Eh.

Rating: 6/10 (22 March 2006)

It's a good movie. It's not a great movie.
As with all the Wachowski Bros. films, they do a good job of negating the reason for their own existence. As with the Matrix: I've never heard anyone ask the obvious question: "Why build the Matrix?" Yeah, yeah, people are batteries, I get it. So? Why not grow human bodies for the power and render the brain comatose? Poof. Body still generates power, no requirement for a Matrix, no need for agents, robots rule the world, yay, done. Also, of course, there'd be no movie, but it does seem like they should have thought of a better answer to that question than no answer at all.
In a way, it's the same with V. All through the movie we see reluctant participants in a fascist regime. Yes, the "Hand" party members are truly nefarious - no, wait, not all of them. Finch is actually a pretty decent guy when it comes down to it. He can even trust his right-hand man, no worries there. And through the rest of it, yes, we meet party members who are worried over their own skins, but they all just seem like harried bureaucrats, who all probably have kids, sensible cars, and nice Christmases every year. At the end, when the populace is advancing on the army, and the army is unable to contact anyone in charge - a huge stretch, since this entire army apparently only has one or two people in charge and when they're out of commission, well, everything just comes to a halt - the army refuses to shoot on its own people. Wow. They're all just a really bunch of nice guys who, under other circumstances, are forced to do, golly, things that just aren't very nice.
It's absurd. It wouldn't be difficult to show the horrors of fascism, they abound in our own everyday world. But in this world, it just seems like the Chancellor's a prick, the "Hand" is a bunch of pricks to lesser degrees, and everyone else is, gosh darn it, just trying to make their way in this crazy, messed-up world.
The gaytred theme is played up a little too much, as well. Stephen Fry must tragically live behind a mask. V has a built a shrine to a lesbian director whose life is cut criminally short due to her proclivities. The director's story is really good, actually, but because it's so long in the move, and because it's paired with Fry's story as well, it just makes the whole regime seem like a bunch of right-wingers who hate gays and who, ultimately, build an army that won't even shoot on its own people when it comes down to it. It draws too much attention to rumors and images of Larry Wachowski's personal life, and as you're watching the movie you can hear the distinct sound of someone grinding an axe.
Visually, the movie is stunning, and the acting really carries the rest. Portman is wonderful, as are Hugo Weaving and Stephen Rea. And the character of V is compelling enough to make you really want to see how things turn out. So is the movie worth watching? Well, if it's able to sustain interest until the end, then sure, it's worth watching. But is it a *great* movie? No, not by a long shot, despite that many fête the Wachowski Bros. as "geniuses". They're really good, very skilled, and a lot of fun. Quirky. But they're not geniuses, folks, and this movie is, at the end of it all, fun but just okay.