![V for Vendetta [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51CbABF0X9L._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
![Blade Runner: The Final Cut (4K Ultra HD) [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91R070GrmoL._AC_UL116_SR116,116_.jpg)
![WARNER BROS Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71MBNO9EqXL._AC_UL116_SR116,116_.jpg)
![The Goonies [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81v9kAgiOaL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
![Unforgiven (1992) (4K Ultra HD) [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81PvraGRaFL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
![Blade Runner 2049 (4K Ultra HD) [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81vzm+Q9+aL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
![Godzilla (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray) [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81UBjJwzBZL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
![V for Vendetta [Blu-ray]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71uGBzbTbYL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
![Inglourious Basterds - 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71WjOpXmr7L._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
PILOJ is the acronymn for "Proscription In Lieu Of Justice". Proscription means banishment. And, here, in "V For Vendetta", where govt killing is to be avenged, and where justice is impossible, V's penalty for banishment is death.
Until justice is done... We are, of course, in the twisty-turny world of justifying vigilante killings. When a govt does not protect citizens from murder, when a govt is instead responsible for the murder of its citizens; when a govt does not protect citizen rights, when a govt instead violates its citizen rights; when a govt's representatives act as though they live above the law and do not obey the Constitution, then justice must be considered to be impossible. And, the vigilante may properly contend, if those conditions hold, then that govt's claim to the consent of its citizens is forfeit, and that govt is illegitimate until justice is done.
When authorities have made justice impossible, when they've wired down a society's pressure cooker's safety valve--stopping all possibility of change--and then have cranked up the heat by continually disobeying the Constitution, there's only one result to be sanely expected.
Americans are there, doing that. Stories such as "V For Vendetta" give us a basis for discussion, a point of departure for speculation.
Vigilante killings, in some pure sense, are wrongful murders. You cannot take the law into your own hands when you live under the rule of law. If you do, then you must expect to pay the piper.
However--no matter how genuine the rule of law seems to be at the time--every era has many persons who think they live above the law, as well as many persons who live outside the law. Such persons can always arrange circumstances in which their killings--their wrongful taking of lives--makes justice impossible for ordinary citizens to obtain. It's the way of the world and has been since the earliest codifications of law. Well--with the sole exception of Switzerland, the only nation in which democracy is directly in the hands of the people at all jurisdictional levels.
If we, as ordinary citizens, with no ability to make justice happen under our govt, banish a wrong-doer and his/her helpers from our society, we can choose any penalty for the banishment that we choose. If the person is clearly guilty of robbery, not murder, we may penalize him/her by taking wealth--money and property. If the person is clearly guilty of wrongfully taking lives, then killing that person and his/her helper(s) is arguably justifiable.
And so, into the twisty-turny world of vigilante killings.
The fictional man called "V" lives under a totalitarian govt that has proven itself to him to be guilty of many murders. It's a fascist govt very similar to Hitler's Germany, the infamous 3rd Reich. Under such govts, ordinary people cannot make justice happen.
After his near-thing escape from a research center--in which a lethal virus and its cure were developed, killing dozens--V watches as the politician-killers take many tens of thousands of lives with their own cureable virus. He then prepares himself for about twenty years, and then jumps up his campaign to topple the totalitarian govt.
He blows things up and kills as needed to keep himself free. Under the cloak of state-controlled news media, he kills men and women whom he knows are directly guilty of wrongful death. He also kills their helpers, for example, policemen. Ultimately, he cuts down the criminal govt's topmost leaders.
Killing helpers is a bit of a stretch legally, but those who aid others in wrongful killing are themselves part of the "felony murder" conspiracy. So V's killing of the regime's policemen--as with Robin Hood's killing of "the Sheriff's men" in the late 12th Century--is arguably the killing of those guilty of conspiratorial felony murder and therefore arguably justifiable.
You don't step very far away from Robin Hood in any dealings with vigilante justice. The History Channel's priceless documentary, "The Real Robin Hood", should be on the viewing list for anyone chewing on vigilante justice. Sure, it's probably a grautuitous hype for the Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe movie, "Robin Hood". But it's the outlaw's backstory, no matter how far in the future the outlaw runs with his vigilante justice. Surprisingly, Crowe's touchstone of Robin Hood's taking rights and liberties from the rich and giving those to the poor so that justice can be done is "spot on", as the Brits say, for today's needs.
In any event, the key here is that V's killings are punishment for murders done by a govt that protects itself and its cronnies and under which justice is impossible. V's unsurprising intention is to take that liberty-set from the rich and powerful and then to give it to the poor and ordinary citizens. Hello, justice. Hello, Crowe and Scott. Hello, Robin Hood.
That govt's self-protectiveness and illegal caring for its rich and powerful cronnies is, in fact, very similar to the US govt since the Reagan administrations in the 1980s. (See especially, "Inside Job", the 2011 Oscar-winning Best Documentary of the Year, which covers the causes of the 2008 financial meltdown.) The similarity of govts is what makes the movie, "V For Vendetta", an important topic of discussion and point of departure for ordinary Americans.
The movie is done in a "filmatic graphic novel" syle, according to the filmmakers themselves. I didn't notice any filmatic nod to the graphic novel until V's final fight, you know, when he brings his daggers to a gunfight. Then the filmatic comic book effects fairly jump off the screen at you. The spun and hurled daggers are given the same visual after-images that you expect to see on a comic book's pages. Yes, it's CGI to die for.
The film's story is based on a ten-issue comic book series and given the "graphic novel" upgrade tag. It's writers, and certainly the adaptive filmmakers, want it to be seen as something more than comic book logic.
I'm not sure that the story makes it to that next level. The story has many twists and turns that smack of disjointed, disconnected comic book logic. Still, the story seems more engaging than something out of the straight, superhero, comic book genre.
Some of the film's core features are things that our today's revolutionaries need to digest. Given the belief of enough people, V says, a symbol--say the blowing up of a building--can change the world. When V's bomb blows up the buildings of Parliament at the end--punctuated by a great sprong from the airborne Big Ben clock--the implication is that he's successfully involved enough people to bring down the V-decaptivated govt.
Revolutionaries, make a note. Rule one is seeing democracy done. It's doers must be seen by its other doers--directly and beyond the reach of the sniveling superrich or their parasitic politicians. All the great democracy movements share this seeing. In the end, V-the-filmatic-graphic-novel shows the needed seeing of democracy done.
--spib, 23 Dec 2011
Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery
Frequently bought together
![V for Vendetta [Blu-ray]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91HCREjdUZL._AC_UL116_SR116,116_.jpg)
$12.11
Get it as soon as Saturday, Nov 25
In Stock
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Similar items that may ship from close to you
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
From the manufacturer
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
A division of WarnerMedia, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) brings together all of Warner Bros.’ businesses involved in the delivery of home entertainment content to consumers.
Based on the constantly changing ways by which consumers access entertainment, WBHE focuses on maximizing current and next-generation distribution scenarios to make the Studio’s content available to audiences through as many channels, platforms and devices as possible.
Warner Home Video
With distribution in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video has one of the largest distribution infrastructures in the global video marketplace. In 2019, Warner Home Video had 20% marketshare for overall home entertainment WHV also had the library with “Harry Potter Complete 8-Film Collection” and the television franchise with “Game of Thrones.”
Reviews with images
Submit a report
A few common reasons customers report reviews:
- Harassment, profanity
- Spam, advertisement, promotions
- Given in exchange for cash, discounts
When we get your report, we'll check if the review meets our Community guidelines. If it doesn't, we'll remove it.
Sorry, there was an error
Please try again later.Top reviews from other countries
Jesus lopez cano
Sollte Man gesehen haben
Reviewed in Germany on October 21, 2023
Jesus lopez cano
Reviewed in Germany on October 21, 2023
Images in this review
Steuerfrei
Rhetorik des Films vom heutigen Mainstream übernommen.
Reviewed in Germany on October 9, 2023
