A movie based on a classic Alan Moore comic that is actually -- really good!

Stylish like a comic book, great cast, emotionally overwhelming in the right places, and a truly amazing script. It preserves nearly all the great moments from the original story, even keeping actual (brilliant) dialogue intact.

While the broad strokes of the story are fairly simple (strange freedom fighter in oppressive fascist state seeks to inspire the people to reclaim their country) the story and the characters and their relationships and their morality are all complex, and the movie script resists the urge to simplify them overmuch in order to leave time for more action scenes.

The time period of the story is updated with great effectiveness -- when written, it was the future of the 80s (Moore specifically references triumphant Thatcherism in his intro) and the movie is the future of now. The final push toward British fascism was a killer virus rather a limited nuclear war, and ubiquitous radio broadcasts have given way to ubiquitous television broadcasts. The "Voice of Fate" is now a blustering TV scold hilariously reminiscent of an English Bill O'Reilly.

There are a few minor missteps here and there, but really, it doesn't matter: this is a brave and thought-provoking movie about how, under certain horrific circumstances, it takes a villain to be a hero.

If you stick around for the credits, you will notice something odd: the movie is based on the DC comic drawn by David Lloyd. No mention of Alan Moore. And no, this is not because Alan Moore saw the completed film, said, "this is rubbish!"* and demanded that his name be removed. This is because Alan Moore has severed his relationship with DC comics This is because Alan Moore, in disgust after how his work was treated by film companies**, decided to have nothing more to do with film companies -- ever. If he owns the rights, no movie will be made. If he does not own the rights, his name must not be in the credits. It's ironic that V for Vendetta, the first film based on his work to come out after this, is the best and most faithful adaptation so far.

*although he did, sort of, based on a shooting script, claiming plot holes and excessive Americanization of minor details. He seemed particularly outraged over the movie's implication that English people eat something called "eggy in a basket" for breakfast. Apparently they do not and never have.

**not the general terribleness of the movies made from them, either. A couple of moviemakers sued 20th Century Fox, alleging that The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen plagiarized their script entitled Cast of Characters. According to Moore, "they seemed to believe that the head of 20th Century Fox called me up and persuaded me to steal this screenplay, turning it into a comic book which they could then adapt back into a movie, to camouflage petty larceny." Moore gave a ten-hour deposition, and surmised he would have been better treated had he "molested and murdered a busload of children after giving them heroin." Fox's settlement of the case insulted Moore, who interpreted it as an admission of guilt. Further, Moore broke with DC altogether over V for Vendetta -- producer Joel Silver sent out a press release claiming of Moore "he was very excited about what Larry had to say and Larry sent the script." Moore objected, since this wasn't true, and having his endorsement used as a selling point for the movie was specifically why he didn't want his name used in movie credits. Moore requested a retraction, clarification and apology, with a similar weight to the original press release, something along the lines of, "Due to a misunderstanding, Alan Moore does not wish to be associated with the 'V For Vendetta' movie." Moore gave DC two weeks. Although Silver's words were removed from the movie's Web site, DC was unable to get corporate compliance with his request, and, Moore dumped 'em. From Comic Book Resources.