I haven't seen it yet, however, I plan to at some point.  A friend of mine went to see it and almost walked out because of the blatant Anti-Americanism within the film and the corrupt goverment in the film as portrayed in terms of being "conservaitve" and the faciest leader as "a deeply religious man".  Add to that the idea that the party in power want to "round up and tourture/kill lesbians and gays" as grounded in the "deeply held religious beliefs" I'm sure.  The film portrays America as having entered into a civil war and is now a wasteland as a result of the civil war (as I understand it sparked over the present Iraq conflict, that in that time is still going on.

Like I said, I haven't seen it, but I do know that the gentleman who originally did the comic in the 80's did it as a strike against England under Lady Thatcher. 

That is Hollywood in many ways for you though, people who think they can be policy wonks and talking heads who know better than anyone just because their famous.  Sometimes they can't leave well enough alone, they just have to push the buttons...

At least it gets things out there and hopefully this will spark some "healthy" debate.

Here's the Rolling Stone review

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/_/id/7222868/rid/9440903/?rnd=1142825231843&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1483

Haven't found the WSJ one yet...

Many right-wing bloggers have some very strong words for "V for Vendetta."  It seems that the villains of the movie are extremely exaggerated straw-man depictions of Christian conservatives.  The majority of mainstream reviews are positive, though the language of most reviews indicate that it's a love-or-hate movie...  it's either visionary and profound or slowly-paced, excessive bloviation.

haven't seen that movie...but i've heard many commenting how good it was I will watch it sometime soon.

I'm looking forward to read your review on the Da Vinci Code. Will you post it here?

Have a great time in Cali.

I read the Da Vinci Code over break... and I must say, Dan Brown wrote it in such a way that you didn't want to put it down... just for sake of knowing what was going to happen next.  Which I'm always fond of in a book.  But there were also a lot of blantent twists of fact... some obvious, some not so obvious.  I'm glad that I read the book just for sake of withholding conversations now, and especially since the movie is on its way.  But I do feel that Brown worded his fiction just well enough to convince people of the false truths... and I'm sure the Christian community is going to have a tough time righting the wrongs of this book.

Can't wait to read more of your review.

Wow, I just realized...  Dan Brown...  Bill Brown.

We should invite Mr. Brown here for a chapel.  It could be...

Brown v. Brown of Education.

I couldn't resist.  I'm studying the civil rights movement right now.

Dr. Brown,

You don't know me. I subscribed to your blog a while back because a friend of mine, Liz Lemmel, here in Nashville told me too. I couldn't help but respond to your post, regarding "V for Vendetta."

I am a conservative Christian, but rarely overreact to liberalism (that is, if I react at all. It's usually just too predictable). However, when I saw the movie on Saturday, I was overcome with frustration at the blatant political statements it was making. I was told that it was bad, but I kept telling myself, "It's just a comic book, Brian. The material is just fictional." I also know that the material was originally set against the backdrop of WWII and the Nazi party. This is supposed to make us feel more comfortable, because that would mean that the statements made in the film are not toward Americans. On the contrary, however, being set in the future, it portrays America as the "former United States," because we were destroyed in the Iraq war.

Many of the film's societal leaders are former military officers with, of course, shamefully corrupt pasts. Homosexuals are not treated as people who need to be protected, but glorified for their choices. They are martyrs, and opponents of alternate lifestyles are bigoted, sinister individuals with no intention but to persecute them. The leader of Britain, which is the setting of the film, is an intolerant religious zealot whose only goal is power and who has no care for people of "lesser" stature. In one scene, some of these "religious" governmental reps find a girl out at night past curfew and, as they prepare to rape her (as, of course, all religious people tend to do on a nightly basis), they quote a bible verse: "Spare the rod, spoil the child." They proceed to laugh and move toward her when "V" appears and saves her. Of course, anyone with a bible can look up this all-too-often misquoted verse. Although, I'm sure the correct verse wouldn't be appropriate either, for reasons I doubt I would ever have to explain.

In "V," the pharmaceutical industry is at the root of the problems, as it is the means by which the crooked government carries out its conspiracies. For example, a disease which killed 80,000 individuals years before was planned by the government (sound familiar? I have a co-worker who is convinced that 9/11 was planned by Bush himself) in order to strike fear into the hearts of the people so that they would subordinate to their government "blindly," without any sense to make decisions for themselves. The film blatantly singles out "conservatives" as the ones who are crooked, and whose only goal in life is to oppress and weaken the people. The government is warned in the film of a coming attack, but the dictator brushes it off as an outrageous assumption (similar to the claims made by today's liberal contingent which is saying that our president knew about 9/11 before it happened.).

Of course, the terrorist is the good guy. Except, instead of the "terrorist" being the opponent of Nazism and genocide, he's the opponent of democracy and freedom. He makes a statement in the film that "people should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." This statement comes from the original purpose of the right to bear arms, in order that the government can be turned on if it oversteps its bounds. But this film twists this idea, making it the preferable reaction to a government who fights for the freedom of an oppressed people.

"V for Vendetta" is a pathetic representation of the original comic series, which stood up against the evils of communism in defense of freedom and democracy. Instead, the film switches sides for the viewer, making nations of freedom the evil, defending the idea of terrorism, and spinning on a comic series that had much better intentions behind it. I understand when a person says we should not blindly follow a government. Indeed, I agree wholeheartedly. C.S. Lewis said that when we subordinate like that to government, "we give to Caesar what most definitely belongs to Christ: ourselves." However, loyalty to freedom and submission to authority does not equate with worshipping and idolizing it. It simply means that you believe in its pursuits. However, this film makes any such loyalty out to be stupidity. It is grotesquely bleak in its outlook of freedom, attempts to convince the audience that America is headed for oblivion, and shows such a lack of integrity in the way it was pieced together that it is ultimately a work not of fiction, but propaganda. I highly recommend that anyone who reads this never see this film.

Liked the stuff you said in chapel today, but I think we need another name for the "Center for Biblical Studies" building, because I'm pretty sure that the acronym is already copyrighted .

On a side note, I have yet to see "V for Vendetta", but I do plan on seeing it.  I have read the Plugged In review, as well as what others have said here on your site, but I still think it would be an interesting movie for two reasons: 1) It raises some very profound questions that many people do struggle with.  It's from the minds of the men who gave us "The Matrix" trilogy, so there's bound to be some interesting philosophy weaved throughout the movie, and even though it may paint Christians in a somewhat negative light, I've just accepted the fact that that is the way the world will portray us.  "The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe."  If I want to engage my culture, I have to get past that and ask, "Okay: why do they think that way?"  And 2) I'm a sucker for any kind of intense action movies: that's what drew me to it and "The Matrix" in the first place.  The previews for "V" looked really awesome.

I have yet to read The DaVinci Code, but it is on my reading list. Is there a book offering a rebuttal that you would recommend? Also, I would love to read your thoughts on "Blue Like Jazz" sometime... it seems as though everyone in Christian circles is reading and debating this book!