V is for Vapid

Rating: 1/10 (7 April 2006)

Lackluster. Ho-hum aesthetics are uncalled for when you spend 50 million dollars on a movie that markets itself as a good-looking vision of the future.
The main lesson espoused in Vendetta is that Conservatives are evil, angry, totalitarian entities. In this portrayal, the makers managed to alienate half of their potential audience. Maybe that's why it only made 50 million in the US box office. Strangely enough, the intention of the makers was to create an Orwellien atmosphere, but somehow managed to fall far short. The thought-police could have been dramatically more frightening and dangerous then they were for one thing. The protagonists could have felt a heavier weight of oppression for another.
Vendetta's makers, the team behind The Matrix trilogy, want us to wholeheartedly agree with them that upholding a sense of morality at an authoritative level is a terrible thing. For one example, homosexuals are forced back into the closet for fear of execution. Don't worry Mr. (Mrs. ?) Wachowski, you can go on with your vile relationship without fear of execution. In another example of Pic's totalitarian world, there is a Koran being hidden from the government by one character. The makers missed the mark though. It should have been a Bible, not a Koran if they were really trying to represent the trajectory of today's "progress" in regards to what is tolerated and what is not. It was all I could do to stifle mild, disbelieving chuckles as the homosexual man with the Koran was fearing the evil, totalitarian, Christian, right-wing government.
Perhaps the most dangerous message that Vendetta represents is that terrorist actions and calculated, cold-blooded, vengeful murder are perfectly reasonable and expected actions when it means overthrowing an oppressive regime. Why the writers thought this was a good message to send in the wake of 9/11 is beyond me.
One other interesting tidbit: This terrorist activity and terrorist threats of our happy little protagonist take place in England against Parliment, which is supposed to represent the old world that must pass away if V's vision of freedom is to go forth. I'm quite sure that the Wachowski clan realized that if the setting was the US Congress, they would be in some serious trouble with our government for contemplating and advocating such activity.
Quite frankly, V for Vendetta ultimately fails, not because of the message, but because of the messengers. The makers show that they don't themselves believe in the values that their main character lives by (that being fearless against the ruling authority is essential), so why should we take what they say seriously? Their hypocrisy is all too evident by their choice to set their destructive agenda in someone else's country where they can't get in trouble for their near-treasonous message.
Shame on them. This is a poor movie with poor morals. V is for Vapid.
On a scale of -22 to 22, this rates a lowly -17.