A for AudaciousB for Execution

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2006)

Cinematic translations of graphic novels and comic books seem to be gaining prominence these days with "Sin City", "A History of Violence" and "Aeon Flux" as three examples of this growing genre. Here is another one adapted from a series of comic books written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd between 1982 and 1985. Produced and written by the Wachowski Brothers in their signature "Matrix" style and directed by their protégé James McTeigue, the movie has a wildly inventive premise that despite its twenty-year old origins has a timely relevance in a post-9/11 world. It is indeed a comic book come to life, but it's also an often powerful political allegory that takes subtle jabs at the current administrations in both the UK and the US.
It's all set in a dystopian London in the year 2020, a time when England has turned into a totalitarian regime under the thumb of fascist chancellor Adam Sutler. The story focuses on a young TV station assistant named Evey. On her way to meet her co-worker, TV personality Gordon Dietrich, she is caught after curfew by some thugs in a dark alley. A savior arrives in the form of a masked vigilante named V, and their ensuing relationship is what drives the labyrinth plot. Starting with the nighttime destruction of the Old Bailey, complete with fireworks and Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" blaring over loudspeakers, V orchestrates terrorist acts in a one-man attempt to usurp Sutler. Evey is frightened but ultimately intrigued by V, as her parents were taken away by Sutler's storm troopers as political agitators. She eventually seeks sanctuary with Dietrich but then gets caught in what appears to be her own purgatory. At the same time, the tenacious Inspector Finch attempts to find V before any further terrorist acts occur.
This apocalyptic movie dares to ask the question of whether terrorism is ever justified, and the filmmakers go about making V a scarifying but ultimately sympathetic figure. Many of the visual elements are impressive here, but various plot points do not coalesce into a coherent narrative. The Wachowskis have constructed a complex, elliptical story with so many convolutions around the various targets  the government, the media, the terrorists  that it gets difficult to keep track. Part of the problem is simply scope because the movie's agenda feels so broad as to make some of the elements feel trivial, in particular, the "Beauty and the Beast"-cum-"Phantom of the Opera" connection between V and Evey.
On the other hand, certain passages work quite well, such as the brutalizing sequence when Evey is incarcerated and she starts to read a series of notes from a prisoner named Valerie, who has been executed for being a lesbian. There are also welcome bits of humor, for example, Evey dressed in one scene as a little girl to gain the trust of a bishop critical in allowing one of V's attacks to occur, and the Benny Hill antics on Dietrich's TV show meant to ridicule both V and Sutler. With a convincing British accent, Natalie Portman is solid as Evey as she shows both her adventurous and vulnerable sides with equal aplomb. As V, Hugo Weaving does what he can behind the confines of the Joker-style mask. In an ironic twist to his role as Winston in "1984", John Hurt chews quite a bit of scenery in the decidedly Big Brother role of Sutler. Stephen Rea makes a subtle Inspector Finch, while Stephen Fry uses his dry comic manner to good effect as Dietrich. The movie runs a bit long at 132 minutes, but it is relentlessly creative film-making.