A good attempt by a major film to be good. Not quite.

Rating: 6/10 (19 April 2006)

An obvious satire of modern times. It made parallels to the modern US government and the fight against terrorists, WMDs, and, some might even say, Islam itself. It portrays a futuristic (but not too far in the future) Britain, which has apparently conquered the (former) US, and rules the people with an Orwellian iron fist. The leadership believes it rules by the divine right (familiar anyone?) and hates homosexuals. Apparently it's up to a masked man (named simply "V") to set it right through acts of terror.
I found it quite difficult to accept V's character development, since all he was an expressionless mask. However I think that was well done, considering the protagonist of the story. I also thought Natalie Portman did a good job... until she transformed into a fearless ideologue who intrepidly roamed the streets of London, even though she was one of the most wanted women in the "empire". In fact, the movie started losing steam after that part. The plot became more convoluted, and it didn't help that they all spoke with thick (possibly fake) British accents.
There was also some unneeded gore. In the beginning of the movie, V managed to beat up three armed men without spilling a drop of blood. However, by the end of the film, he felt the need to stab people in the heads, and sever major arteries, as fake blood squirted by the bucket-full. The film also brought up the importance of having ideals and beliefs, and sticking to them (V said that he was an idea, and ideas can't be killed). It was a good effort at adding more meaning to the film. Another thing that was repeated many times in the film was that there were no coincidences. To this point, I still don't know what they were trying to say with that, other than remarking on the existence of fate (which seems a bit incompatible with a film that advocates taking the law into one's own hands when a government becomes oppressive).
The movie made some very interesting parallels between this oppressive government, and the modern era, saying what might happen. However it didn't give much of any solution to the dilemma. As far as I can tell, the film suggests that we have Congress blown up, while the entire population of DC looks on in awe and a bit of glee (it was London, and Parliament in the film, which I found a bit disconcerting to see the ancient British Parliament building, along with Big Ben, go up in fireworks, literally). All in all, it brought up some good parallels, and satire. It was a worthy effort at a good, meaningful film, especially while trying to maintain blockbuster status, but in the end it just didn't come through. And remember, if it doesn't make you think, it's not worth your time. -Michael