V FOR VENDETTA

Theater: Showcase Cinema de Lux 16, Okolona, Kentucky

If you've read the graphic novel, this movie doesn't follow along quite as Alan Moore wrote it.

But thank god that it doesn't have to.

There are two types of adaptations. The first take the source material and alter it only in medium, translating it to a moving form. The second takes the foundation, the underlying pieces of that material, and molds it into something different, but still familiar; sometimes even sometimes better.

The film is better than the graphic novel.

And here's why:

• It's simpler. The fat has been trimmed, but the message has remained the same.
• The key visuals remain intact.
• The acting is fitting ... imagine having a British cast playing Britons ... Hollywood should have figured that one out a long time ago.
• The story is jumbled ... even if you read the graphic novel, there are surprises in store.

Hugo Weaving acts pantomime the whole movie, wearing a mask. And it works, without ever seeing his face.

Time have changed since the novel was written, and the film (sometimes disturbingly) brings that to light, tying in this British future into our current world. It makes you be thankful that we do not live in a world like that.

See it if - you like masks; you like Natalie Portman; you're looking for a solid political commentary on where the worldhas been and could (in a worst case scenario) go
Rent it if - you're too embarassed to go see a comic book movie.