An attempt shouldn't even have been made

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2006)

Shock horror a review that doesn't give this 10 out of 10. So why? Well, first things first; any type of mask blocks out any emotional expressions, obviously. So it is hard for any actor, even the magnificent Hugo Weaving, to pull of a character well when he can't display his emotion. Multiply the difficulty of his job of expressing emotion by one hundred when the mask is constantly grinning...cheesely.
This is the main reason why 'V for Vendetta' is a poor film. It should never have been attempted on celluloid in the first place. It works on a comic book simply because there aren't long-winded dialogue scenes where the camera cuts back from Evey (Portman) to the smiling anti-hero who is meant sad, angry, in love, etc. etc. And these dialogue scenes make up the large majority of the film, accompanied by less painful but equally laborious scenes of the London bobbies trying to work out who V is (which they do not do well at). You see this would have been one of the few films that would have been better had it been 90% action and 10% chit-chat because in the action scenes the mask does work and he looks almost 'cool' (if he has the hat on to detract from his stupid hair style, without it he looks like a rampaging hormonal goth).
However there is some good in 'V', the little action that is there does just about work, the story wasn't translated to an American setting which was brave of the studios and the torture scene of Evey is well done, though it is then thrown out the window for reasons I will not disclose to prevent spoilers.
The thing is that by the end of 'V' your tired of the boring speeches, tired of the long-winded story and fed up it trying to be a 'clever movie' by adding the odd quote in from MacBeth and other works of literature.
It probably looked good on paper (apart from the constant repetition of the word 'b*llocks' that apparently Brits use as frequently as they do where bowler hats and have handle-bar moustaches) it just doesn't work on film.