A well produced and acted, fast paced, thriller with one professionally executed theme. The cast quality held the film together. It’s a good film for people who want to walk in and out without having felt challenged or provoked to think. Just take a ride.
The theme I noticed:
Revenge. several different revenge plots. I guessed many plot ‘twists’ before they were explicitly revealed. This was due to a very streamlined script but it dampened the film’s impact as a thriller because it felt predictable despite some very novel scenes. The story structure is good quality but not innovative.
Other notable points
The opening credits were impressive because of the graphic effects and their relevance to the plot. You are taken straight into the movie while the credits are delivered.Â
Morgan Freeman’svelvetvoice. Isn’t it always?Â
Ben Kingsly as an American Rabbi. Riveting performance. My main motivation for seeing the film was experiencing Ben Kingsly act with Morgan Freeman. There is one scene that contains both actors.
Lucy Liu is not playing a vamp. A pleasant suprise. Very adorable character, intellegent and cute without being a clutz. The sugar collection scenes that establish her character provided a film highlight. A credit to the scene scripting, acting and direction.
Bruce Willis is not stretched by his role. He had much more room to demonstrate his talent in 12 Monkeys, Sixth sense, Die Hard or even Pulp Fiction.
Lack of character development. None that I noticed. The boy and the girl fell in love. Some people discovered stuff they didn’t already know. Some people died. That’s not really character development.
1985 (Assume poetic licence with the precision of dates and details. The story has changed with fermentation in memory. The gist of the story is consistent with the orginal experience.)
I rented a room near ‘The Mermaid’ in a small Sparkhill red-brick terraced house shared with four girls. Bambi rented a room in a Handsworth red brick terraced house shared with four boys. Two bus rides, an hour, apart. Neither house had a telephone. We were poor. We were young.
Bambi’s house smelt of rotting mice. It was infested. The neighbours houses were infested. The whole area was infested. Everyone lived with the mice. Mice would dash for cover when you entered a room, switched on a light, moved suddenly. The boys would play at trying to jump on, squash, mice before they reached cover. Several squashed mice decorated the floor in the front room. The floor was also decorated with chair-side piles of empty beer cans and chris-crossed with glittering slug trails.  A milk bottle containing a dead mouse sat on the fireplace mantle; gently warmed by the gas fire on colder days. The mouse had climbed in voluntarily when the bottle lay on the floor then, unable to climb out, starved to death. The boys treated the bottled mouse as a trophy. Some mice died more peacefully of old age under the floor boards. Then rotted. I’ll never forget the overwhelming stench of rotting mouse. It’s integrally bound with first love.  It filled your lungs and scented your sweat during the deep breaths of love making. It seems appropriate that I read Ian McEwan’s “First Love, Last Rites” in this house.Â
Early on a brightly lit summer evening I turned-up to meet Bambi. He wasn’t in.  In other homes I would make myself at home with a cup of Tea. Not here. Concerns about household hygiene. The mice-droppings on the kitchen work surfaces and stench were an effective deterrent to eating or drinking. I picked a book from Bambi’s collection and opened a window in a futile attempt to release the seemingly endless odour. With my head by the open window I started to read ‘the catcher in the rye‘.  My first American novel. The sun gradually set. Sodium pink, then yellow, street lights lit the pages.  The mice scuttled over the silence. Lost in the story I forgot about the planned evening with Bambi.  Despite knowing very little about the places, symbols, or lifestyle outlined in the book it felt powerfully relevant to the loneliness of that night, madness of youth, and pains of new found adulthood.Â
An excellent heroic story that creatively re-weaves threads from classic themes in an original, engaging, way. Very topical. High quality acting across the whole cast, well constructed sound track and visuals. Understandable at both superficial and multi-layered levels.
Long review warning
Some themes that I recognized:
Revenge: Alexandra Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Christo” is both explicitly and implicitly referenced.
Masked caped hero of justice: a similar theme to “The Mask of Zorro“, a story familiar to US audiences. The hero uses a pre-christian runic style ‘Z’ symbol. V for Vendetta uses a runic style symbol. Why do I call them runic style? ((not an actual rune)) Runes were originally created by cutting-wood, straight lines are more easily carved than curves. Runes are made of short straight lines. This runic site comments that:
“Adolf Hitler added a corrupted form of Runic occultism to his ideal of creating a master race. Several runic symbols were adopted as insignias by the Nazis, probably the most instantly recognisable is the use of Sowelu (the S-rune) by the infamous SS.”
Totalitarianism: Numerous implicit references to the strategies, practices and timing of Hitler’s rise to and maintainance of power. Another reference is to George Orwell’s ‘1984′. For me this was particularly striking because John Hurt played a roll in the film of 1984 and a contrasting roll in this film. The filming of the scenes starring John Hurt are powerfully reminiscent of scenes from the film 1984. The analogy to America is very subtle, I believe it does exist through references to ‘Terrorism’ and how fear is used to manipulate the populous.
Scapegoat & Spin: the gunpowder plot theme is beautifully used in the film.  The film exlicitly portrays the story as ‘man against government’. Implicitly its relevance is far more substantial. The government of 1605 spun the story that Guy Fawkes had lead a large Catholic conspiracy to undermine government. It is likely that the authorities knew of the plot in advance, let it happen, picked Guy up at the scene, published the treasonous event then used it to engender sufficient fear to support the subsequent removal of key Catholics. Many were hung drawn and quartered for complicity in the ‘plot’.  Fear invoked. A national celebration instituted. We survived, etc. Politically influenced media spin 401 years ago!Â
Other notable points:
Use of the 1812 overture. As a pre-teen I didn’t like listening to my parent’s Sibelius albums on a Sunday. If they HAD to play classical music could they please put on the 1812 overture or Holst’s Planet Suite (I liked Mars). Occassionally they indulged me and I’d jump up and down to the 1812 overture while improvising explosion noises. It’s a fun game. I resisted the temptation to jump up and down in the cinema…
English rose: The English rose plays several significant symbolic roles in the film. It’s a very evocative symbol to me: The national flower of England;  Represented in the English Rugby Union team and Football team insignia; The red rose is the symbol of the House of Lancaster; The white rose is the symbol of the House of York;  Famously battling for control of England in the War of the Roses; Paul Weller’s poignant accoustic ballard ”English Rose”; The Damned’s first single ‘New Rose“;  The concept of an ‘English Rose’ as an outstandingly beautiful of girl of snow white skin, rose red lips and dark hair; The idealistic image of roses growing around the door of an English, thatched, cottage. I buy myself red roses when I need good heart, courage.
Natalie Portman cast as a Londoner. Why cast an American when there are plenty of talented and capable British actresses? The rest of the cast were predominantly British. Presumably Natalie was included to draw the none-British audiences with a ‘big name’. Despite my initial reservations I found Natalie’s performance worked extremely well.Â
Church & Monarchy: The light reference to established churches and complete lack of reference to a monarchy are not detrimental to the film. They are interesting. The gunpowder plot was conducted on a day when the Monarch, James I, would be in Parliament. He was part of the target. The protestant catholic tension was a core point of discontent in 1605. V does reference religeous corruption and a core spokesperson talks of ‘God’ being with England.  I noticed no references to Monarchy and the existance of a hereditary class system.
Speech excerpts played over the closing credits. I heard the voices and felt more compelled to stay and listen than when a song typically plays with the credits. This comment that I later discovered was a recording on Gloria Steinem was very powerful: “This is no simple reform… It really is a revolution. Sex and race, because they are easy and visible differences, have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labor in which this system still depends.“
Trough ((posted in a big trough @ 3am PDT using a well hidden Wordpress ‘automatic-post-at-this-time’ feature)) page request times:
Big: 2-3am (PDT); 10-11am (GMT)
Small: 4-5pm (PDT); Midnight-1am (GMT)
Graph below produced by my web service provider (not Excel). Does the 3-dimensional nature of the graph make it more difficult to read the page-reqest values? Does the top or bottom of the thick line represent the data values? Looks like it’s about 700 page hits thick and 2 hours deep.Â
This was scrawled directly onto a PC screen with a pen! I ‘borrowed’ the Tablet PC from a friend at work. I had to tear it from his arms leaving him trembling in the corridor as I ran clutching my prize and laughing maniacally.  WOW (Wendy One Wants)… …oh, geekiness abounds…  …that’s like ’sploginess abounds’ without music or being stuck in the 1980’s:
Â
aren’t you glad you can read my typed, rather than scrawled, miss-spellingsÂ
wendy: “Blah-good, blah=very-good, blah-not-so-good, and this… ..THIS is absolutely HORRIFIC!”
manager: (giggles) “…HOAR-ific…” (immitates and accentuates my vowel sounds, giggles some more)
wendy: (giggles)
It is funny when you hear your manager say ‘Whore’. Naughty!  Even more funny when he says it with an immitation upper-class (plummy) English accent and I know that I have a middle-class regional accent.
a seat-belt length on an airplane is adjusted to suit the rotundness of the previous seat occupier. When I get on a plane in North America I can normally fit a whole hand-length between my body and this setting:
I shorten the belt setting by approximately a ‘foot’. It tickled me that these very portable measures, one ‘Hand’ and one ‘Foot’, described different aspects of the same space. Apparantly three hands (4″) equal one foot (12″) in length.  Â
Shifting back from Metric to using feet and inches when I moved to America was rather quaint. They’re still using a British Imperial system even though the British no longer have an empire and have themselves moved on to Metric. Lucky for me that I was already familiar with feet and stuff….   Â
This Chicago Sun-Times article describes how a 45yr man advertised that he was willing to pay $1,000.00 for a virgin bride between 12-24yrs. The Story is that his neighbours protested that he advertised for a girl as young as 12yrs. Does this mean his neighbors:
1) have no concerns about the explicit business relationship of purchasing a bride? This made me wonder
Will he get a receipt?
can he return her if she’s ‘faulty’ or ‘damaged’ goods?
2)Â think the lifetime commitment of a woman is adequately priced at $1,000.00? This made me wonder
is this the ‘market value’ determined by ‘free trade’?
who gets the $1,000.00? If its her does he effectively get it back by virtue of their being married?
If he discovers she wasn’t a virgin does the marriage contract become anulled for breach of promise?
Does the marriage mean for life or for the average length of a first marriage in the US (8yrs)
These 2 unreported themes are MUCH MORE DISTURBING than the honesty of declaring preparedness for a marriage relationship with a 12 year old.  That these 2 themes are NOT EXPLICITLY MENTIONED is EVEN MORE DISTURBING.
Maybe I could buy myself a husband who’ll stay at home and cook, clean and generally provide services for me. Must not be a virgin.
chain-letters… …chain blog-entries… …if I tell you about my morning does that mean it exists? If no-one see’s my mornings (apart from the fluff-balls) does that mean they don’t exist? Should I waffle about a tree falling in a forest or just go to bed?Â
server: I met a whole bunch of English people when I worked in FloridaÂ
wendy: oh!
server:Â they asked for jacket potatoes
wendy: are they called something else over here?
server: yes.. and they’d say it so fast it sounded like ‘jork’t ato’s (….lots of ‘blah’ from the server before we managed to order some much needed food and beers)
colleague: you’ve got a built in conversation piece
wendy:Â (raises eyebrow quizzically)
colleague: your accent
In just three days with me he’s witnessed nearly 700 unsolicited stories that start with phrases like  I know aBrit’, ‘my ancestors were English’ ‘what a cute accent…’ I’ve been there (insert either: London, Scotland, Italy, Spain)Â
this is not a case of ‘flash’ red-eye. These are traffic lights at dusk in a North Carolina spring after a rainstorm that caused traffic havoc. Havoc included police cars with very pretty lights, ambulances and collections of crumpled cars on the edge of the road.   Â
My gorgeous little Sony Ericsson T610 mobile phone reminds me of the answers to all these questions.Â
It synchronizes with my Outlook 2003 contacts and calendar. Both Darling and my phone know where I have to be and when I have to be there. If they are turned-on, they remind me. Wonderful for a scatterbrain like me. My phone is always turned on. I just need to remember to charge and synchronize it. I did have to buy a ‘Bluetooth adapter’ to enable Darling and my mobile phone to build a ‘partnership’. Disappointing that a brand new laptop had neither an Infra-Red beam port or internal Bluetooth given how common these connection methods are on phones.Â
Now I dont ‘remember’ anyones phone number or where I have to be when, my phone does it for me….Â
wendy:Â Maybe you should consider the benefits of trying out ‘blah’
collegaue: Wendy means do ‘blah’
wendy: (…um, ….yes, …based on what I know already that is my best guess.  But I don’t know about the implications of doing ‘blah’ for ’stuff-I’m-not-a-specialist-in’ and…  ….more disclaimers…..)
I’m not used to using unhedged assertive directives. They are quick and convey specialist opinions concisely. This is valued in my workplace. It’s difficult to break the habit of constructing sentences with hedging words ‘maybe’, ‘perhaps’, ‘possibly’, ‘consider’, ‘it seems’, “I suspect”… Â
I use them because I believe they enable direct respect for the knowldge of other specialists and convey there are potential caveats without necessarily ennumerating them. Assertive directives can convey arrogance and ignorance.
Last night Paul Weller deservedly won the Brit Award for outstanding contribution to the British Music Industry. From ‘The Jam’ through ‘The Style Council’ to his solo work Paul has always been involved in producing musically interesting, lyrically astute, songs. The award was presented by another gorgeous, talented, Londoner; Ray Winston.  Double GUSH!
Mumsie: “Gwendolyn, YOUhave not FINISHED.  The Dinner is DONE.  You are not a dinner that can be ‘done’. Stop what you are doing now, finish it after dinner, or your dinner will be OVERDONE and you risk being DONE OVER“
A quick look in online dictionarys suggests that the US usage of ‘done’ is appropriate. It makes me wince. It doesn’t ’sound’ right. Obviously, I blame my mother for this over sensitivity. She may not be responsible for this quirk of mine…
Museum of History. Wendy winces. At this rate of wincing I’m going to develop a permanent tic.Â
The Charlotte Museum of History was a pleasure. Entrance was free on the Sunday I visited. It was staffed by friendly, attentive, volunteers. I thought ‘this is southern hospitality’. The real highlight was the live folk music played by younsters and oldsters. A ‘live’ museum. The music echoed around the impressive, modern, building. Mandolins, Banjo’s, Guitars, Violins and more. Here they are playing ‘Amazing Grace’:
excerpt from email distributed at work. Email title: “Needed: A few buff men”
“…to move (specified heavy) equipment. I don’t think us administrators have that kind of strengh. Well maybe (girls name) but not me…”
This email explicitly cites gender as a requirement. In my books that’s sexism. Probability suggests that more men than women will have the strength (job criteria) to carry large equipment. Probability should not be used to explicitly exclude those women who do actually fit the criteria for the job. Any job. Generalise the idea. Person with the best skills for the job is recruited to do it, irrespective of gender. Fabulous.Â
That one female administrator may be qualified to carry the heavy equipment feels like a last minute concession after the offense. It might also be gender-based, derogatory, humour. I can’t tell.
I’m too small to carry the equipment.  I pointed out to the administrator that she was being sexist. Does that make me witch of the day? Then I’ll bewitching everyday… Â
Wendy:Â “a pint of Bass please“server: “we don’t have any Bass“Wendy:Â “it’s on your menu?”
server: “that Bass is in a bottle, it isn’t draught“ (Wendy winces at the tautology)
Wendy: “then I’ll have Bass from a bottleplease’ (looks at server over the top of her glasses while toying with asking why Bass in a bottle is not Bass)
This has happened 2 times in different places. I suspect that quantities are different for draught and bottled beers. My specifying a pint implied draught. I didnt know this.
Darling’s inside casing is a light metalic pink. Her touchpad is the same light metalic pink. The gal not only has style she has 3 USB ports on her sides near the front. Easy to plug-in and remove a mouse, music player, camera, or any other thing, all at the same time! Versatility with working well are so so so SEXY Oh!
Wendy: “Can I help you?” (I adore reversing who is helping who with this phrase)
shop assistant:  “are…are you finding everything alright?”
Wendy: “I’m just browsing, but thank YOU for asking” (or provides specific purchase criteria)
* the phrase ‘are you talking to me’ is often used as a pre-cursor to a contrived argument, a deliberate provocation to a fight. Well illustrated by Robert De Niro in ‘Taxi Driver’Â
 only the very young and the very beautiful can be so aloof
this opening lyric of Tom Robinson’s song ‘War Baby’ (1983) spoken softly over saxophone with the keyboards creating a gentle relaxing atmosphere hints at sadness. His alternating soft then demandingly passionate voice dominates and drives the song in stark contrast to the gentle pace and tone of the music.  He paints the fun and tensions of living in the gay scene “hanging out with the boys, all swagger and poise…”  ”…I’m scared, so scared” then deftly shifts focus to bigger themes as he raises the pace “corresponding disasters every night on the TV, sickening reality keeps gripping me in its disgust“  The song just has so much in it. It sounds good too  23 years later it’s still one of my favourite songs. Tom’s been one of my personal hero’s since the late 1970’s.   The directness and poigniency of Tom’s beliefs and writing in so many forms (songs, web-pages, DJ-ing) is extremely impressive. To me he is awe inspiring.
Despite the original BBC ban on “Sing if you’re glad to be gay” it was heard in streets, homes, clubs and during political protests.  It was a wonderfully positive rallying song in a time when homophobia was much more overtly prevalent than today.  Followed by a notable turnaround when the BBC employed Tom as a World Service presentes then DJ and gave him awards for his documentary on the history of ‘gay music’.Â
I was lucky enough to attend two of Tom’s birthday parties in the mid 1990’s.  Able to luxuriate in listening to his conversations and singing in the intimacy of a small room….Â
 
