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Director: James McTeigue
Release Date: March 17, 2006
Rating: R (for strong violence and some language)
See it on Amazon
 Drudge Report pushed news stories slamming this movie for starring a terrorist who wants to blow-up England's Parliament building in the mid-21st Century. Richard Roeper told people not to prejudge the film and Michael Moore told people to go see it.
How am I supposed to see this movie without any preconceived ideas?
Let's try though. Let's pretend that I don't even know what the Internet is. What is this movie really about? A terrorist who wants to blow-up England's Parliament in the mid-21st Century.
B for British
V is a well-spoken, mask-wearing Brit who does not believe in coincidence. At times, he talks in such a fast-paced, poetic, snobby tone that the average America will not understand what the hell he's talking about.
What a lot of people in Hollywood don't seem to understand is that even the most educated of us have a hard time understanding a fast-talking British accent. Sure, we'll catch every other word, but when you put it together, you get gibberish.
I think this fits in with the goal of making V into an elitist prick.
D for Dictator
England is ruled by a vicious dictator who has law and order on lockdown by controlling the media, monitoring conversations, and making people disappear. Think of a cross between Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.
Historians in the movie tell us of how America's war with Iraq eventually dragged the world into war. A whole bunch of bad stuff happened in the process. Now England is the new 1984 and the US is falling apart in civil war. How subtle.
Back to the Brit. V wears his mask and blows stuff up. This is his attempt to "wake the people up" - because nothing gets someone's attention more than exploding buildings (Just ask GW. *wink* *wink*). Things heat up when V hijacks the country's TV station to transmit a message of how he will blow-up the Parliament in one year.
The rest of the movie is a scramble to figure out who the hell V is and how to stop him. During that time, the audience learns how England became the new shining example of tyranny.
V also attempts to win Evey (Natalie Portman) to his cause by showing her the truth. The theme for the whole movie is in the often quoted line "Artists use lies to tell the truth, politicians use lies to cover it up." That's damn near thought-provoking when quoted by a guy who tortures, kills, and blows thing up.
M for Mediocre
There is a serious lack of action in this movie other than a 30-second knife-fight with some magnificent special effects. That leaves the dialogue and plot to entertain for the rest of the film.
The movie is almost interesting. Learning about V and his need to wear a mask while blowing up buildings kept my attention. Sadly, the lack of subtlety is what takes the whole show from decent to mediocre. The messages are gays and lesbians are oppressed, protesting against wars makes a real difference, there is no more privacy, and the government is willing to orchestrate mass-deaths in order to keep power. Sounds like the latest headlines from a liberal blog.
The references to the fall of the US starting with the Iraq War should make any patriotic American give this movie a middle finger for suggesting that the US will lose the current war. The subliminal messages are spread throughout, but my favorite has to be the "tortured prisoners" who look just like victims from Abu Grab. The horror!
Then again, if you're a liberal, you'll probably love this movie. You'll consider it eye-opening and prophetic.
Related links:
Official V for Vendetta website
Box office stats
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