Visually stunning....but plot-wise weak

Rating: 5/10 (18 March 2006)

This movie was surprising a great film...visually. However; plot-wise the film generally lacked. Natalie Portman plays a young woman in post apocalyptic Great Britan, London to be more specific. Appartently America engaged in a war with Radical Muslims (sound familiar?) was struck with a terrible plague, and basically collapsed as a nation. There's even a mention of a civil war in the midwest. But alas, I digress. The Great Britain of P.A. days is one ruled ruthlessly, much like prewar Germany of the late 30's early 40's. They even have their own Nazi-like insignia, and a secret police called fingermen. They pretty much push people around, spy on people, and even do random kidnappings of citizens in the middle of the night. We open with Portman's Avey character sneaking out in the middle of the night; past a government induced curfew. She is confronted by some fingermen, who basically push her around and try to rape her. (Does this happen in every lady in distress situation? I mean don't thugs do other things?) Anyway; enter V. A vigilante out for vengeance. You might actually say he's on a Vendetta. Ha, Ha! Very clever of the Wachowski brothers, making their title slyly work like that. Well, Avey's taken in by V, and he reveals his plan. Cause a revolution by celebrating Guy Fawlkes day by accomplishing what G.F. failed at in the 1500's; blowing up Parliament. Too much of this movie seems like the same old propaganda railing against the current Presidential administration of the U.S. Innuendo that this president spies on his own fellow citizens, imprisons them, and even kills them. It comes across more as leftist propaganda than entertainment. Where "Farenheit 911" was entertaining and funny in sarcastic tone, this is just thinly veiled disgust for the Bush America. They also make reference to the Americas being responsible for global destruction and causing the plague (pre-film). A character goes so far as to call America God-less. That's a first for me? Aren't we supposed to be a nation of religious zealots. Well, the great Nazi...oops, I mean controlled society of Adam Sutler (John Hurt as an obvious Hitler ripoff right down to the Nazi salute), wants total control of their society. It is revealed that they actually caused a pandemic on their own people to wrest control of the British society, and the film follows a morality tale of not giving too much power to government. Not enough strength to the plot to make it a great film, visually stunning enough to make it a good film.