V is for Vendetta and P is for Perfection.

Rating: 10/10 (27 October 2008)

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but V for Vendetta is absolutely, positively, bar none, my favorite movie ever. There is literally nothing I don't like about it. Straight from casting to plot line, I cannot fault it.
Hugo Weaving does an amazing job as the mysterious and charismatic terrorist (or is he a freedom fighter? Or maybe he's a superhero. Goodness me, I can't keep track...) known only as V. Natalie Portman finds a role that, in my estimation, she was born for, playing Evey, the relatively innocent young woman cast as both victim and, oddly, sidekick to the enigmatic V. For the stern dictator Adam Sutler, I cannot think of a single human being who could have done it better than John Hurt. Let's face it: the entire cast nails their roles to perfection.
The storyline is deep, meaningful, and most of all, eerily believable. As I watch it, I cannot help but think "Dear God, this could be tomorrow." I can only hope that, should fiction become reality, we get a demented savior such as V to save the day.
Although I adore the whole movie, I confess there are a few scenes which stand out to me as extraordinary. Near the very end of the movie, when the many civilians wearing Guy Fawkes masks are storming parliament, the set-up is awe-inspiring. When Parliament begins to explode, V's music begins to play, and the citizens remove their masks, my breath catches in my throat. It is among my favorite scenes in all of cinema, because it sends such a powerful message: All these people, looking just like terrorists, are crying and concerned underneath their masks. Until they remove their masks, I see them as being exactly like V: perhaps tormented, but confident, certain, determined, rebellious, and spiteful. And then they remove their masks and we see that they are, indeed, human. And such is life: underneath our public personas and masks, we are all but human.
In addition, I find and admire immense power in the scene where V knocks down the dominoes. It ties everything together so smoothly. Think of it: aside from the obvious implication that he has puppeteered the entire movie, there is something so much deeper. ONE domino remains standing, and it is the one domino he gives to Evey: that one last inch of her being. That integrity.
My words feel inadequate to me, so I shall suffice to say that this movie is exceptionally good, and I strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone.