Movie Review: V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta (2006) 

Directed by James McTiegue 

Written by The Wachowski's 

Starring Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt 

Release Date March 17th, 2006 

Published March 16th, 2006 

The most controversial movie of 2006 has arrived. V For Vendetta, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore, has been accused of subversion and supporting a terrorist agenda. The question then must be: Does V For Vendetta put forth a terrorist agenda? The answer, because this is such a wonderfully smart and complex film, is yes and no.

Yes, the character of V, portrayed by Hugo Weaving, uses terrorist tactics and his goals are most definitely subversive. However, in this dystopian vision of the future, V's reign of terror is aimed at a totalitarian government that can only be fought with guerrilla or terrorist tactics. Those who can think with both sides of their brain will understand this complex division of ideas. For the myopic and agenda driven however V For Vendetta is a threatening shot across the bow.

In the year 2020, England has fallen under the sway of a militaristic dictator named Adam Sutler (John Hurt). Exploiting a tragedy that killed hundreds of thousands in the early years of the 21st century, Sutler was able to impose his dictatorship by playing on the fears of society, especially fears of the kind of chaos that had thrown the U.S, in this vision of the future, into a wildly violent civil war.

The new English dictator censors all art forms and removed or edited British history to match the new dictator's worldview. However, one thing he cannot censor is a bizarre masked character calling himself V (Hugo Weaving). Hiding behind the grinning porcelain veneer of the 17th century English terrorist Guy Fawkes, V strolls the darkened streets of London righting injustice and launching masterpieces of violent uprising.

In the early hours of the 5th of November, the date that, in 1606, Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up parliament in what was called the gunpowder treason, V has hatched an elaborate plan to wake up the citizens of London to the tyranny of their government. But first V intercedes when he finds three of London's secret police, known as Fingermen, attacking a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman). Saving Evey's life, V invites her to witness his symphony of violence that includes major fireworks and the destruction of the British landmark the Old Bailey courthouse.

Later, V tells a captive nationwide audience, in a pirate broadcast, that one year from that date, he will blow up parliament and invites everyone with an issue with the government's fear tactics to join him. In the meantime V will be exacting revenge on the men who turned him into a masked vigilante. A series of murders, all connected to the tragedies that lead to Adam Sutler winning power. Stephen Rea plays the head of the British police charged with finding V who, in the process, ends up uncovering more than he wants to know about his government.

Evey and V have a past that is linked in ways neither is fully aware of. Her parents and younger brother were victims of the plague that gave rise to the current government as was V. Evey (as played by the lovely Ms. Portman) gives the film its conscience and story arc. Her slow awakening to radicalism, and what some would call terrorism, is where the film finds its socio-political backbone. At first she questions V's tactics and motives, giving us in the audience a chance to do so as well. Once she comes around we likely already have but it makes for a few of the films big dramatic moments.

The cast of V For Vendetta is sprawling and spectacular from top to bottom. John Hurt perfectly embodies the vengeful power-hungry chancellor. His presence also offers the ironic humor of his having played protagonist Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984, now graduated to playing Big Brother. Stephen Fry appears, all too briefly, as a talk show host, Evey's closest friend, and a man with a deep secret that provides yet another deep and abiding principle that the writers Andy and Larry Wachowski wish to exploit.

Many nods to the British stage also mark this cast, from Timothy Pigott Smith as the Chancellor's hatchet man, to Rupert Graves as Rea's detective partner, to Roger Allam as an unctuous TV commentator who evinces more than a little Rush Limbaugh in his bombastic oratory.

Written by Andy and Larry Wachowski, V For Vendetta has the excitement of the Matrix films but with a bigger brain. Directed by Matrix second unit director James McTeigue in his feature debut, V For Vendetta is also as visually accomplished as The Matrix pictures--high praise for a first time director. I don't mean to imply that V For Vendetta is superior to The Matrix, though it is superior to the lackadaisical sequels.

What separates V For Vendetta is the ideas behind it. There are a myriad of interpretations of exactly what the Wachowskis were attempting to say with this picture. When V For Vendetta debuted as a graphic novel from Alan Moore, it was an allegory for the Margaret Thatcher administration in England in the '80s. Updated to our times some see this version of V For Vendetta as veiled attacks on either George W. Bush, Tony Blair, or both. If you want to follow that line you can, but V For Vendetta is not that simple to pin down.

Yes there are references to America's war leading to the chaos of this future society. Director James McTeigue also makes an obvious visual reference to the Abu Graib prisons in Iraq. But the film is more accurately an attack on a government out of control and the way absolute power corrupts absolutely. The films ideology could be compared with the logic offered by the National Rifle Association in America which posits that the people have the right to bear arms so that if the government ever became a threat the people could fight back.

V For Vendetta takes that theory to a particular conclusion as the people of Britain, lead by V, begin to fight back against the tyrannical leadership. Yes, V's tactics and ideas could be defined as terrorism. When V talks of how blowing up a building can be a revolutionary act you cannot help but make the queasy connection to 9/11. That however is not necessarily the context of V For Vendetta.

Taken specifically within the guidelines of the plot this line of logic from V is merely the only way for the people to fight back against a government run amok. Think of it in terms of North Koreans rising to blow up symbols of dictator Kim Jong Il, or the people of Iraq attacking Saddam's palaces and you have a better corollary to the mindset of V For Vendetta.

V For Vendetta is bathed in coolness from beginning to end. The reflected glory of rebellious writer Alan Moore should inspire fanboys despite Moore's disassociating himself from the film after reading the script. Then there are the Wachowskis, whose cache of cool remains intact despite the mixed results of the Matrix sequels and the brothers' personal stories which have made for some interesting tabloid fodder.

The film's outlaw spirit and exceptionally well-staged violence are the big draws and they do not disappoint. V For Vendetta is exciting, thought provoking and darkly humorous. The film encompasses the ideas of revolutionary politics and righteous martial arts violence in ways we have never seen before on film and that makes it at once relevant anti-establishment filmmaking and kickass blockbuster action movie.

If watching a movie can be a revolutionary act, then V For Vendetta could inspire generations. Not inspire them to blow up buildings, but rather to watch closer for the signposts of corruption and fear mongering, which many fear are already being seen throughout the free world. V For Vendetta is powerful filmmaking with the punch of social commentary wrapped in the popcorn goodness of the mainstream blockbuster. This is one of the best films you will see in 2006.