Decent, but not as good as heralded

Rating: 6/10 (16 March 2006)

V for Vendetta is an interesting movie in the sense that it features both superhero blockbuster action, as well as a political message. The political message is not subtle: it warns of the dangers of power abuse resulting from people's political indifference. Sadly, the hero's path to political action is one of violence and rebellion. The parallels between current American policies in the name of "freedom" and "righteousness" and the totalitarian British state are remarkable. The scenes greatly remind me of Michael Radford's 1984, especially the prison and torture scenes. The use of humour attempts to make the movie lighter and it does, but I find it to be unnecessary and resulting to occasionally stupid and out of place dialogue. The superhero part of the movie is not much better even though the director puts a valiant effort to develop the hero's character. Alas, V is no Batman but he definitely has a more romantic and intellectual air to it. An overall good effort which could be much better if the production was more serious. Natalie Portman performs remarkably but her script could be better; when dressed as a school girl (admittedly a provocatively pleasant sight) everyone in the cinema erupted in laughter which showed how flawed the movie was. My rating, a critical 6.