Slick, but still chaotic

Rating: 7/10 (18 March 2006)

The Wachowski Brothers' stab at stylistic sociopolitical commentary is visually arresting, compelling stuff, a fine homage to its graphic novel source. It's artful, if perhaps missing a dash or a smidge of subtlety, but not so much that one is entirely distracted from the somewhat pedestrian, familiar plot.
V is a vigilante, a lone avenger who wears a Guy Fawkes mask and wants to extol the masses of a somewhat-futuristic London to rise up against their oppressors, throw off the yoke of totalitarianism, and watch their favorite buildings explode.
It's the near future. Britain no longer has a queen or prime minister; instead, it has a chancellor, an ominous man named Setler (John Hurt) who appears on giant TV screens, a la Big Brother. And freedoms have been seriously curtailed, especially free speech, owing to three terrorist incidents in which nearly 100,000 people die. This leads to state-controlled media, secret police, and so-called black baggers, the men who come in the middle of the night to round up people deemed Bad by the government.
When a young Londoner named Evey (Natalie Portman) is caught out after a state-imposed curfew by the secret police and is then attacked by said defenders of the realm, a debonair, eloquent masked marvel springs to her aid, dispatching with her aggressors with all due speed. He quotes Shakespeare and looks like a Musketeer, complete with swirling black cape and superpointy blades, but wears a portentous mask - that of noted British rebel/hero Guy Fawkes, who once tried to blow up Parliament some 400 years ago. The mysterious man rescues Evey and spirits her away to his secret lair. Later, he shows her part of his plans as a famed statue detonates.
"You can call me V," the man says, and although the letter stands for Vendetta in the title, it's also a good stand in for Vengeance, Vituperation, and Vanquishment. Clearly, V is harboring some kind of grudge on someone, and he's going to try to turn the country upside down, show the populace how corrupt and Fascist their government - which they've elected - has become. He's an anarchist at his heart, it seems, but could there also be a more personal vendetta rampaging in his mind? V sees Evey as a necessary ally and enlists her in his cause, an entreaty she accepts. But is she willing to go as far as V is? From the scared-kitten look on Portman's face through much of the movie, one would assume she's not quite sure she's made the right choice.
At times, the movie is very powerful propaganda, demanding that the viewer draw parallels between the celluloid events and those occurring in the real world today. But it's not heavy handed in its execution; everything that we see on screen is quite plausible, at least in the context of the fictional futuristic London.
There are some similarities between this film and the Matrix series, also by the Wachowskis, including the overall look and feel of the set designs and the idea that we're all being controlled by someone or something else. But unlike The Matrix, V for Vendetta isn't terribly deep of a movie; it's not a movie that invites endless philosophical discussions about Who We Are and Why We're Here. We know just enough for the sake of the movie, and we're not left wanting to know more. There aren't many twists, nothing to keep your brain hopping along, always wondering what might come next.
There IS one big twist, however. Some viewers might think of it as a shaggy-dog outcome, though, and others might completely buy into it. It's the kind of twist that may well make you scratch your head and wonder if the actions in the twist were really all that necessary - the old ends-justifies-the-means adage.
Hugo Weaving, so wonderful as Agent Smith in the Matrix movies, plays V, and although we never once get to see Mr. Weaving's face, he turns in a powerful, commanding performance. You can feel what V feels, and without the crutch of a countenance on which to make expressions, this is fantastic acting indeed. Portman is okay as Evey, but her character wasn't sufficiently substantive, which is my way of saying I don't think it was Portman's fault. I think she did an admirable job considering what she had to work with; in this movie, Evey is relegated to less-than-sidekick status.
And I would be remiss if I did not add that the final scene is both satisfying and unsatisfying, which makes it a little frustrating. Part of it grabbed my heart and made it soar, but part also did seem a tad expected.
V for Vendetta is, at times, invigorating, exciting, revolutionary, and terrifying, but it's a little slicker than its subject material should indicate.