Only works as comic book fluff

Rating: 5/10 (23 April 2020)

As a frivolous comic book movie, V for Vendetta is mostly an enjoyable ride. It has terrific production, with a dark and stylish atmosphere and a strong central performance by Natalie Portman. But outside of the limited scope of comic fluff, the film is a failure. The characters, with the exception of Portman's Evey and to a lesser degree, Stephen Ria's Finch are all two dimensional. John Hurt's Chancellor Sutler is a classic mustache twirling villain. As far as thematic richness, it's as deep as your average comic book. Its philosophical musings basically come down to authoritarian governments are bad and democracy and freedom are good. A very simplistic black and white outlook. And its all fed to us in a heavy-handed way, with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. If there is anything meaningful that can be take away from such a lightweight film, it's the moral bankruptcy of the whole enterprise. And i'm not just talking about terrorism and the ends justifying the means philosophy of V. What's really troubling is the serious case of Stockholm syndrome and brainwashing that the film is condoning. At best this is a silly comic book movie and can be enjoyed on that level. If taken any seriously, it becomes a paper thin and problematic film. If taken very seriously, it's dangerous.