Many things to amaze and stun, but it's the character(s) that count

Rating: 6/10 (30 March 2006)

In this rather colorful and clean (albeit darkly lit) futuristic British world, a fascist government has taken control. And since we don't like fascists, we need a very colorfully masked character to save us all from being mindless sheep. He also is wonderfully poetic, too, making him more than just a zealous terrorist: he's an artist.
Hugo Weaving is, frankly, amazing. Not only does he have to overcome his (basically) typecast nature (who really saw him as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings? No, everyone saw him as Mr. Smith posing as a zealous elf), but he has to do so without a face. His voice acting is one thing, but its the pantomime that matches the voice acting that gives this character its compelling nature. He's graceful, and poetic, and artistic, and swashbuckling... and straight out of silent film, despite his "verbose" dialog. That is why when he does stuff like pretending to be strangled by an empty suit of armor or speak an entire paragraph with words starting only with V, it actually works. No seriously, it's brilliant.
Natalie Portman supports well, but none more so real than when she's really put into a testy situation. She moves from fear to chaos to acceptance to love in a moments notice, exactly the way the audience wants to move with her. Despite V's rather straightforward narration of events, it's at Evey's speed that we try to alternatively catch up and slow down to understand what's going on.
And finally, Stephen Rea. Wow, what a perfect choice for that role. Now the movie mentions that he's Irish (and we all know what that means to England and it's ideals of status quo), but it barely even needs to. Not only is Rea's nationality perfect for the part, but the way he's proved himself through such films as The Crying Game really endear us to the guy who is suddenly shocked out of the status quo... and is now in the position to make a major decision about whether to reject or accept this sudden change. If anyone should be given credit for this film's success, it's the casting director.
Now the story is a "pretty good one", though it's really engaging mostly through its in-depth explorations of its characters. I haven't read the graphic novel. I've read enough vitrolic rants about this movie to understand that it gets nowhere near the depth of these characters as presented in the original work. But unlike such adaptations as our infamous Harry potter series and the like, this movie does have a certain care and understanding for the characters, doing the best it can to really give them lives and histories... and sidestories. In fact, it felt like this movie could go on forever, and that even if it did, I wouldn't have minded.
I think there's two major places the story fails to make this film from good to really great. The first is that some of the dialog just simply doesn't hold up to some of the other dialog... V's lines are great (though I understand they are much better in the original work), but stuff like the policemen's constant repetition about coincidences doesn't hold up well.
Secondly, at first it's really unclear why exactly the government we're watching is evil (except with the usual Big Talking Head that always makes us think of Big Brother), then even when it's cleared up, it's hard to understand why the subjects are so ready and willing to jump on the V bandwagon and practice "Anarchy in the UK!" (By the way, was that line necessary either? I think this movie had enough trouble from the beginning without having to sound like a stupid punk who doesn't realize the 70s ended more than a quarter of a century ago).
However, that's not to say that this film isn't full of some really strong points. I think what did it for me was the comedy show featuring the Grand Chancellor being humiliated. Both as a loving homage to British humor past and present, and as a thumbs up to satire and the power of daring media, it's a grand addition to the preceedings. The comedian's subsequent arrest places it into a morbid theme: you can't just talk about it or joke about it. You have to act to change it. Hint to the left, in case they're wondering why their "Impeach Bush" stickers aren't doing anything.
And about the politics, since it's such a big issue. This movie is very stunted in that it uses discourses we use today, and the Wachowskis are obviously very intent in putting a bit of Bush-bashing into it. It wasn't very necessary, but it worked out in places like the little quip about the Avian flu and whatnot. Personally, I could have used a much broader and somewhat universally-themed approach, especially since this film seems to be almost begging in parts for the Right to get angry at it so that it could get some free publicity.
That said, despite all these things here, all these things here which weren't quite good enough to have me absolutely raving about it, I can't help but really love it for those characters. I think what appeals most about V is that not only is his mask just a wonderfully distinct image, but he has absolute control over a world where power seems to be utterly lacking. I especially love that last fight scene he does at the end with the vapor-trails around the knives. I've heard a lot of scoffing about how that's just pointless bullet-time, but it isn't bullet time. It's V's utter, almost mystical, control over the elements and the energy around him right as he's about to kick some serious booty. I think that's a great way of turning the Wachowski's self-created image into something entirely new.
--PolarisDiB