V For Vendetta Review Country : USA Year: 2006 Genre: Thriller / Horror / Political Format: Theatre Running Time: T/B/A Distributor: Warner Brothers Everybody is talking about it, and apparently it whiffs of political overtones. Something you may, or may not appreciate. Read on... and you can decide. Credits Directed by James McTeigue. Written by Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski. Starring Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea and John Hurt. V for Vendetta is a more ambitious production than The Matrix since it attempts to make a powerful political statement. Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked vigilante known only as "V." Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he detonates two London landmarks and takes over the government-controlled airwaves, urging his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V's mysterious background, she also discovers the truth about herself - and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plot to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption. Plot and counterplot develop, and Evey becomes the focal point of a web of betrayal and deceit, turned against by those she had sought to protect her. Assassination attempts and government probes target Evey, but she fights back using every scintilla of ingenuity he possesses and sacrificing much of her humanity in the process. Including her hair... and yes folks, she still looks good, even bald. For a woman constantly battling to keep her life together, a mournful irony is that Evey's efforts succeed only in fragmenting it. If the end of The Matrix was numbing, this one is a little less shattering and totally unlike The Matrix. The flashback preceding the final scene presents a stark differentiation of how things once were from what they have become. I actually hoped for more of a revelation in this film, as in The Matrix, but it turns out to be more straight forward in its context. V for Vendetta has one message, and its more political than anything. A more comprehensive contrast emerges through the lengthy sequences detailing V's (Hugo Weaving) rise from obscurity. Showing his arrival in London, his early relationship with Evey, and his confrontation with Deitrich (Stephen Fry), these segments stand in contradiction to V's early scenes. There are a ton of plot holes and some things that make no sense. It's almost as if the Wachowski brothers were trying too hard to make this complicated. Albeit, the film itself is well written, well directed, and well acted which makes up for a lot. Stephen Rea as Detective Finch does a great job, and the main baddie who gets a lot of big screen time is played very well by John Hurt. The main stand out is Hugo Weaving as V. What a great character. V is severely overexposed in some scenes, while appearing as a silhouette in others. His voice is from the darkness - a photographic mirror of what's happening beneath the surface. V for Vendetta is not so much about politics as it is about prices paid in the currency of the soul for decisions made and avoided. It is that quality which establishes this film as timeless and will go down in film history as one of the greats. This is recommended Pit viewing for sure. OFFICIAL SITE DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS Review by John Gray, for Pitofhorror.com