Zorro+Running Man=V for Vendetta

Rating: 1/10 (19 March 2006)

I gave this film a 1/10 just to offset the 10/10 reviews. My real rating would probably fall between a 4-5/10. That being said, this film was a huge disappointment for me. I kind of expected the creators of the "Matrix" series to come up with a challenging, densely layered plot, but instead I was subjected to the cookie-cutter, paper thin plot structures that appear in nearly every big budget "blockbuster" movie. My girlfriend and I were actually laughing about halfway through the movie because we could easily point out what was going to happen next. Hugo Weaving phones in his performance, as he curtseys and makes gentlemanly gestures from behind his mask, and Natalie Portman is far from believable. The media buzz prior to this film's release was that it raised controversial questions about terrorism and how the government tries to manipulate society, but the film spends so much time ramming this dystopian future down your throat, that it makes it less and less believable. The pseudo nazi imagary is far too contrived, and instead of right wing pundits being up in arms over this movie, they'll probably have a field day discrediting anyone drawing comparisons to the Bush administration. "V for Vendetta" could have been a powerful film that sent an important message, but its creators opted for the action-sequence "blockbuster" instead. I'm not familiar with the graphic novel, but it must be better than this.