V for Vendetta book review: Moore's Anarchic Masterpiece

Watchmen. From Hell. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Alan Moore has been in the business of comic books for over 35 years, and over the sprawling course of his legendary career he's created some of the greatest and most popular works the medium has ever seen. And then there's V for Vendetta, a terrifying tale of a fascist future England controlled by an Orwellian Totalitarian Government, considered by many to be among the greatest comics, even among the greatest books ever written. And time has taken no shine from this nightmarish story, or the ideas behind its greatness.

Originally published in magazine form between 1982 and 1989, V for Vendetta follows the exploits of the masked revolutionary codenamed V in his efforts to bring down the police state in control of Britain and create and anarchist system in its place. Wearing the now iconic Guy Fawkes mask designed by artist David Lloyd , V's story is told through the eyes of the people he encounters on his quest, each of their lives being irreversibly changed in the process.

Moore and Lloyd spawned a brilliantly compelling and violently psychotic character in V, whose disguise and habit of speaking in quotes and riddles only adds to his eerie mystery (a titanic online debate on who V actually is continues to this day on the internet). Moore's superb writing gives the character his voice, while David Lloyd's shady art style giving V the intense, unforgettable look he commands throughout the book's three parts.

Of course, there's more to V for Vendetta than a character born from genius and stunning art. Like George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four, the book aims high in it's efforts to warn against the dangers of an all controlling government and the power an individual has to make a difference. More than Nineteen Eighty Four however, V spreads the idea of his own political system: anarchy. A system with no leaders certainly taps into Moore's own political psyche, but whether you agree with the idea or not it's hard not to be impressed by the case V makes for it, especially when the alternative is considered.

V for Vendetta is a story about evil and good. About censorship and freedom. About violence and peace, oppression and rebellion and freedom and love. Above all, it's a book with ideas, and as V will tell you: "ideas are bulletproof".

10/10

Misery book review: In attempting to escape writing horror stories Stephen King created one of the most powerful novels the genre has ever seen

He may be the most successful horror author of the last century, but in 1987 Stephen King was desperately trying to escape the genre which had made him famous. His latest novel The Eyes of the Dragon had been shunned by fans due to its lack of the macabre nature that had practically oozed from his earlier books, and his attempts to delve into fantasy in The Dark Tower series had also been heavily criticised. In his frustration, King wrote a short novel called Misery, in which he created an analogy for this situation and also took the opportunity to address the nature of his most hard-core fans, and to examine his mounting addictions to drink and drugs. Remarkably, this dark and angry tale became one of his greatest books to date, and even more surprisingly a classic of the horror genre.

In Misery, Paul Sheldon is the author of the immensely popular Misery romantic novels, but he has grown tired and bored with the series and has killed of the main character, Misery Chastain, in the latest novel. Having just completed a quite different story called Fast Cars, Paul gets drunk and crashes his car, breaking both his legs. Instead of waking up in a hospital, Paul finds himself in the isolated Colorado home of Annie Wilkles, his "number-one fan." But when Annie learns that Paul has murdered Misery she becomes furious, and forces Paul to bring Misery back to life by any means necessary. While it's a classic, dark premise for a King book, it also works perfectly as an analogy for the author's feelings on writing, as Sheldon is unable to escape from the Misery books and King was unable to escape from horror. The story also looks at the idea of fans, with Annie Wilkes providing the ideal model for the near-psychotic obsession that some have with their deepest interests.

For a man trying to avoid writing a horror stories, King crafts a brilliantly chilling one in Misery, with Annie Wilkles being a truly terrifying villain. While a book primarily set in a single setting might have evoked more yawns than cries of shock from readers, King expertly creates a painting of Sheldon's feelings through flashbacks and extended segments of his stream of consciousness. When this psychological melodrama is coupled with several truly terrifying set pieces, including the now notorious hobbling scene, an excruciating tale of hope and horror is born.

King also does a brilliant job of making us feel for Paul Sheldon and genuinely want him to escape his tiny prison by giving us plenty of time to learn about his character and become sympathetic. Added to our fear of the manic Wilkes, the book can truly be described as compelling. While initially one of King's less popular books, a 1990 Oscar winning film adaptation brought Misery the recognition it deserved. He might have been trying to criticise his fans and force them to allow him to move on to other things, but in Misery Stephen King gave them one of his greatest and darkest gifts.

9/10

Elysium: A film caught in two minds

Neill Blomkamp is a director on a mission. Fresh with working with Peter Jackson (of The Lord of the Rings fame) on the politically charged District 9, he's this time attempting to combine big ideas with a big budget in blockbuster science fiction romp Elysium. But has he succeeded in creating a film that spreads grand messages on hope, poverty and the widening difference between the extremities of wealth while at the same time keeping an audience entertained? Not quite. 

Elysium tells the story of earth more than a hundred years from now, where the population has grown and resources have dwindled to such an extent that society's most fortunate have abandoned the planet in favour of an artificial utopia aboard a self sufficient space station known as Elysium, which is dominated by iron-fisted defence secretary Delacourt (Jodi Foster) . Back on earth, Max (Matt Damon), is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and embarks on a quest to reach Elysium and it's advanced health technology in order to save his life. It's a grand premise with seemingly endless potential to explore a range of controversial social issues; dictatorship; bureaucracy and the use of military force to name but a few. And while the script does attempt to at least touch on these, during the second half of the film it becomes more concerned with another aspect: action. 

And it is here that Elysium's problems begin, because Blomkamp's film becomes caught in two minds. On the one hand, it wants a movie that explores a myriad of social and political problems, a film with a message. And on the other, it wants use the power of special effects granted by it's large budget to their full potential to entertain. While the film might have created a fine balance between these contrasting techniques, it instead opts to concentrate it's efforts on the exploding space ships, shoot outs and battles with robotic droids. All very well, you might think, but this leaves the film's attempts at creating an intelligent work as something as an afterthought, a shame considering that the picture was billed as a more clever piece of science fiction. 

At least the action makes Elysium tolerably entertaining, but this isn't what we'd hoped for from the director of the supremely intelligent District 9. To make matters worse, there are few stand-out performances from the all star cast, with only Wagner Moura's madcap character Spider being particularly impressive. And this all comes down to making Elysium an unmemorable and rather disappointing movie from an aspiring young director.  

5/10
   

Pablo Honey: Radiohead's superb statement of intent

Listening to Radiohead's debut album Pablo Honey today, it's easy to see how the Oxfordshire quintet evolved into one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time. The diverse trio of guitar sounds that helped define their classic second album The Bends are present, and some of the experimentation that became prominent on records such as Kid A and Hail to the Thief can also be heard on Pablo Honey. It's therefore remarkable that at it's time of release in 1993 the album was largely ignored, lost amongst the sea of grunge and Britpop that had come to dominate popular music. It wasn't until the hit single Creep began to receive major radio airplay several months later that the album was truly recognised, but is this early stage in Radiohead's career as powerful as it was more than twenty years ago?


Many of the dominant elements on Radiohead's later releases can be heard on Pablo Honey, but this first incarnation of a band that would go on to sell over thirty million albums took more inspiration from American grunge bands such as Nirvana than the myriad of groups that influenced their later, greater records. Indeed, Nirvana nurtured techniques including stark contrast between violent and soft guitar playing and dark, tortured lyrics can be heard most obviously on the album's lead single Creep. The influence of Nirvana is also plain to see on Thom Yorke's vocals, with the singer at least partially attempting to mirror the style of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

Even so, on Pablo Honey Radiohead were already beginning to develop distinctive musical styles and traits,  the system of three guitarists playing drastically different parts simultaneously proving key on the record. It's particularly noticeable on songs like Anyone Can Play Guitar, where easy comparisons can be drawn to their 1995 anthem The Bends.

As a record, it's easy to say that Pablo Honey packs less punch than it's phenomenal successors, but as a debut album by a young band it's a surprisingly accomplished and innovative release. Looking back on Radiohead's long career, Pablo Honey is an import milestone in the band's story.

6/10