Highly watchable but lacking in firm ground

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2006)

V for Vendetta is another comic book adaptation from Alan Moore whose previous works - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Hellboy - were brought to the silver screen and, I have to say, sucked pretty hard. However, there was more hope for this movie because the screenplay was written by the Wachowski brothers and the director James McTeigue was the first assistant director on all three Matrix flicks indicating that there would be a happier working structure between what's on the page and what appears on celluloid. Nevertheless, controversy surrounded the movie due to the use of scenes of the bombings on the London Underground train network and Alan Moore publicly disassociating himself from the movie and cutting his remaining ties with DC Comics.
The film is set in a futuristic England that has become a fascist state akin to something straight from 1984 where the government controls all form of life and the public are told what the government want the people to believe. However, a lone figure makes an entrance onto the stage to refute the current state of being, opposing the government and fighting for the freedom from autocracy. Caught up in his plot to overthrow the current state, Evey, played by Natalie Portman, is seduced by V, played by a masked Hugo Weaving and becomes a target herself.
Over the course of the film, Evey discovers herself in an implausible manner that I cannot divulge lest giving plot detail away, and becomes V's unofficial aide and ultimately plays a vital role in his crusade.
Whilst I found the movie to be highly watchable, it was also lacking in firm ground, and was as fictitiously futuristic as it was unbelievably unconvincing in terms of suspension of disbelief. The acting all round was over the top but entertaining and despite its lacking, it is a decent action thriller worthy of renting for a Friday or Saturday evening.