Not mind-blowing, but okay

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2007)

I watched this film during my trip to Seattle. Before watching it, Chris let us know it's more of a dialogue film than an action film so I kept that in mind as I watched the film and he was right. There are very short bursts of action, but most of the film is a mystery film (not too mysterious) and a lot of lite-philosophical dialogue about the nature of tyranny.
I'll start with the action--the little there was was pretty stylish and all. The setups and shots are very comic-book-ey, but they are dynamic enough not to seem overtly so. My largest quibble with the action segments of the film are the presence of the "speed-lines" around the daggers. Nick commented that it made him think that it made V seem too much like a video game and suddenly the dagger throwing seemed a little too much like Street Fighter II and made it rather silly in hindsight.
Then there's the rest of the film. A huge mess of a story, which had the potential to be really really cool and full of deep thought about the nature of tyranny, the role of government, whether the ends justify the means and all... but no. No. We're treated to thought-lite. The film is mostly a single perspective film and although it starts with a contrast with Natalie Portman's Evey vs. V, eventually everyone becomes a fan of V. As the movie ends, Malcolm X is quoted. And all the potential dialogue in the film to reflect on the overall ideas that are inherent to the concept of the film are overshadowed by the shallow ideas of "you can't kill an idea" and "the ends justify the means". The biggest problem is that the film never really resolves the philosophical conflict that is brought up earlier, but instead sweeps it aside by having Evey undergo a "transformation".
Oh, and one more thing that was a little ridiculous--the film hits us over the head with parallelism too much, especially between Evey's transformation and V's. It might've been cool in the comics, but it was redundant in the film. I was thinking "geez, I get it already, can we move on to something worthwhile?" Despite that V is at heart an empty, shallow, madman, his persona is very likable. His opening monologue is a extremely long and very impressive alliteration of v's. His showmanship and his flash are enjoyable, even if his murdering is despicable. His manner when he's not running around being a terrorist is very likable and doesn't really have too much of a trace of Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving's persona. Of course, he still leaks out elsewhere in the movie. As for Evey--she's not a very strong character. Since her will and ideology are so flimsy and her character, despite the backstory development, isn't much more than an analogue to V, she's basically an ideological vessel and it's difficult to connect with her as such. The best character to connect with is the Inspector and even then, his own ideological issues aren't fully addressed in the end.
In the end, the pomp and show make the film a lot more enjoyable than it should be for its trite musings and blunt message. The performances don't detract from the film, the action and art direction is stylish. The dialogue is survivable enough and not as overblown as the Matrix sequels. It's a blockbuster and a viable one at that. But don't go expecting a mind-blowing experience, as the movie is made to be easily digestible by the masses and it certainly doesn't stick with you for too long after the credits roll. My vote: It's okay. 7/10.