Pretty bad, but not a complete waste

Rating: 4/10 (27 March 2006)

Ya, sorry, I know, you want it to be good, but this one IS pretty bad.
Although it does have some redeeming values.
Natalie Portman is great. She has an innocent look to start out with, and then a defiant one towards the end of the movie.
Showing the impact of tyranny and censorship in this film is powerful. Although some of the references to "America's War", "Bird Flu", "corrupt priests" is a wee bit irresponsible. But hey, I suspended by disbelief for a couple of hours.
Some of the scenes are really well edited. I particularly like the flashes to previous scenes -- making the connections for us. That was a nice touch.
But the hero's strategy I just didn't buy into. I don't think anarchy is the answer. I don't think killing is the answer. I don't think destruction is the answer even if you need to "shake people up" out of complacency. I think people can learn truths if you take time to tell communicate. Destroying and killing in order to communicate the truth is not the way to go. It can be done in other ways. V shows us this in the beginning, with his pirate telecast. Why doesn't he keep doing those instead of killing people and destroying things?
And hey, I like Big Ben, why blow him up?