V For Vendetta 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
November 9th, 2020
After the success/failure of THE MATRIX and its sequels, fans were interested to see what The Wachowski’s were going to give us next. Although their directorial follow-up was the underrated SPEED RACER, they produced and were heavily involved in V FOR VENDETTA. I imagine people at the time were expecting a heavy action movie and were probably surprised by the drama and complex themes going on in the film, but the good news is that because of that, the film has aged incredibly well and is just as poignant and important today as it was in 2005.
There’s a lot going on in V FOR VENDETTA, but at the heart of the film is the story of one man’s attempt to inspire the people and to overthrow an authoritarian government. Early in the film, we meet the masked V (Weaving) as he saves the life of the scared Evey (Portman) as she’s walking past curfew. They strike up a friendship and she gets inspired by his courage to stand up to the system and to fight for the rights that the government took years ago. But as the film progresses, Evey starts to question her resolve to carry out V’s grand plan.
The action sequences work exceptionally well and watching V take out bad guys with ease is thrilling and exciting, harking back to the action sequences from THE MATRIX. But the dialogue in many instances is even better than the action sequences as we learn about the world our characters are living in and the harsh rules the government has imposed on them. That said, The Wachowski Brothers (as they were known at the time) try to cram a lot of ideas and themes into the screenplay. In just over two hours, we don’t have time to cover V’s full backstory, the events that led to this authoritarian government or the world-wide situation going on at the time. But to their credit, they do a fine job of giving us just enough to allow the script to focus on Evey and V.
When things are clicking for V FOR VENDETTA, the film is an amazing blend of action and drama. But all too often, the film gets bogged down trying to tackle too many things at once, causing certain moments to lose their impact. One such example is the story of the persecuted and imprisoned actress. Her story is beautiful, tragic and heartbreaking; a great example of an innocent life destroyed by the cruel regime. But the story comes out of nowhere and is sandwiched between two very different scenes. You can’t deny the greatness of the story, but the way it’s included felt clunky, diminishing some of the scene’s impact. This happens a few other times, but as a whole, The Wachowski’s succeed in showing the audience the atrocities of the government and how those atrocities impact the people.
As much as I loved V FOR VENDETTA when it first came out, I made the joke in my 2005 review that the movie hit a little too close to home for some Americans. Looking back on that, it was a stupid comment, especially considering what we’re going through now. As I held the new 4K disc in my hand, I thought about that and a chill ran up my spine thinking that in another 15 years, I would look back on this review and think how silly it was to be comparing this movie to our current events. Let’s hope that doesn’t play out.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: V FOR VENDETTA is a very, very darkly lit film. It’s one that I’m glad has made its way to 4K and the result is a transfer with deep, rich black levels that show more detail and clarity than we’ve seen before. Scenes with little or no light look amazing, like the scene where Evey is hiding under the bed; details from the floor to the texture on the bed is clear and distinguishable. Strangely enough, I found the few brighter scenes, like the attack at the news station, to have less of an extreme difference. Everything is an improvement for sure, but the darker scenes are really served well by the 4K upgrade.
Audio: As nice as the video transfer is, it doesn’t compare to the audio transfer. My “reference” disc for audio changes almost weekly, but right now if I had to show off my Atmos speakers or the capabilities of what a Dolby Atmos track could do, I’d instantly reach for this disc.
There are actually a handful of 4K exclusive, new special features on this disc:
James McTeigue and Lana Wachowski in Conversation (13:20): These two sit down and talk about the film from initial ideas to its release.
Natalie Portman’s Audition (14:05): I’m actually surprised Portman had to audition for this considering she was pretty well-known at the time. But here are three of her audition scenes in very low-quality video.
V for Vendetta Unmasked (23:30): This has a cool name, but it’s really just a behind the scenes featurette with interviews from the cast and crew.
