Intelligent film with political criticism , thrills , action and suspense

Rating: 7/10 (2 March 2007)

The movie tells how a strange freedom fighter named V (Hugo Weaving) in a ¨Guy Fawkes¨ mask -who was a historic terrorist who tried to blow up the British Parliament- wants actually emulate him . As ¨V¨ utilizes terrorist action against London landmarks but his objective results to be the fighting against the fascist state ruling over Great Britain and governed by a dictator , chancellor Sutler (John Hurt) . The authoritarian tyranny rules over citizens with oppression and violence and ¨V¨ is urging the London citizens to rise up and overthrow the government . Meantime , he saves a beautiful girl named Avey (Natalie Portman) from the violent deputies . She decides becoming his ally and confront the atrocities of the nasty chancellor and his underlings (Tim Piggoth Smith) . Meanwhile , a detective (Stephen Rea) and his helper (Robert Graves) are investigating the terrorist events .
This is a thoughtful and broody story containing a clever political criticism and is based on a graphic novel by Allan Moore . The film gets diverse influences , as the myth of ¨the beauty and the beast¨ ,¨The phantom of Opera¨, the anti-Utopian literature of ¨1984 ¨ by George Orwell and , of course , ¨The Count of Montecristo¨, but we are seeing images from the classic film and ¨V¨ acts like Edmond Dantes . In fact , the screenplay of the film is remotely similar to that of the Alexandre Dumas novel 'The Count of Monte Cristo' as both stories revolve around characters who escape from imprisonment and proceed in seeking revenge on all of those responsible for their incarceration . The original comic series was originally created by Alan Moore . However, following his negative experience with ¨From Hell¨ (2001) and The league of the extraordinary men¨ (2003) , Moore decided to reject all money and credit from Hollywood on any adaptations of his work . Thus , he gave all the money he would've gotten to the artist who drew the character with him, and rejected his own "created by" credit from the film . The movie has a stagy and carnival stylish but with a breathtaking production design by Owen Patterson . Colorful cinematography by Adrian Biddle , he died during the filming and is dedicated to him . The motion picture was well directed by James McTeigue . James , previously , was assistant direction of Wachowski brothers (Larry and Andy) , film producers in high budget along with another great producer , Joel Silver . The flick will appeal to the comic books enthusiastic and Natalie Portman fans . Rating : Above average , well worth watching.