An entertaining film with not so entertaining holes.

Rating: 7/10 (12 August 2006)

When the movie begins, we see Prothero, one of the members of the fascist government of Chancellor Adam Sutler, speaking on the screen. I could not help but laugh at his speech, that included phrases about "judgment" and "Don't you think He's watching"- the latter made with eyes rolled upwards and a finger pointed to the sky. Finally his confession, "I am a man of faith" thrown in there to top it all off.
Yes, the entire movie is a parody- a completely extreme, twisted, and comical version of reality.
Yes, we all remember a world when witches, homosexuals, and adulterers were burned at the stake by Christians. The modern governments of the Western world, however, have stopped these practices. 10-20 years from now- the time period in which the movie is set, I expect that gay marriage would be legal, and gays accepted and supported. A leader like Chancellor Sutler would never be elected, even in a "time of crisis and war" as the movie depicts.
What started the crisis and war is in itself extremely sketchy. That's because this movie just doesn't flow from event to event the way it should. What V was actually fighting for was blurry.
Throughout the movie we see Nazi-like curfews, "Unity Through Faith" signs all over the place, government lies and censorship and grossly unfair trials and imprisonment.
(can someone say, jab at Guantanemo Bay?) This however, isn't enough to wake people out of complacency. The idea becomes, "I'll just do what the government says, and not get hurt." Now what we didn't see- things addressed only a few times- such as the government poisoning it's own people (and pinning it on Muslim terrorists), the tragic story told by "Valerie" depicting the imprisonment of homosexuals, and of course, the outlawing of Islam- should've been causing quite a stir.
First off, I again doubt that a "deeply religious Conservative" (that ring any bells?) preaching "Unity through Faith" would seek to achieve it by poisoning his own people and making sure that only the government has the cure. I mean, come on. If you're going to make a fascist Christian, please make him realistic.
Secondly, as I said before, gays would be widely accepted and supported. People would not sit by and let that to happen to them.
As for the fact that owning a Koran would result in death? A lot of people forget that England has a large Arabic minority, some of which are doubtless Muslims. Islamic people don't just sit by and let things like that happen to them. The result would be a bloody, endless war.
We didn't see any of that. In fact, the only thing V actually insulted in his pre-Jordan-Tower-destructing speech was the government suppression of "ideas" and the ambiguous but familiar sentence, "something is wrong with this country." As I mentioned, ideas weren't suppressed enough to actually drive the people we typically saw to revolution.
I'm not saying that the movie wasn't entertaining- because, it was. We have a dark, masked man with pretty knives, who systematically kills members of the fascist party, both for their involvement in his mutation? and burning as well as for their creation of the virus and the atrocities committed in the process. He leaves roses on their corpses. Let's not forget his rhymes, fetish for alliterations beginning with "V" and obsession with lovely music and fireworks.
Also, speaking of which, why on earth would the government seize and outlaw 40s movies, old jazz music, and Greco- Roman paintings and statues? V tells Evey that he stole them from the government as they survey them in his house.
Also, why did Chancellor Sutler have all the real butter? There was no reason. The government was just horrible, bad, and greedy because it was just that.
As for V, I didn't see him as the hero that he was portrayed as. I saw him as a vengeful psycho, and truth be told couldn't understand much of what he was trying to say or do. It got even more confusing when he started falling in love with Evey. I don't know if that was Lloyd's or the Waschowski brothers' fault. They promised to eliminate masked hero stereotypes, but they forgot to eliminate the biggest of all; the one where a "dark protagonist" falls in love with an "angel" and his black heart is enlightened to some new truth.
Then, of course, there was when V spoke one of the worst lines in movie history, after a final battle that looked a lot like I'd heard it described- a mix of Equilibrium and the Matrix. Was it cool? Yes- but they could've done better.
Anyway, Creedey shoots him and says, "Why won't you die?" To which V responds, "Under this mask, there is more than than skin, muscle and bone. There is an idea, Mr. Creedey, and ideas never die." That was almost as bad as, "Do you know what happens to a toad that's struck by lightening?" Now, after wading through the disjointedness- which, is unexpected when you're trying to make a romance, superhero film, political thriller, action movie, AND adaptation of a graphic novel all at the same time- and leftist/liberal propaganda, I actually found a gem in there somewhere.
A little before the fated November the 5th, V tests Evey by creating a scenario in which she is captured by the "police", and she refuses to give any information about his whereabouts. She is tortured, and finally scheduled to be shot.
V's excuse? He wanted her to become free of fear. He wanted her to see, that you shouldn't be afraid to die for what you think is right. V's method for getting the truth to her was questionable- as most things he did were in my opinion- but I think that's a universal message for us all.