Wachowskis' Vendetta?
Ok, I haven't read the graphic novel. Alan Moore's fans are gnashing their teeth over yet another instance of a movie defiling the vision and soul of one of his works. But one of the major fighting points is how one of the movie's early scenes where the two lead characters meet was disastrously re-written. The sequence is this:-
Dark alley in fascist England. Corrupt cops corner cowering heroine. Masked vigilante interrupts, makes short work of villains. He then introduces himself to the girl.
In the book, he's supposed to quote Macbeth. What he says in the movie, to me, is an amazing use of English, celebrating words which are as forgotten as the "hero" his guise represents. Of course, it can leave people dazed, but I just had to go look it up on the Net. Not surprisingly, I found it. Surprisingly, though, the only people to quote it were those ranting against the pompousness of the Wachowski brothers for writing stuff like that, putting it in the same league as the mind-boggling conversation between Neo and the Architect.
What amazes and shocks me is that language seems to have become reserved for times past. Any attempt to shun the predictable, banal banter and colloquial vernacular seems like a heresy. Complex dialogue, intriguing precisely because one doesn't understand it on first hearing, is seen as pompous. Erudition is vanity.
Oh, well. C students can become Presidents.
Dark alley in fascist England. Corrupt cops corner cowering heroine. Masked vigilante interrupts, makes short work of villains. He then introduces himself to the girl.
In the book, he's supposed to quote Macbeth. What he says in the movie, to me, is an amazing use of English, celebrating words which are as forgotten as the "hero" his guise represents. Of course, it can leave people dazed, but I just had to go look it up on the Net. Not surprisingly, I found it. Surprisingly, though, the only people to quote it were those ranting against the pompousness of the Wachowski brothers for writing stuff like that, putting it in the same league as the mind-boggling conversation between Neo and the Architect.
What amazes and shocks me is that language seems to have become reserved for times past. Any attempt to shun the predictable, banal banter and colloquial vernacular seems like a heresy. Complex dialogue, intriguing precisely because one doesn't understand it on first hearing, is seen as pompous. Erudition is vanity.
Oh, well. C students can become Presidents.
posted by Sketchy Self at 3:44 PM
Your thoughts: 4
I don't think it's time to give up yet.
Sure, when "Moby Dick" was thought of as a "venereal disease" - you can understand the state of things.
Ok, I've read the graphic novel now. I won't say I stand corrected, since my original point about rants against language still stands. But the Wachowskis did take some rather huge "liberties" - the movie is nowhere as deep as the book. That said, I still love Hugo Weaving in the role.
its good that you read it after you saw the movie... as with LOTR.
The real question is, is it possible to make an honest effort to reproduce the book into a 2-3 hr movie, because with LOTR, thats impossible?
anyways, I didnt know the movie has Hugo weaving... add one more to awesome roles...
jardine,
smith,
elrond,
and now... this one!
Hugo Weaving was totally awesome! Imagine having to be the hero of the movie and you always have a mask on - no luxury of a secret identity. yet his body language tells all. and of course, there's that amazing dialogue delivery. Somebody else would have seemed egotistical, but not he.
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