround sound system. I want to be immersed. I want my field of vision to coincide, more or less exactly, with the projected image. The back of the theatre, to me, is not worth $10 and change.

Also not worth $10 and change, was this movie. Although, because of the main reason for my disappointment, it was also not a possibility that I wouldn't go and see it. The book on which the film is based is not only one of my favourite graphic novels, but was massively influential in the development of my own political consciousness. I first read it in high school, around the same time that I was questioning my (pre-voting age) affiliation with the Democratic Party, something I had somewhat naively maintained since becoming aware of the political process during the Reagan/Mondale presidential campaign. Books like V for Vendetta, The Illuminatus! Trilogy, and slightly more tangentially (although it remains in my top ten of all time), Gravity's Rainbow were opening my eyes to the concepts of anarchism.

And this is where the movie falls shortest. It removes every reference to anarchism from the original text, leaving only a few watered-down rants about personal liberty and standing up against the excesses of an overly authoritarian government. In the book, V represents the violent struggle against the oppressive regime, the destructive aspect of anarchism. He is conflicted with this violence, realising that it is even somewhat antithetical to the liberty that he is trying to promote, but also acknowledges his role, and the eventual necessity of stepping aside in favour of Evey's creative aspect. In the movie, V's violence looses any sense of nuance, and is simply a matter of revenge an Hollywood action sequences. He comes to the same end, but there's no compelling reason why. Similarly, Evey's trajectory and personal development, as well as those of many of the minor characters, seem cut short, if not outright gutted of any real content.

If I had never read the book I probably would have accepted the movie as a decent, if somewhat anaemic, action flick, with a handful of timid references to the faults of the modern political system. Which is about what one would expect from the Wachowski brothers and their puppet director. But, I did read the book, and at an impressionable young age at that, and the movie fell so far short of where it could have aimed.

Watching Thank You for Smoking, we were sitting in the second or third row of a stadium-raked house, all the way to the left side, craning our necks at the screen. Even if the projection fills your filed of vision, it's hard to be immersed in a film if you are constantly being brought back into awareness of your own physical discomfort. However, since I didn't actually pay anything to see the showing, I'm very much not in a position to complain.

That said, I would have rather paid for this film and snuck into V for Vendetta. Which is to say, that in spite of any cricks in my neck, I thoroughly enjoyed it. In this case, I hadn't read the book that the film was based on. But, unlike Alan Moore, who petitioned to have his name removed from the adaptation of his work, Christopher Buckley reportedly wholly endorsed Jason Reitman's adaptation of his book.

Thank You for Smoking is, thankfully, not an anti-smoking film, and while no one lights up for the length of the movie, it never approaches preachy or sentimental territory. (I left the film jonesing for a cigarette, much in the same way that I left Fight Club, another great dark satire, jonesing for a physical confrontation.) It's not even anti-political process, although most of the humor, and it is funny, the most I've laughed out loud in a theatre since The Aristocrats, comes from just how absurd our political system is.

If the movie has any message, it the message that is lacking from V for Vendetta: make the most of the Promethean gift of intellect, and think for yourself.