Next up from those sassy, ever-playful Hollywood producers? How 'bout an entertainment extravaganza with just a little bit of spicy controversy to keep things interesting? Whoops -- make that a bit too much spice because it seems that a hero who is a torturing, madman terrorist who wants to destroy London makes even the enlightened critics of the mainstream media queasy.Here's an excerpt from the review of V for Vendetta in the European edition of Time magazine:
Is it possible for a major Hollywood studio to make a $50 million movie in which the hero is a terrorist? A terrorist who appears wearing the dynamite waistcoat of a suicide bomber, and who utters the line — from beneath a full-face wooden mask that he never takes off — "Blowing up a building can change the world"? A movie written and produced by the Wachowski brothers, the cyberauteurs who created The Matrix? Starring Natalie Portman, shaved as bald as Demi Moore in G.I. Jane?
These are not rhetorical questions. V for Vendetta, set for mid-March release in most markets, is that movie, and it is the most bizarre Hollywood production you will see (or refuse to see) this year. It's the kind of film that makes you ask questions like, Who thought this was a good idea?
Here's another take from Newsweek that's not very affectionate either. But the best by far comes from Debbie Schlussel.
