Street Fightin' Man

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2006)

Greetings again from the darkness. First time director James McTeige has to feel like he won the lottery. Handed an outstanding cast, a terrific screenplay based on a popular graphic novel and the magic of the Wachowski Brothers ("The Matrix"), McTeige must be giddy just being part of this spectacular production.
Hugo Weaving stars as V, a revolutionary terrorist out for revenge and some overall world-saving. Wearing a very cool mask and twirling ultra sleek ginsu knives, V takes revenge on those who experimented on him and others with a very nasty virus. Along the way, he stumbles on a real cutie in Evey (Natalie Portman) who just happens to be the offspring of some infamous revolutionaries. The relationship between V and Evey is the heart of the film and very interesting to follow. They are being chased by a detective played by Stephen Rea who seems to be smarter than the Orwellian dictator played by a way-overacting John Hurt. His characters name is Adam Sutler, which is (not coincidently) similar to Adolph Hitler.
The story is kind of unique in that it works in so many aspects of history while staying centered on our fictional characters. Something tells me the fun game to play once this is released on DVD will be counting the "V" references throughout. Early on, Weaving has a soliloquy that must utilize 93% of the V words in Webster's. It is quite a challenge to follow the first time through. In addition to the spoken V words, the number of "V"isuals is astonishing.
Don't be disappointed that we never get to see Portman (with her Sinead O'Connor look) actually fight. This is not really a huge action picture, although there are some stunning moments. This is much more of a political statement that can be twisted to fit any country at any time. The Wachowski brothers once again break new ground and it is definitely worth watching a time or two.