V is Preachy and Boring--Please Avoid

Rating: 2/10 (7 June 2007)

I did not like V for Vendetta. Though I'm writing this review quickly, and not really crafting every sentence, I'll try to be comprehensive:
First off, let's declare a moratorium on genetically engineered super soldiers who get special abilities or powers as the result of sinister manipulation by a shadowy government. It's been done again and again and again: Captain America, Wolverine, Blade Runner, the Universal Soldier, the Hulk (by some tellings of his story)and scores of othersand now V. It's so hackneyed that it's grating to watch another movie that uses it as the basis for a character's development. Or, if you must do it, at least give the recipient interesting powers or abilities, not the usual "enhanced reflexes and strength." V, unfortunately, doesn't get anything interesting, just the "genetically engineered starter package."
V also steals the idea, and some of the visuals, of a dystopian England straight out of Orwell's 1984, but doesn't do it as well. Again, if you're going to copy another work, at least add something to the idea, or don't bother. Movin on, what does this dystopian society do to it's people? We're showed heavy handed second-hand tales of people being punished for being gay or even owning the Koran, told entirely without subtlety. We're practically bashed over the head with the fact that this is supposed to be the Bush Administration if it were "turned up to 11." And the maudlin scene at the end where the poor victims of the regime remove their V masks and watch Parliament burn was like a dopey Benneton ad. You feel like yelling "Uncle! Uncle! I get it, just please stop sermonizing for the love of Neo!" At least it's over by that point.
There are also points where the characters just do dumb things for the sake of the plot, which, in my opinion, undermines the credibility of the film. Some movies have a few small problems, but major points of the movie turn on these dumb oversights. Here are two major ones:  V faces down a cadre of soldiers at the climax, daring them to shoot him until they run out of ammunition. Of course, they shoot him in the body but the bullets have no effect, and none of them is smart enough, though presumably well-trained, to even try to shoot him in his flamboyant masked face, not one time. No, they think, let's just keep shooting him in his obviously armored body; Hey, maybe we'll get lucky! (they don't)  According to the film's contrived setup, the powers-that-be in the government had an entire year to prepare for V's bombing run at Parliament--But in their preparation they just happened to miss an entire railway station and a train tunnel that runs beneath the building!? This is completely idiotic! The inspector, always hot on V's heels, finds it within two minutes of looking for it at the movie's conclusion! But no one found it in the 12 months they had to fortify the area? Egregious writing, and the writers, obviously not thinking much of the viewing audience's intelligence, didn't bother to fix it. As I write this, I can't think of another movie that relies on such a stupid contrivance for its climax.
Finally, though the marketeers made every effort to connect this movie to the Matrix and the Wachowski brothers to make it seem like it would be exciting, it's anything but. It moves at a glacial pace and is actually boring--the cardinal sin for a movie that supposedly falls in the "action/adventure" genre (this according to Rotten Tomatoes categorization, at least).
For a more rewarding experience, just read, or re-read, Orwell's 1984, or re-watch A Clockwork Orange. These provide much more visceral, chilling looks at dark, totalitarian futures. V for Vendetta movie is not worth your valuable time or money.