V for Vendetta: A Review.

James McTeigue, 2006.

May contain spoilers!

The year is 2027, the United Kingdom and the United States of America are fractured as a result of wars, violence and a pandemic. The world is led by a Nordic supremacist and Neo-facist, and the public in the UK are restricted to a curfew. Sound familiar? At the time of release, this was billed as a dystopian political thriller, however, it is not too far from current times, it seems they were 7 years off! V for Vendetta follows a masked, anti-government freedom fighter, known only as V, hell bent on igniting a revolution through the means of elaborate terrorist attacks. Natalie Portman plays a young working class woman who gets caught up in V's mission.

The film has been seen by many political groups and commentators as a symbol of oppression by government, as anarchists have used the film, and V's mask to promote anti-government beliefs. The mask and the rest of V's attire resemble Guy Fawkes, who proves to be V's historical inspiration for his acts, and as a result, has led to the film and mask being widely used in pop culture.

There are many satirical commentaries in this, including corrupt bishops, racist and homophobic world leaders, and totalitarian governments, but it is very easy to forget that this is a fictitious film, that has been written and directed, and is not a portrayal of real life. As far as its standing as a film, I thought it was incredible.

The cast is brilliant, and a lot of the supporting characters give career best performances, like Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, and even Natalie Portman. Hugo Weaving portrays the mysterious V, and he does a brilliant job of it too. The character is full of mystery, but when it comes to his elaborate acts, he gives off a cool, anti hero, Batman vibe; it's something that I have a bit of a guilty pleasure for. John Hurt plays the High Chancellor Adam Sutler, a former conservative MP, who is the authoritarian elected leader of Britain, and founder of Norsefire, a fictional supremacist party. The character building in the movie is like no other. Natalie Portman's character Evey's evolution throughout this film to where she is at the end is shockingly good. As is the detective, hunting the two down, as he slowly realises things about his own government.

V for Vendetta is a visually stunning film, which takes after its inspiration, the graphic novel of the same film. I also felt like the film had a similar feel as Sin City, and this must be due to the Neo noir, graphic novel look about it. It also reminded me a lot of Charlie Brooker's series Black Mirror, which is again based on a dystopian future, that isn't too far removed from reality.

I thought the pacing of the film was a little off, and it was fairly stop start. Sometimes films do this to make the viewer fairly uncomfortable, and put yourself in the shoes of the characters on screen, and at times I felt like the film did this effectively, but at most, the pacing was off for me. However I am a big fan of the small, subliminal things in films, and this film is full of them, so when watching it, it will be good to let you know there is more than meets the eye. Without spoilers, there is a bit where a character is imprisoned and is thrown some food on the floor. A rat comes out and sniffs around it, and decides against eating it, scuttling off back to his hole, and without any dialogue, we are told is much about the conditions that the character is kept in, and how torturous it must be.

The design of the film is second to none too; it is really dark, and city shots are draped in grey, which gives a dreary and stagnant feel to totalitarian London. The costumes are really good too. V is given one of the coolest looks I've seen in film, and is a huge reason why this film is so successful. The use of the masks makes the film so marketable, as does the V symbol.

This is a film I have wanted to watch for a long time, and it didn't let me down in terms of the themes of anarchy, chaos and hegemonic political ideas. The film is a beautiful film to watch, and sounds good too, with the use of a lot of classical music. Again without revealing too much, I think the dominos scene is one of the coolest scenes I've ever watched. V for Vendetta has a lot of these really good scenes, and moments, and like I said before the only let down for me is the pacing. Having said that, the film does build to a climactic ending, which left me blown away! Sometimes in cinema, you can't beat an anti-hero, and you can't beat some good old fashioned explosions.

It is also a very brave movie to make. The movie essentially shows a terrorist in a sympathetic light, but they get around this quite well, depicting him in a dystopian version of a fictionalised world.

I'd recommend this film to anyone, it didn't let me down at all. My only regret was taking so long to watch it. I also can imagine that this was a masterpiece on a cinema screen. The direction, the editing, the look, everything about it was great, and in summary, V for Vendetta was one of the coolest and best looking film I've seen recently.

My rating - 8/10