Thought-provoking, Orwellian, but a bit too preachy (maybe?)

Rating: 7/10 (13 April 2006)

V is a great film - it's got a good storyline, an honorable villain out for revenge against those who wronged him (and, in the process, bring down the Totalarian regime ruling England), and the gorgeous Natalie Portman. While it's hard to argue the Wachowski Bros. do a good job portraying the future in the aftermath of the past we're in the process of creating (What?), it just seems to me they go out of their way to tie almost all the ills of the "Big Brother" controlled future to the U.S.'s current myopic administration. But as I opened with, they do a good job presenting that scenario. They refer to the wars of the "Former United States" in the early part of the 20th century, almost calling those wars the cause for our downfall. But what really did us in was our lack of preparedness for Bird Flu (or pick-a-flu), and the controllers of the state of Britain have gone a great length to remind the citizenry of that everyday - drilling fear into their heads constantly. (Sound familiar?) The movie is black, foreboding (depressing, actually), but it tells a story that compels the viewer to argue we're not headed in that direction (at least, if you don't like Bush it's easy to see that). That being said - and I can't put my finger on it - there was something missing. Yeah, we could've seen "The Man Behind the Mask," as it was very hard to connect w/ V. (Also, the first chance we hear the hero speak, it's nothing, NOTHING, but words beginning with the letter V. OK, we get it, you can write a good scene, CONGRATULATIONS!) But despite the fact we see the root cause of his terrorism, I didn't connect w/ him because I kept wondering what this guy behind the mask looked like. Alright, enough of that - the action was good - it was definitely from the Wachowskis, but it wasn't "Groundbreaking" like the Matrix (and I mean that in a good way). The action contributed to the film without making itself the centerpiece of the film. All in all a great flick and - I'm sorry, I have to - any chance, ANY CHANCE AT ALL, to see Natalie Portman is alright with me - she is just plain FINE! (Oh, yeah, and she did well in her role - not great, but OK.)