movie review vendetta

‘Vendetta’ Review: Bloody Payback of the Most Dull and Derivative Kind

Clive Standen is a former U.S. Marine out to avenge the murder of his teenage daughter in a tame and derivative revenge thriller with only one thing working in its favor.

By Rene Rodriguez

Rene Rodriguez

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In “ Vendetta ,” a former U.S. Marine strikes back at the thugs who murdered his daughter, inciting a routine cycle of violence with occasional flashes of wit that feel like they were spliced in from a different, better movie. Most of those moments have little to do with the main narrative, which follows William Duncan (Clive Standen, “Vikings”) as he tracks down the hooligans who executed his teenage daughter (Maddie Nichols) during an initiation rite.

His revenge angers Donnie Fetter ( Bruce Willis ), a street-level crime boss who orders his loose-cannon son Rory (Theo Rossi) to do away with William and his wife (Jackie Moore). Despite the warnings by a handwringing but ineffectual detective (Kurt Yue), who tells William violence can only beget more violence, the situation spirals out of control, as it always does in revenge thrillers of this kind. The body count starts to mount. So do the implausibilities, along with the boredom.

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Writer-director Jared Cohn , a veritable Orson Welles of landfill B-movies, makes exactly one good decision in all of “Vendetta”: He allows actor Thomas Jane , playing a gun runner who helps William exact his murderous revenge, to ignore the film’s somber tone and do whatever he wants.

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Smoking a distractingly large pipe and always swigging from a bottle of beer regardless of the time of day, Jane is the only cast member who understands what kind of movie he’s making. He never takes anything seriously, even when he’s in the middle of a car chase being pelted by gunfire, and most of his lines are so incongruous with the rest of the film (“Can I keep it?” he asks William after extracting a large bullet from his shoulder), it’s a safe bet he improvised most of his dialogue.

As the lead thug, Rossi dials up the sadistic lunacy without generating a trace of menace. He’s a lightweight trying to play a fearsome heavy. Mike Tyson pops up in an extended cameo as a professional car thief for no apparent reason other than to give the film’s producers an excuse to add his face to the poster. Tyson has five minutes of screen time tops, but he knows the kind of picture he’s making, and he looks happy for the opportunity to earn a quick and easy paycheck.

The same cannot be said for Willis, whose distracted and empty performance as the main heavy is hard to watch after the news of his Aphasia diagnosis. Willis spends most of his scenes sitting behind a desk, and the effort to remember his scant dialogue, which once might have seemed lazy, is now heartbreaking.

Despite its template plot, “Vendetta” didn’t have to be so listless. The basic storyline is almost identical to “Death Sentence,” the underrated 2007 revenge drama starring Kevin Bacon and directed by James Wan which took the “Death Wish” formula to such an extreme it felt dangerous and new again. One of the liberties that comes with delving into clichéd genre material is the freedom to subvert expectations and try something different, two things the makers of this film had no interest in doing.

“Vendetta,” which is so curiously timid it doesn’t even provide one memorable bit of gratuitous B-movie gore, will evaporate from your memory the moment you return the disc to the Redbox kiosk from which you rented it.

Now available in select theaters, on demand and in Redbox kiosks.

Reviewed online, May 17, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 96 MIN.

• Production: A Redbox Entertainment release of a The Exchange, Bar None Prods production. Producers: Amar Balaggan, Corey Large, Ross Mrazek, Benjamin Rappaport. Executive producers: Marc Danon, Stephen J. Eads, Nat McCormick, Brian O’Shea, Angelo Paletta, Stephen Cyrus Sepher, Galen Smith.
• Crew: Director: Jared Cohn. Screenwriter: Jared Cohn. Camera: Brandon Cox. Editor: Trevor Mirosh. Score: David Findlay.
• With: Clive Standen, Bruce Willis, Theo Rossi, Thomas Jane, Kurt Yue, Jackie Moore, Mike Tyson, Maddie Nichols.

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‘Dystopia’ with a capital V

Natalie Portman comes face-to-mask with V (Hugo Weaving) in "V for Vendetta."

It is the year 2020. A virus runs wild in the world, most Americans are dead, and Britain is ruled by a fascist dictator who promises security but not freedom. One man stands against him, the man named V, who moves through London like a wraith despite the desperate efforts of the police. He wears a mask showing the face of Guy Fawkes, who in 1605 tried to blow up the houses of Parliament. On Nov. 5, the eve of Guy Fawkes Day, British schoolchildren for centuries have started bonfires to burn Fawkes in effigy. On this eve in 2020, V saves a young TV reporter named Evey from rape at the hands of the police, forces her to join him, and makes a busy night of it by blowing up the Old Bailey courtrooms.

“V for Vendetta” will follow his exploits for the next 12 months, until the night when he has vowed to strike a crushing blow against the dictatorship. We see a police state that hold citizens in an iron grip and yet is humiliated by a single man who seems impervious. The state tries to suppress knowledge of his deeds — to spin a plausible explanation for the destruction of the Old Bailey, for example. But V commandeers the national television network to claim authorship of his deed.

This story was first told as a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and published in 1982 and 1983. Its hero plays altogether differently now, and yet, given the nature of the regime. is he a terrorist or a freedom fighter? Britain is ruled by a man named Sutler, who gives orders to his underlings from a wall-sized TV screen and seems the personification of Big Brother. And is: Sutler is played by John Hurt , who in fact played Winston Smith in “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (1984). (V seems more like Jack the Ripper, given his ability to move boldly in and out of areas the police think they control. The similarity may have come easily to Moore, whose graphic novel “ From Hell ” was about the Ripper, and inspired a good 2001 movie by the Hughes brothers.

“V for Vendetta” has been written and co-produced by the Wachowskis, Andy and Lana, whose “Matrix” movies also were about rebels holding out against a planetary system of control. This movie is more literary and less dominated by special effects (although there are plenty), and is filled with ideas that are all the more intriguing because we can’t pin down the message. Is this movie a parable about 2006, a cautionary tale or a pure fantasy? It can be read many ways, as I will no doubt learn in endless e-mails.

The character of V and his relationship with Evey ( Natalie Portman ) inescapably reminds us of the Phantom of the Opera. V and the Phantom are both masked, move through subterranean spaces, control others through the leverage of their imaginations and have a score to settle. One difference, and it is an important one, is that V’s facial disguise does not move (unlike, say, the faces of a Batman villain) but is a mask that always has the same smiling expression. Behind it is the actor Hugo Weaving , using his voice and body language to create a character, but I was reminded of my problem with Thomas the Tank Engine: If something talks, its lips should move.

Still, Portman’s Evey has expressions enough for most purposes, as she morphs from a dutiful citizen to V’s sympathizer, and the film is populated with a gallery of gifted character actors. In addition to Hurt as the sinister dictator, we see Stephen Rea and Rupert Graves as the police assigned to lead the search for V. Tim Pigott-Smith is an instrument of the dictator. These people exist in scenes designed to portray them as secure, until V sweeps in like a whirlwind, using martial arts, ingenious weapons and the element of surprise. Why the mask does not limit his peripheral vision is a question I will leave for the experts.

There are ideas in this film. The most pointed is V’s belief: “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” I am not sure V has it right; surely in the ideal state governments and their people should exist happily together. Fear in either direction must lead to violence. But V has a totalitarian state to overthrow, and only a year to do it in, and we watch as he improvises a revolution. He gets little support, although Stephen Fry plays a dissident TV host who criticizes the government at his peril.

With most action thrillers based on graphic novels, we simply watch the sound and light show. “V for Vendetta,” directed by James McTeigue , almost always has something going on that is actually interesting, inviting us to decode the character and plot and apply the message where we will. There are times when you think the soundtrack should be supplying “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols. The movie ends with a violent act that left me, as a lover of London, intensely unhappy; surely V’s enemy is human, not architectural.

The film has been disowned by Alan Moore, who also removed his name from the movie versions of his graphic novels From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , but then any sane person would have been unhappy with the Gentlemen. His complaint was not so much with the films as with the deal involving the use of his work. I have not read the original work, do not know what has been changed or gone missing, but found an audacious confusion of ideas in “V for Vendetta” and enjoyed their manic disorganization. To attempt a parable about terrorism and totalitarianism that would be relevant and readable might be impossible, could be dangerous and would probably not be box office.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Stephen Fry as Deitrich
• John Hurt as Sutler
• Natalie Portman as Evey Hammond
• Hugo Weaving as V
• Stephen Rea as Finch

Based on the graphic novel by

• Andy Wachowski
• Lana Wachowski

Directed by

• James McTeigue

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‘vendetta’: film review.

Dean Cain plays a detective who gets himself sent to prison to exact revenge on the bad guy who killed his wife in this testosterone-laden effort from the Soska sisters.

By THR Staff

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Vendetta Still - H 2015

When you encounter a prison-set movie produced by the WWE and featuring its star wrestler Paul “The Big Show” Wight as a hulking villain, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. Despite having been directed by women —  Jen and Sylvia Soska , also known as the “Twisted Twins” —  Vendetta is far from a chick but rather is the sort of B-movie violent actioner that makes you feel your testosterone level rising as you watch it. Being given a limited theatrical release, it should attract devotees of the WWE’s unique brand of entertainment on VOD .

Dean Cain , looking quite a bit beefier than during his Superman days on Lois & Clark , plays the lead role of Mason, a hard-driven detective who, in the film’s opening scene, manages to finally nab his arch-nemesis Victor (Wight) in — where else? — an abandoned warehouse.

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But as anyone who’s seen these sorts of movies knows, Victor is soon released on a technicality. Thirsting for revenge of the literal overkill variety, he immediately heads to Mason’s home and beats his wife ( Kyra Zagorsky ) to death, although not without getting caught in the process.

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Mason naturally becomes unhinged, embarking on — you guessed it — a vendetta against the criminal who destroyed his life. His less-than-savvy plan involves murdering Victor’s bad-guy brother ( Aleks Paunovic ) and getting himself sent to the same prison where his quarry currently resides.

Cue the ensuing violent mayhem as Mason discovers that Victor is pretty much running the place. Getting involved in one violent altercation after another, the former cop quickly runs afoul of the sleazy warden ( Michael Eklund , entertainingly playing the cheesy material like it’s Shakespeare) who calls Mason into his office after he’s sent one of his attackers to the hospital.

“You’ve created quite a predicament for me,” the warden chides. “What to do, what to do?”

The answer is pretty much nothing, as it soon becomes evident that the warden is in cahoots with Victor, who naturally wants to dispatch Mason as quickly as possible. Attempting to uncover the criminal conspiracy, Mason enlists the help of his former partner ( Ben Hollingsworth ), which doesn’t turn out so well.

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The screenplay by Justin Shady offers no surprises, mainly serving as a springboard for the endless series of fight scenes in which Cain demonstrates that he’s become a serious movie badass. The Soska  sisters, whose previous credits include the cult horror film American Mary , prove themselves quite proficient at staging the brutal skirmishes which inevitably lead to a climactic prison riot.

For all its formulaic aspects, Vendetta at least proves ruthlessly efficient, displaying no narrative fat and determinedly delivering the nonstop action its target audience craves. Cain delivers an impressively intense, highly physical performance and Wight, whose sheer massiveness is practically a special effect, proves an effective villain who’s certainly convincing as he puts opponent after opponent in chokeholds .

Production: WWE Studios Cast: Dean Cain, Paul Wight, Michael Eklund , Ben Hollingsworth, Adrian Holmes, Matthew MacCaull , Kyra Zagorsky , Aleks Paunovic Directors: Jen Soska , Sylvia Soska Screenwriter: Justin Shady Producer: Michael Luisi Executive producer: Richard Lowell Director of photography: Mahlon Todd Williams Production designer: Troy Hansen Editor: Richard Nord Costume designer: Aieisha Li Composer: The Newton Brothers Casting: Tiffany Mak

Rated R, 90 minutes

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‘vendetta’ (2022) review: villains are the saving grace.

Vendetta is one of those movies that a person watches more out of morbid curiosity than anything else. An action movie with a cast that includes Bruce Willis and Mike Tyson is going to draw some interest. It is a good thing the cast attracts attention, since the plot is a run of the mill revenge story about a man named William Duncan (Clive Standen) who is out for revenge after the death of his daughter. 

There is the potential for an interesting story about the cycle of violence. Duncan ends up getting his revenge (not a spoiler; it is in the synopsis of Vendetta ), but this leads to the killer’s brother and his gang looking for payback. It would not be particularly deep, but there is enough there for some nuance. There are plenty of similar films that have used this set up.

The feeling of something missing is a constant. Tyson ends up being little more than a glorified cameo while the usually dependable Thomas Jane is essentially comic relief. Vendetta has the requisite blood and fights, but they feel adequate at best. Anytime the film seems like it is going to hit the next gear, it just sputters out. There is some tension and excitement, but it never seems like enough.

Vendetta  is screening in select theaters and is available On Demand and digital

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Vendetta (I) (2022)

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V for Vendetta

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Mad as hell and out to rile up a politically lethargic youth audience, V for Vendetta sometimes trips on its ambitions. But who gives a damn? At least this grabber of a movie actually has ambitions, which makes it unique in a brain-dead multiplex. Better yet, V packs an urgent filmmaking energy that pins you to your seat.

Written by the Wachowskis — Andy and his transgender brother, Larry — and directed by first-timer James McTeigue, their assistant on The Matrix , the film flies on a rhythm all its own. There’s nothing Neo about V, the masked avenger who uses bombs, daggers and his telegenic charisma to take down a regime that has left him a burned remnant of its ungodly experiments.

Hugo Weaving — Agent Smith in the Matrix movies — plays this terrorist grandmaster behind a fiberglass mask that makes his vocal wit and physical eloquence doubly remarkable. Never mind that the Shakespeare-quoting, rose-carrying V comes dangerously close to Phantom of the Opera kitsch. Or that his politics can be as simplistic as Billy Jack’s. V has his mojo working.

And so do the filmmakers. The source material is the 1989 graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd and written by Alan Moore, who wants no part of what the Wachowskis have wrought. Moore took his name off the film’s credits. Moore’s novel skewered the 1980s England of Margaret Thatcher. In the Wachowski update, England is a police state ruled by Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt), a fear-mongering, gay-bashing, Islam-hating dictator who strips citizens of their civil rights and religious freedoms in exchange for protection from bioweapons of mass destruction. Some see parallels here to BushWorld. Come on. The chancellor, as acted to the hilt by Hurt, can’t be W — he’s hyperarticulate.

V for Vendetta , more fun and less self-referential than those appalling Matrix sequels, is an action film that is not afraid to stop for thoughtful debate, a wry laugh or a lesson on how to fry an egg for a pretty girl. That (the girl, not the egg) would be Evey (Natalie Portman), a slave at a chancellor-controlled TV network. The station has its own Bill O’Reilly figure in the blowhard Prothero (Roger Allam). And the chancellor has his own Dick Cheney in Creedy (Tim Pigott-Smith), who aims his buckshot at Deitrich (Stephen Fry), a closet gay who mocks the chancellor in a TV comedy skit. Poor Evey doesn’t know where to turn.

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On her first meeting with V, who saves her from rape by police thugs, Evey is taken to a rooftop for some fireworks. Not the sexual kind. V raises his hands like a conductor and directs Evey to watch as the Old Bailey blows up and lights the night sky. It’s V who set the bombs, in honor of Guy Fawkes, the Catholic vigilante who futilely tried to blow up Parliament on November 5th, 1605. V, in his Fawkes mask, is determined not to fail, vowing that next year, on November 5th, 2020, Parliament will be history.

V sweeps Evey away to his secret lair and shows her his Shadow Gallery, where he keeps forbidden artifacts, such as the Koran, and listens to the Velvet Underground. It’s there that she learns of V’s brutal history and his reasons for murdering coroner Delia Surridge (a superb Sinead Cusack). V’s politicalization of Evey is the film’s core. She evades arrest from Finch (a haunted Stephen Rea), the cop on the V case, but not the hands of a hidden tormenter who jails her, shaves her hair (Portman sacrificed her own locks for the role) and pushes her hard to betray V.

Portman’s English accent goes in and out, but not her performance, which becomes the heart and soul of the movie. Scratch the lousy Wars films and Portman, from The Professional to Closer , is one of the best actresses of her generation. Here she’s dynamite, especially when Evey finds a letter written by a lesbian victim of torture and begins to understand V’s true mission.

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Though the film runs with the outsiders in society, the Wachowskis don’t ignore the dark side of V’s character. Cinematographer Adrian Biddle, who died in December, plays with light and shadow in ways that provide depth even when the script settles for glib.

Setting indelible images to a deft score by Dario Marianelli, McTeigue speeds us along to a thunderous climax at Parliament. Calling Warner Bros. irresponsible for releasing a film that rouses an audience to action is like calling the Constitution irresponsible for protecting free speech. The explosive V for Vendetta is powered by ideas that are not computer-generated. It’s something rare in Teflon Hollywood: a movie that sticks with you.

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V for vendetta.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 27 Reviews
• Kids Say 82 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

By Cynthia Fuchs , based on child development research. How do we rate?

Complex but heavy-handed action film. Adults only.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this film includes recurring and explicit violence, including explosions, martial arts fights, knifings (with bloody results quite visible), shootings, and torture inside prison cells (where one character shares her space with a rat). The film opens with a flashback to a 1605 hanging, and…

Why Age 18+?

Violence includes a hanging, explosions, knife and martial arts attacks, shootin

Chatty terrorists use some profanity (including at least one f-word, and infrequ

An elderly bishop arranges to have sex with underage girl (the actual girl is on

Bar scene shows drinking.

Any Positive Content?

Primary terrorist justifies his violence as resistance to the completely corrupt

Violence & Scariness

Violence includes a hanging, explosions, knife and martial arts attacks, shootings, and scenes of torture, invasions of homes, war scenes on background televisions; bloody smears on walls; police are threatening and militaristic; threatened rape; murder by poisoning; man's figure appears burning during building fire; image of girl's mother dragged away by bad cop); discussion of epidemic fatal virus.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Chatty terrorists use some profanity (including at least one f-word, and infrequent uses of "bloody hell," "damn," "bitch," s-word).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

An elderly bishop arranges to have sex with underage girl (the actual girl is only pretending to be that young; gay character discusses being closeted as "wearing a mask."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Primary terrorist justifies his violence as resistance to the completely corrupt state.

Parents need to know that this film includes recurring and explicit violence, including explosions, martial arts fights, knifings (with bloody results quite visible), shootings, and torture inside prison cells (where one character shares her space with a rat). The film opens with a flashback to a 1605 hanging, and then, in the present, an imminent rape (stopped by V's violent intervention). The film includes scenes of war and police state tactics, including the brutal incarceration of race and sexual minorities in Britain. A young girl sees her mother kidnapped by government flunkies, then witnesses a similar brutality as an adult. When a bishop arranges for sex with an underage girl (apparently a regular practice), he's killed as punishment (but not before he pushes his would-be girl victim onto his bed). Characters curse occasionally (infrequent use of the f-word, plus "bloody hell," "bitch," and the s-word). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (27)
• Kids say (82)

Based on 27 parent reviews

Ignore the 2 stars, this movie is excellent.

What are some of these people talking aboout, what's the story.

More generic action movie than philosophical investigation, V FOR VENDETTA focuses on a young woman's political education. The underlying, irresolvable question has to do with terrorism: why and how are people pushed to commit it, and what might it achieve, aside from fear and oppression? Can calculated violence, ever, as its proponents argue, lead to "freedom"? At the center of is masked terrorist V (Hugo Weaving), who battles against a very corrupt British regime. Out after curfew, Evey (Natalie Portman) is about to be raped by some bad cops when V appears, kills them, and initiates his instruction of the vulnerable Evey in his anarchistic plot. V's rage is fueled by the usual superhero's past trauma. While the movie allows that torture only reproduces terrorism and violence, it also presents V's scheme as revolutionary and effectively symbolic. While V is hunted by a decent cop Finch (Stephen Rea), he keeps Evey at his secret lair, where he makes her tea and eggs for breakfast. Her eventual escape only leads her to a more awful place, imprisoned and tortured. At last, she admits, she is no longer afraid to die. And in this, she finds what V calls "freedom."

Is It Any Good?

Heavy-handed pronouncements exemplify V for Vendetta's distrust of viewers to interpret what they see, making the film's political and social commentary seem more cartoonish than insightful. Yes, imperialism is really bad, and yes, Nazi-ish iconography is a sure sign of a regime's need for change. What's less clear, and could use some reflection, is how V's violent acts will or will not produce more victims and vigilantes. "Freedom and justice are more than words," he says, "They are perspectives." And as such, they need rethinking at every step.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the film's presentation of terrorism as reasonable response to state oppression. Is violence ever an appropriate response? How do the evil chancellor's raging and V's tragic background (abused and institutionalized as a child) make V's cause seem sympathetic, even if it's illegal and aggressive? How does Evey's own childhood loss of her parents make her ready to be V's protégé? For fans of the book, families can discuss the differences between the film and its inspiration.

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 17, 2006
• On DVD or streaming : August 1, 2006
• Cast : Hugo Weaving , John Hurt , Natalie Portman
• Director : James McTeigue
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 131 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong violence and some language
• Last updated : August 13, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia’ on Netflix, an Italian Docuseries Hyping the Rivalry Between a Anti-Mafia Figures

Where to stream:.

• Vendetta: Truth, Lies, and the Mafia
• documentaries

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Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia is an Italian six-part Netflix documentary series about the people battling organized crime in Sicily — and specifically, two figures who have a little bit of notoriety themselves. One is a self-appointed TV journalist and the other is an official with the power of the state behind her. Both are controversial figures, and neither takes kindly to the other. Sounds juicy, doesn’t it?

VENDETTA: TRUTH, LIES AND THE MAFIA : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Subtitle: SICILY. A shot of roadside streetlamps at night. Thunder rumbles in the distance.

The Gist: In the 1990s, Italy was scarred by so many “mafia massacres,” an anti-mafia movement emerged, led by journalists and judges. “But are they all real heroes?” asks a subtitle. One of those journalists is Pino Maniaci, who says his anti-mafia activism makes him fear retaliation — every time he goes to start his car, he wonders if it’ll explode. One of those judges is Silvana Saguto, who says she worked to seize “billions” in assets from mafia organizations. These are the main characters of this series, and their conflict is as follows: Maniaci accuses Saguto of being corrupt. Saguto accuses Maniaci of being a mafioso himself.

That’s the gist of the gist here. The episode settles down in Partinico, where Maniaci lives and works. In 1999, he acquired community television channel Telejato and shifted to journalism after a couple of different professional endeavors. He runs the station himself, along with his wife and children. His homegrown, amateurish news programs caught on with a large audience when he used his brash persona — self-aggrandizing, signature pushbroom mustache, cusses on air — to confront local gangsters who terrorize locals and appropriate violence. Maniaci is described as “eccentric,” “not a saint,” “vulgar” and “reckless,” an attention whore on the wild fringe of professionalism who nevertheless has his journalistic guns pointed at the right people when he goes on the air and calls mafiosos “pieces of shit.” But he also dislikes injustice, his sister testifies. And for his trouble, his enemies burned his car, killed his beloved pet dogs and tried to strangle him with his own necktie.

Next, we go to Palermo, where we meet Saguto. She became a judge in 1981 and eventually made it her mission to take down mafiosos. She has an omnipresent bodyguard as a result. We see her shooting a gun with deadly accuracy, and verbally sparring with notorious gang boss Salvatore Riina in court. She says she’s scared of bugs, but she’s not scared of mafiosos. In 2010, she became President of the Department of Protective Measures, an agency empowered to seize mafia assets without a criminal trial, forcing the accused to prove the assets weren’t acquired illegally.

After the Protective Measures began seizing alleged mafia businesses and goods, Maniaci and Telejato began reporting on corruption within the office. Companies would get seized, then neglected, putting people out of work; even worse, positions in those companies were allegedly given to friends and family members of those working for Protective Measures. Some residents claimed they paid extortion money to the mafia under the threat of death, then were labeled mafiosos by the department — guilt by association. Saguto came under fire. She got a call from “some weirdo from Protinico” who “isn’t even a real journalist.” She says she’d never heard of Maniaci, who was trying to expose her. His work was rendered credible after the national news began reporting the same story, and in 2015, the state investigated her for corruption. And then, Maniaci was arrested when authorities rounded up a batch of accused mafiosos. To be continued!

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? This story of two strong personalities in a battle of wills takes the Tiger King template and applies it to a different context. Saguto and Maniaci give off a little Carole Baskin/Joe Exotic dynamic energy, albeit with a lower wacko quotient.

Our Take: Vendetta takes a sensationalist approach to a story about sensationalism, amplifying the rivalry between its two principals, whose true motives remain in the dark after one episode. Are they using an anti-mafia platform to benefit the greater good, or to further themselves and their careers? Both, probably. Maniaci comes off as too much of an intentional firebrand to not be self-serving; he frequently speaks of himself in the third person, as if he’s created a Pino Maniaci character for television. And Saguto — well, did anyone else’s eyebrow arch at the phrase “without criminal trial,” and wonder if the Protective Measures bureau’s powers leave the door wide open for fraud?

So far, the series moves at a brisk pace and emphasizes its personalities — at the expense of detail, I’m afraid. The first of a string of six episodes shouldn’t belabor its exposition, but neither should it prompt us to Google further information for relevant context. It’s hard to get a handle on whether Maniaci is considered by viewers and professionals as a citizen journalist or just a joke. It doesn’t give us any idea of Telejato’s range (Wikipedia says it has a potential viewership of 150,000 people), merely stating that Maniaci is “popular.” If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: If a documentary prompts us to look at Wikipedia, then it’s not doing its job.

However, Vendetta may boast enough mafia-adjacent content to please that corner of obsessives. It’ll also trigger our guilty-pleasure sensors with that wait-Maniaci-might-be-a-crook-TOO cliffhanger, which might be enough of a compelling development to let the autoplay roll us right into the next episode. It exists in the median between TigerKing -type trash and credible journalism, and the story is strong enough that we may just see it through the next five chapters.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: A series of mafioso mugshots concludes with one final face: Maniaci’s.

Sleeper Star: Drink every time you see Maniaci’s wife, Patrizia Marchione, holding a cigarette, taking a drag from a cigarette or stubbing out a cigarette.

Most Pilot-y Line: “A bullet doesn’t cost the mafia anything.” — Saguto

Our Call: STREAM IT. In spite of its flaws, Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia shows enough of its principals’ charisma to stir our interest.

Will you stream or skip the Italian docuseries ‘Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia’ on @netflix ? #Vendetta #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) September 28, 2021

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba .

Stream  Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia on Netflix

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My Name is Vendetta (2022) Movie Review – Netflix’s meek regurgitation of the cinematic Mafia revenge trope

Netflix’s meek regurgitation of the cinematic Mafia revenge trope

My Name is Vendetta might have a different name and setting but it eventually gets to the same point Mafia movies have for decades. The genre has seen some admirable innovations in plot & character. Even television has developed the spine to sink its teeth into this enigmatic and charming world of crime and violence. But this Italian film is surely not one of them. For all of its big chasing sequences and killing, My Name is Vendetta cannot escape the legacy or the logistics of Mafia movie tropes.

The predictability element is quite astonishing. Perhaps until the point Sofia (Ginevra Francisconi) takes Santo’s (Alessandro Gassmann)picture and uploads it on Instagram, we expected a differentiation. After that happened, the film descended into mediocrity and could never scrape its way back. The Mafia genre is such that characters can be written in various ways to make you feel something different as a viewer and mean something else. Maybe even the same thing that My Name is Vendetta tries to drive home. But the screenplay here has etched Sofia, Santo, and Angelo’s fate in stone. And the substance is not compelling.

Director Cosimo Gomez has worn many hats before taking the director’s chair. He has worked in set design, costume, and even the art department in films before. Although he has a decent track record in those roles, his ventures into directing have been disappointing, to say the least. Both his other features ( Io e Spottyy and Ugly Nasty People ) have lost momentum and given up unique positions in storytelling to genre conventions. His latest film also suffered from that syndrome.

The central problem remains the writing and what Gomez prioritizes in his cinematic universe. The latter seems to be mismatched and hints towards him getting caught in taking a firm creative decision. If you decide to wrap up the foundations of the vendetta within the first 15 minutes, you can singularly focus on curating stylish-looking action scenes. For those action enthusiasts, this movie could have worked well if that part were indeed true. But in reality, it is not. Santo goes about wading off Angelo’s men in a dull fashion. This, unfortunately, extended even to the climax, making it a huge disappointment.

It was almost as if we were watching an uninterested gamer playing a video game where he knew exactly how the mission is to be carried out. Because he has done it umpteen times before that. If you are indeed not wrapping up the motivations for vendetta in the first 15 (which did not happen here), go ahead and focus on character development. Let the action take a spell on the sidelines. Balancing the two is a rare art and something we did not expect going into the film. Very few before Gomez have managed that successfully and perhaps his non-committal proves how difficult it is.

With either choice, you need good writing to back you up. There is only so much you can do as a director. But Gomez is a part of the trio who pen this movie and that is why his share of the blame is more. There is no punch in the dialogue. When two characters chat, we do not see any to-and-fro or rhythm to give energy to the storytelling. The biggest miss is undoubtedly the lack of big moments that can sway viewers.  From how My Name is Vendetta ends, the actual point of attention was Sofia’s coming of age.

But the realization for the viewer hits very late in the film. By that time, you will have already made up your mind and there is little to redeem. The problems with My Name is Vendetta are fundamental, albeit the biggest one is that it neither falls into the category of slow-burn serious-minded dramas redefining the genre, nor into the category of fast-paced action and thrills-filled entertainment fiesta to get you excited. It stays somewhere in between, which is the worst place to end up.

Read More:  My Name Is Vendetta Ending Explained

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• Verdict - 5/10 5/10

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V For Vendetta Review

17 Mar 2006

132 minutes

V For Vendetta

Graphic novelist Alan Moore hasn’t had much luck with the movie adaptations of his work: The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen was downright risible and From Hell deeply so-so, while Watchmen — Moore’s masterpiece — has stalled, spluttering somewhere in the pre-production netherworld. Or rather, it’s fans of Alan Moore who haven’t had much luck with movie adaptations of his work. The man himself has given up caring, and is so uninterested in this take on his ’80s serial

V For Vendetta that he declined any involvement and ordered his name off the credits. The irony being, this is the best Moore-to-big-screen translation yet.

Which does sound horribly like faint praise. But what marks V out from its Moore-ish predecessors is that it’s been far less compromised by bottom-line concerns.

So much so that the result is decidedly uncommercial. Despite the trailer’s promise of slo-mo action scenes with swooshing knives pirouetting through the air while bullet casings bounce artfully off concrete, this is no teen-pleasing slam-banger. Rather it’s a very talky, deliberately paced political thriller; yes, V is handy with a stiletto, but said scenes occupy fewer than five minutes of screen time, while his preferred method of assassination is lethal injection; no need to draft in Yuen Wo-Ping to assist with that.

We have a protagonist whose face — eyes included — is hidden beneath an inexpressive Guy Fawkes mask throughout and who packs his lengthy monologues with as many multi-syllabled words as possible. We have a leading lady who spends half the film with an unflattering skinhead. And we have a plot which makes a hero of a man who wears bomb-belts and makes his political points turning major landmarks into fireworks displays.

That all these landmarks are found in London arguably makes V For Vendetta an even trickier sell in the UK. One sequence involves a tube train carriage packed with explosives… That’s not going to go down well with a fair chunk of British cinemagoers. Yet we shouldn’t get too hot under the collar, as all this is taking place in a nightmare UK of the future — a Daily Mail heaven of a nation, if you like: God-fearing, racially ‘pure’ and purged of all its sexual ‘deviants’. In Moore’s comics, this society was a post-apocalyptic reflection of Thatcher’s Britain, Moore’s way of launching a simplistic left-wing attack on the then-seemingly unyielding Conservative power-grip. In his world, the only justifiable response was that of an enlightened anarchist, a Fawkes for the modern era. Moore’s V For Vendetta, Moore’s politics, were firmly rooted in the ’80s (where the writer obviously wants them to stay).

The Wachowskis’ version is post-9/11 and proud of it. Their Britain is portrayed as a potential end-point for the current reactionary trend towards the restriction of personal liberty and for the Western media’s fear-frenzy; avian flu and anti-Muslim sentiment are both mentioned while, crucially, V is never referred to as an anarchist, only as a terrorist. Still, the Fawkes parallels are played up (a prologue outlining the Gunpowder Plot has been included for the benefit of American audiences) and the brothers remain respectful of the material they’re playing with; indeed, the comic’s most powerful episode — we don’t want to give it away; suffice to say it involves Natalie Portman’s Alien3 ’do — survives largely intact, providing one of the heftiest gut-punches you’ll see in a movie this year.

Yet the film does have its problems. Debut helmer James McTeigue (former first assistant director to the Wachowskis and George Lucas) doesn’t quite recapture the grimy, neo-Dickensian feel that characterised the comic, his future Britain largely looking rather plain and everyday — perhaps the point, but it leaves the picture feeling somewhat bereft of style. And while physically good casting for Evey, the doe-eyed innocent who has to conquer her fears just as the populace should to overwhelm their oppressors, Portman’s accent flounders, trembling painfully at every vowel enunciation.

Opposite her, though, Hugo Weaving proves compelling as V, even if his performance is largely vocal. He has some clumsy moments to deal with (V’s overly alliterative entrance speech is a dire scripting mis-step), but he overcomes them to make this borderline psychotic vigilante a memorable and unsettlingly charismatic anti-hero. Alan Moore may be snubbing Weaving’s vicious cabaret, but that doesn’t mean everyone else should.

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‘Nonostante’ Review: A Wry Italian Riff on Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘After Life’

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Chief among them – though this lead, like every other character, goes nameless – is an ornery sort played by Mastandrea himself. Now marking his second outing behind camera, Mastandrea is already a popular Italian star and lead of last year’s record-breaking smash hit “There’s Still Tomorrow.” But even those less familiar with the actor’s background will quickly recognize his type – specifically here as the kind of middle-aged flâneur that has become Italian film ’s stock protagonist. Self-contained in a suit and clad by ironic distance, the unnamed sort calls to mind  all  the doleful observers that have traipsed across the screen since  il cinema  went modern, highlighting a weakness of a film that could benefit from a touch more idiosyncrasy. Related Stories Mark Duplass Wants to Do for Indie TV What Creators Did for Indie Film in the ’90s Pedro Almodóvar Describes His Latest Era in Life as ‘More Somber, More Austere, More Melancholic, Less Certain’

Though these particular lonely escapades begin at a long-term care facility, they are not limited to any one space, with this existential dramedy often beguiling on world-building alone. Mastandrea invites us to linger in his fantasy construct before relaying the rules, lending the experience an appealing uncanniness. The prosaic turns poetic as the anodyne, health clinic interiors – you know the type, full of fluorescent lights and antiseptic designs – soon give way to surreal embellishments. Strong gusts of wind, with the sudden force of a hurricane, sweep in unannounced, while the many lost souls defy genre conventions by moving freely through the world.

That abstract possibility assumes greater urgency upon the arrival of a new patient and wandering soul. She speaks with an accent, boasts the energy of Argentine star Dolores Fonzi (“Paulina”), and in no way accepts the limitations of her newly liminal state. And wouldn’t you know it, the two soon fall in love – or whatever the nearest approximation thereof – which poses an additional issue when their respective conditions take opposite turns.

Working from a script he co-wrote with Enrico Audenino, Mastandrea accents his premise’s wider allegorical possibilities, using this scheme to riff on all forms of existential heartbreak. Thought the spirits are able to interact with one another and free to roam, they cannot connect with those outside their condition – save for one tone-deaf musical therapist, played by local standup Giorgio Montanini — and that creates additional resonance once the lead takes his new love to visit his dementia-afflicted dad. The pair stand before the older man as literal and figurative ghosts – close in proximity but separated by an insurmountable metaphysical divide. That the scene apparently evokes the filmmaker’s own family story only adds poignancy, pointing towards a richer expression of these themes.

If not quite working on the same level as Kore-eda’s 1998 masterpiece, “Nonostante” still circles around similar conclusions, understanding that the artistic urge to capture and enshrine connects to a sentiment commonly offered in mourning. “May their memory be a blessing,” we say, owning our own agency in the matter by recognizing that a quieted voice can continue to echo for so long as we can hear and share – and Mastandrea captures that same sentiment here. Movies aren’t yet a balm for mortality, he admits, but as we wait for the alchemists to finally solve  that  problem, the best we can do is steal moments from time.

“Nonostante” premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

Want to stay up to date on IndieWire’s film  reviews  and critical thoughts?  Subscribe here  to our newly launched newsletter, In Review by David Ehrlich, in which our Chief Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor rounds up the best reviews, streaming picks, and offers some new musings, all only available to subscribers.

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Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Cosimo Gomez

Alessandro Gassmann

Santo Romeo

Ginevra Francesconi

Remo Girone

Don Angelo Lo Bianco

Marcello Mazzarella

Sinja Dieks