Re-Reviewed: V for Vendetta has not aged well in the least

Time has not been kind to V For Vendetta.

Alan Moore hasn’t exactly been a big fan of most film adaptations of his work. And while he usually has the countenance of an old man telling kids to get off of his lawn, he’s right in this case.

Watchmen. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. From Hell. When discussing the best comic book movies ever made, none of them even enter the conversation. V for Vendetta is by far the best of the bunch, though that isn’t sayin much.

At the time of its release in 2006, the movie did quite decently at the box office and with critics. That being said, this is not a movie that has aged particularly well over the last 15 years. The culture has left the movie behind, though the graphic novel remains quite relevant.

V for Vendetta debuts

Alan Moore started building his career primarily in the UK in 1978. Writing for 2000AD, Marvel UK, Doctor Who Weekly and more were early successes for him that brought attention his way. But he would go on to become a major talent in the 1980s.

His work with DC Comics during this era made him a household name. Well, among comic book readers, at the very least. His work with characters like Swamp Thing, Superman and Green Lantern have remained influential to this day, as has Watchmen.

An early major impact was V for Vendetta, a story about a mysterious revolutionary in a Guy Fawkes mask rebelling against the dystopian version of the UK represented in the graphic novel. It eventually struck a lot of chords with readers.

When it was originally published in the early 1980s in the UK, the story was a dud. But DC republished the comics in collected editions under their Vertigo imprint in the late 1980s with greater success. Moore being a much bigger name at that point didn’t hurt the situation.

V hits movie theatres

In 2006, a V for Vendetta film was released to theatres. Directed by James McTeigue, it utilized a script written by the Wachowskis who had risen to fame thanks to The Matrix. It starred Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman, who was fresh off the Star Wars prequel films.

Overall, the film did reasonably well as it certainly didn’t lose money, and that’s a massive win in Hollywood. And it also did extremely well in DVD and Blu Ray sales. Financially, the movie was a relative success in that it wasn’t a complete failure.

Critics were a bit more divided. Some hailed V for Vendetta as a triumph while others found it to be a complete betrayal of the source material. But many of the people watching it had never read the comics, and had no basis for a comparison.

It certainly delivered a dark, brooding story that was in line with what fans who did know the comics expected. But the truth of the situation was that not everyone was happy with the final product, particularly Alan Moore.

Time passes V by

Alan Moore has hated every film adaptation of his work that has ever been made. Honestly, it’s hard to blame him as none of them have been good. It’s important to keep in mind that he seems to believe he created all of modern comic books, so it’s easy to not take him seriously.

But his criticisms of the V for Vendetta movie at the time the movie came out were pretty much on the money. The Wachowskis created a more toothless version of Moore’s story that sacrificed its edge and message in favor of copious movie violence.

In many ways, the movie missed the point of the comics, something that has only become apparent in the years since its release. While it’s not entirely irredeemable, V for Vendetta is much less impactful than what it should have been.

The irony of this is a comic written in the early 1980s that rose to prominence in the late 1980s remains more relevant today than a movie made in 2006 does. V for Vendetta still has its place in the history of comic books films but it’s not one that needs to be revisited with any consistency.

What did you think of V For Vendetta? Are you a fan? Let us know in the comments below!