A hero/anti-hero is out to avenge himself and society against a criminal government.

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2006)

I see in V influences of Zorro (the bladed weapons and the costume), Phantom of the Opera (the disfigured face and the mask), Captain America and his nemesis the Red Skull (both products of genetic engineering gone awry), Robin Hood (who robs the villains), The Silent Knight (who, however, unlike V, wasn't loquacious), the comic version of Spiderman (more because of the verbosity than the agility), Alan Ladd's The Black Knight (his chaste devotion to a lady love), Cyrano d'Bergerac (use of the rapier and the look of that Guy Fawkes mask), the beast in the TV series Beauty and the Beast (the elegant prose), and a host of other characters whether masked, disfigured or not.
The storyline is of course similar to those of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. The wonderful difference is that unlike in 1984 where the hero physically survives but loses his freedom of mind, in V for Vendetta, (spoiler ahead), V vicariously survives his death through the many people who take up his challenge to set themselves free by virtually assuming his identity. In Fahrenheit 451, the heroes are really the books which survive through people with the main character taking the identity of a particular book by memorizing it. In V's case, he becomes an idea that survives in the hearts and minds of people. For further comparisons, watch Brazil, another Fahrenheit take-off, which in spite of its inspiring visual effects is quite a "downer."
The above having been said, there is no quibbling over the fact that it is a riveting movie. The speeches, repartee and even the obiter dicta which continuously spew from the main character are certainly worth listening to and remembering. I was struck by that quote in Latin on his antique mirror (Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici)which comes from Christopher Marlowe's play The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus based on a German folk tale. Production value is great.
The topic is both current and everlasting : how people in general respond to cleverly manipulative, brutal and tyrannical governments -- initially with timid obeisance until inspired by a few or even one brave person.
This writer should know as he participated in the glorious People Power Revolution of the Philippines, a country under the grip of a rightist and criminal dictatorship for 14 years. Until, one person told us that we couldn't "allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear" and that "courage is contagious" made us march in the millions with nothing but flowers and rosaries to topple the Dictatorship.
What intrigues me was V's use of the Guy Fawkes mask and why he derives his inspiration for his revolt from the Gunpowder Plot. Was he a Catholic? Are his creators (Alan Moore and David Lloyd)? The Gunpowder Plotters were disenfranchised Catholics who couldn't bear the repression of their right to worship in the Old Faith. Their churches were confiscated by the monarch and given over to the Church of England while parliament passed laws stripping English Catholics of much of their rights, excluding them from much of public employment and restricting their ownership of property.
The film of course takes deep digs at the proponents of "The War on Terror" who use the problem of terrorism to promote their rightist agenda and for their and their friends' power and economic aggrandizement.