I Clapped Loudly When V FINALLY Died (or What Was but What Did Never Be)

Rating: 2/10 (25 May 2006)

When I go into a movie, especially a big-budget movie, I expect at least SOME plausibility, which means I expect to at least say "Okay, it's baloney but I'll buy it for now since it's a MOVIE.
I haven't read the comic books, but I can totally understand why the creator would drop his name from this: It's SUPPOSED TO BE a George Orwell's "1984" type world where a seemingly faceless man stands against the tyranny and inspires the majority, who are as tired of it as ... say ... Irish and Northern Irish Catholics in the early 1900's were tired of being under British rule when Michael Collins (another seemingly faceless man for a while) came along.
ALL I SAW in this movie was that there was a curfew for the public and lies on the news. WOW! Really Oppressive! In Real Life, most of the shops close at about 10 or 11 so there's no reason to leave the house anyway (thus you have what is essentially a curfew) so WHERE'S THE OPPRESSION THERE? As far as Lies on the News are concerned, Oh Gee, you can STOP WATCHING TELEVISION! (I myself watch a total of only about 5 hours between Monday and Friday).
Of course, it is shown that there was some kind of genocide similar to the Holocaust that the government was hiding that The Public Doesn't Know About. COME ON! The government of a country that's hardly the size of South Carolina can HIDE THAT? I ask that rhetorical question because by this time, all The Public still knows is that there's a curfew, lies are on the news, and then one day, some guy wearing a mask of a historical character took over and said some wild things. Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore say wild things too, so if they wear a mask of a famous revolutionary from the past, are you going to jump on one of their bandwagons That immediately and That militantly? If so, then why don't those who agree what I'm saying so far just finance my way to be elected President immediately after they read this review?
Oh, there's also the part where a girl wears the V costume with the (Oh my God, how much longer do we have to see this Jar-Jar Binks Level of Annoying face?) mask and gets shot and then the shooter gets what was coming to him. Now the General Public feel oppressed by curfew, lies on the news, and now a little girl getting shot, since they still know nothing of the genocide.
One day, V puts Natalie through her version/his "Nice" version of Hell by staging an imprisonment involving hair-shearing, a bit of starvation, and a few other things so he could make her have a better idea of who and why he is. During this, we have the unnecessary portion of the story where she finds the scrawled writings of some former lesbian couple that were imprisoned because of who they were. News Flash: Tolerance of anything or anyone (by the meaning of the word)is sitting next to a crying baby whose parent/s is burping longly and loudly after slurping a drink while eating the chicken or fish plate with the manners of a four year old! Please, Hollywood, stop trying to cram this "politically correct" junk down our throats!
Anyway, for some reason, the ALLEGEDLY Super Oppressive Government That Knows What You Eat for Breakfast doesn't catch on to one person sending lots of the same packages to all sorts of people. For some other reason, V, the Sender of the packages, knows exactly to whom and where the said packages are supposed to be sent since anyone living in such an ALLEGEDLY intrusive government will gladly give out their addresses through the ALLEGEDLY government-controlled channels, RIGHT? Back in 1996 (YES in the USA), I myself had to fill out a form telling the general idea of what I was sending in certain packages, and an "Orwellian" government isn't going to be more inquisitive?
I think I'll mention here that I love the irony that John Hurt plays the Chancellor of this "Orwellian" government after once playing the character Winston Smith, the main character who is a victim of the same kind of government in George Orwell's "1984".
Second-to-Final Insult: THOUSANDS of people, who still have problems ONLY with curfews and still haven't learned how to turn off the television, ALL put on the costumes that were sent to them by some weirdo who thought he was the Second Coming of Anyone on TV. During this, the Still ALLEGEDLY Super Oppressive Government That Knows Your Favorite Sleeping Position STILL knew NOTHING of what to do.
The FINAL INSULT: Seemingly everyone is not only overjoyed that the Guy in Charge is gone, but the Whole Idea of Any Kind of Government is BLOWN UP by bombing the buildings. Wow, that reminds me of any rhetoric you'll hear from anyone at least involved with suicide bombers, hijackers/skyjackers, or any kind of terrorist.
This brings me to what was going to be my original review title:
"V for Vendetta: A Movie That Cheerleads The Terrors of 9/11".
As I said in the headlines and in the first paragraphs, it's SUPPOSED TO BE a movie about oppressed people who've had enough and finally one guy opens the floodgates. WHAT I SAW was a NON-oppressed public that jumps on the bandwagon of some guy in a Hallowe'en costume quicker than you can say your name. In other words, I GET IT. It's just done in a very weak way.
Just to be fair, I'll give this movie a second look.
AAaannd, CUT! That's a wrap.