Loud, Brash and Disappointing

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2006)

I can't say I've ever heard of the graphic novel by Alan Moore, but I hear he wasn't too pleased with this cinematic vision of his work. I cant say I was too overly impressed with it either; I saw it mainly because Natalie Portman thought the project was good enough to shave her head for, and even though the last two films by the Wachowski Brothers weren't very good, the first Matrix film made it obvious that they have a flair for action sequences. The plot is based on numerous ideas, all of which focus on government. V for Vendetta is supposedly a commentary on Thatcher's Britain, and this is mixed in with ideas stemming from Guy Fawke's plot to blow up the houses of parliament, and a revolution against the Government. The ideas are mostly very good; but there's too many of them, and many of the themes get lost in a convoluted plot that mainly sees a masked marauder calling himself 'V' picking off various members of government, while finding time to plant bombs and share a tentative near romance with the angelic Evey, played by the very talented Natalie Portman.
The film constantly nods towards more intelligent work, such as plays by William Shakespeare and Johann Wolfgang Goethe's 'Faust', and this serves to remind the audience of the shortcomings in this work. It has to be said that the technical work on the film is very good; the dark and brooding atmosphere works very well when coupled with the doomed vision of London. It would seem that The Wachowski's couldn't be bothered to direct their own screenplay, so that honour falls to James McTeigue, otherwise known as the first assistant director on The Matrix Trilogy. His direction is largely pretty good - he has an eye for aesthetics, and constantly makes use of the dark locations and many of the characters' dark clothing. The masked central character makes for a memorable anti-hero; but his spectre does look a bit silly, and seeing him constantly deliver convoluted dialogue in the style of 'The Oracle' soon wears thin. Natalie Portman looks stunning as always; even when she loses her luscious locks. The action is loud, brash and entertaining; and this provides the film with its biggest strong point, but it tries to be too clever and often ends up looking silly, as the plot is never deep or engaging enough for all the elements to really shine through. A shame; with the right handling, this could have been great.