Tuesday, March 21, 2006

M for Monotonous

Young lass about town Eve is rescued from some ruffians by a man in a mask.

V (for it is he): Valiant vague vacuous vaporous vapid violence.

EVE: Oh don't talk like that. It's wearisome.

V: Would you like to see a building explode?

EVE: Rather!

(The Old Bailey explodes.)

V: I shall blow up another building at the very end of the film.

EVE: How ripping! But isn't that a bally long way away?

V: Yes, but I don't want to glamorise terrorism. Right. Just off to fight with knives in slow motion. Lovely shiny knives.

(Later)

EVE: Can't you blow up something?

V: Would you like to see Stephen Fry beaten about the head?

EVE: Most certainly not! He's a national treasure.

V: Ah, but he is also but a shallow symbol. And a mere mask.

(awkward pause)

EVE: Please just blow something up.

V: (sighs) No.

(Eventually)

Parliament explodes.

END CREDIT: Screenplay by the Wachowski Brothers
AUDIENCE: Ah.

On the escalator out, I stood behind a couple. The girlfriend was saying, "Did you like it? Tell me what you think. Please tell me what you think? Did you enjoy it? I won't know what to think until I know what you think."

I knew *exactly* how she felt.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

James: I was so sure you would love this film!

This was an honest to god hollywood blockbuster set in London with a cast full of convincing English accents.

Didn't you feel proud that they were marching on Parliament Square, rather than resetting the whole thing in New York and doing it in Time Square?

Yes - it was a comic strip fantasy of a post apocalyptic London....like...er....the comic strip it was based on.

But it was intelligent, thought provoking and very well done.

OK - so Stephen Fry was cast as Stephen Fry - but he didn't make a bad fist of it ;-)

And Natalie Portman was fab. I'll fight anyone who says Keira Knightley would have done a better job.

Finally....the terrorism aspect - that's the classic one man's freedom fighter vs another's terrorist. Parliament was a symbol of oppression, The Old Bailey even more so (and has been considered so by a generation of Northern Irish Catholics). While its a symbol of freedom to many, in the film it was one of oppression.

I give you 6 months....you'll be hosting your first V party.