Grade: C+ | Genre: Sci-Fi Summary: V for Vendetta isn't unwatchable. It has its moments, but overly its a preachy version of the future where the government is as dark as they can be and the populous exists with a purity of soul, hinged on grand ideals. So everyone had to do a neck wrenching double take when they saw the striking Natalie Portman playing a cue ball during promotions for the final chapter of the Star Wars saga. No Princess Amidala wasn't shipped off to some intergalactic concentration camp. She was busy filming her new sci-fi film V for Vendetta. Straight off the comic book pages, V comes to us when we are overloaded with roaming vigilantes and men in tights on the silver screen. V for Vendetta is one of DC Comics lesser-known series, tucked away in their Vertigo wing. It tells the story of one vigilante fighting a British government of the future (2020 to be exact) that has stripped its people of their freedoms and rules with an iron fist of fear. V's (Hugo Weaving) sole purpose in life seems to be the incitement of anarchy in the masses in order to topple the totalitarian regime. In an age where illegal government wiretaps and freedoms are cinched ever tighter with the decidedly unpatriotic Patriot Act, it's hard to see V as anything but a commentary of a bleak 1984 type existence we could be hurling towards.

The film begins with Evey (Natalie Portman) breaking curfew, only to run into some surly law and order types intent on raping her. A masked man, donning the face of early revolutionary Guy Fawkes, comes to her aid, brandishing knifes into the criminals gullets. This mysterious masked figure, known simply as V, spouts out a litany of Shakespeare and alliterate word plays as he escorts Evey to a front row seat for the demolition of Old Bailey. The next day, Evey is a marked woman as the intelligenca goes to her TV studio to apprehend the unwitting accomplice. V just happens to be on site, busy making party plans for next November 5th with all of London's happy citizens. Via the emergency broadcast system, he calls for all of English people to join him in an uprising against the tyrannous government outside British Parliament one year from now. The cops infiltrate the studio, but not before V is able to disseminate his message to the people and save Evey from certain death beneath the dark shadows of government. V is forced to hold her hostage in his pimp daddy pad until the calendar has peeled off all its months. He explains his thirst for revolution to her and tries to couple her up in his plans.

V for Vendetta Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt Director: James McTeigue View the Trailer (Quicktime) Related Articles 2006's Most Anticipated Films Aeon Flux Batman Begins

The government enforces its power through fear. It uses the media to spread lies and propaganda about tainted water supplies and rampant viruses, threatening to resurrect one of the times greatest disasters, the St. Mary's virus. When they need an actual national disaster, they manufacture it, chalking up the mass civilian casualties to what it takes to live in this enlightened society.

The story of V for Vendetta is very sharp. The Warchowski brothers (the Matrix trilogy) penned this script that comes at us in layers. They are constantly fleshing out this skeleton they setup for us at the start. These disjointed scraps of information slowly uncover the deeper plot, and lets it unravel in convincing fashion. Too bad they choose to hand off the directing responsibilities to James McTeigue. He kills this film. The pacing is all wrong. There are stretches of the movie that are downright boring. The tension is pretty much left out, and the fight sequences look like something out of a pre-Matrix Hollywood. The execution of this script couldn't have been shoddier. This is one of those rare circumstances where you have a grade-A script, and no one to do anything with it. We're more used to quality directors busting a blood vessel trying to make a story where there is none.

V for Vendetta isn't unwatchable. It has its moments, but overly its a preachy version of the future where the government is as dark as they can be and the populous exists with a purity of soul, hinged on grand ideals. Maybe these things will hold up in the sci-fi universe, but they fall apart when trying to extrapolate them to our reality. The play they make on the fine line that exists between terrorist and freedom fighter is mildly interesting. Portman and Weaving (Agent Smith from Matrix) are decent. I'm not going to shower them with accolades because we've seen them do better work, but they didn't phone in their performances either. On the whole, this film was simply fair. It had plenty of potential, but it just didn't want to live up to it.

Originally Posted: March 24, 2006