Reviews tagging 'Torture'

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

33 reviews

linblythe_pub22's review

dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Murder, Classism, Torture, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Homophobia, and Hate crime

satansluckycigarette's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Torture, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Genocide

steveatwaywords's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Moore and Lloyd's work by now is quite (in)famous, sadly as a film, so looking at the original graphic novel was a must. To qualify this a bit, Moore himself admits this was fairly early in his career and several of the tropes and conceits are now a bit dated or even naive. I have to agree.

First, though, I have to praise the novel for its politics and references, far more complicated and layered than anything seen in the McTeigue film scripted by the Wachowskis. Moore's world--a mix of 1930s noir and post-apocalyptic totalitarian fantasy--is fairly thick in its home-front power relationships. This is really enjoyable for a dark immersion, if at times a bit bewildering. And while Portman made a fair Evey in the film, she is little like the much-challenged Evey of this work.

Where the story grew ever weaker for me was in the growing omniscience and omnipotence of the title character. Without spoilers, V has more control over these complex comings and goings than seems possible. He is ever-present at the right moments, ever-predicting the choices others will make, and somehow prepared for it all with an arsenal of resources. This is, unfortunately, too quickly explained away through a conspiratorial cliche. Ah, well. In this area, the scripting by the Wachowskis made a more satisfying tension of story, an improvement through film I rarely admit to.

Moore, as he was writing, confessed he was inspired by a bevy of classic writers, from Orwell to Bradbury to and from Harlan Ellison to Shakespeare. A worthy undertaking. But what each of these other writers accomplishes, along with their oppressive power structures resisted by citizenry, is the fallibility, the internal conflicts which center the drama around the characters themselves. Moore's symbolism for V--often clever and widely connected to history--is, unfortunately, too abstract for us to connect to in these ways. Evey, then, is a likely substitute for our empathy, and she works in this way, though she appears far too seldom to be as effective as she might be.

"V for Vendetta" is a great introduction to themes of resistance and totalitarianism for readers unfamiliar with other literature. But I've seen other graphic works accomplish far more in less space. Likely--though I haven't yet read them--Moore develops into a stronger writer in his later works.  If anyone has a suggestion what I might read next, let me know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexism

While one might expect violence and brutality from a totalitarian state based on 1930s noir, the sexist tropes in the work have aged particularly badly.

xenia_li's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Police brutality, Violence, Torture, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Genocide

Moderate: Mental illness, Infidelity, Rape, War, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Murder, Gun violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Incest, Medical trauma, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Violence, Grief, and Religious bigotry

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Racism and Lesbophobia

emilo's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Torture, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Rape, Hate crime, Genocide, Confinement, War, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Deportation and Racial slurs

samferree's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I knew Alan Moore hated the movie (but he hates all adaptations of his comics) and now I understand why. It's not quite as egregious as Minority Report, which completely inverted both how the mechanics of the universe worked but also the message, but it's close. V for Vendetta the film was a commentary on the Bush administration, neo conservatism/liberalism, surveillance capitalism, but the comic is really about anarchism. Knowing that Moore was unhappy with the film kind of shaped the way that I read the comic, though, and I kind of think that the story has less to do with fascism (it's been done) and more of a philosophical exploration of the individual's relationship with the collective and government, essentially pointing out that The People are the responsible for whatever society they create and maintain, deserving all the credit and praise or ridicule and damnation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Sexism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Genocide, Hate crime, Police brutality, Suicide, Blood, Drug use, Murder, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, War, and Xenophobia

sup_demons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very mysterious and poetic, glad I read it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Murder, Xenophobia, Torture, and Homophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

mzulli's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Rape

booksdogsandcoffee's review

dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Still rings true in the modern politics of today. As V says “While I’ll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go in making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short of deliberate.”

As humans we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and I think that is why V for Vendetta remains so timeless and relatable even 40 years after publication. 

Cw
Genocide
Racism
Homophobia
Eugenics 
Hate crime
Sexism
Rape
Death
Murder
Torture 
Pedophilia 
Antisemitism 
Xenophobia

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Homophobia, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Blood, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, War, and Religious bigotry