V for Vendetta (2005) Review

"People should not be afraid of their governments.  Governments should be afraid of their people."
-V



In the not-so-distant-future, England is run by a fascist dictator, Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt), who imprisons and kills anyone who opposes him, as wells as non-Christians and homosexuals.  British Television Network employee Evey Hammond's (Natalie Portman) life is saved by freedom-fighter/terrorist, V (Hugo Weaving), who always wears a Guy Fawkes mask, symbolic of the man who tried to blow up parliament.  Later, Evey returns the favor and saves V's life, and she if forced to go into hiding.  V tries to show Evey and the rest of England the crimes of their government and inspire them to rise up together to take their country back, but is V actually a benevolent man or is he just as horrible as the government he is trying to overthrow?


What Works:

This movie has aged extremely well.  The critiques of government power and surveillance, as well as violence and xenophobia are even more relevant today than it was back in 2005.  It's a powerful film that I think everyone should watch.  It has a very engrossing story that hits way too close to home for my liking.

The performances of Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, and John Hurt are all great.  Hurt makes an excellent dictator and you really want to see him fall from power.  Weaving and Portman's relationship is very interesting.  Both of them are dynamic characters on their own, but shine even brighter together.

My favorite character however, is Inspector Eric Finch (Stephen Rea).  Finch is a high-ranking member of the ruling party and Chancellor's Chief Investigator.  Over the course of the film, we see Finch slowly realize the horrible things his party has done.  Everything he has ever believed in crumbles around him, and his slow realization of what actually happened is great.  He has a fantastic character arc.

Finally, (SPOILERS!)...




I loved the twist that the entire time Evey was imprisoned, she was actually being imprisoned by V.  It caught me completely off-guard and it made the movie even more interesting.


What Sucks:

I only have one really complaint about V for Vendetta.  I didn't really care for the fight scene in the 3rd act between V and Creedy (Tim Pigott-Smith).  It starts off with Chancellor Sutler's death, which was too quick and somewhat unsatisfying.  I really wish he would have seen the people rise up and his regime fall.  Also, I don't like how indestructible V was in the fight.  It didn't jive with the rest of the movie.  There is now way V could have taken that many bullets and lived for as long as he did.  This entire scene just took me out of the movie.


Verdict:

Apart from the unsatisfying 3rd act fight scene, V for Vendetta is a great movie with really interesting characters, excellent performances, and a really great story with a message that has aged extremely well.  V for Vendetta has got it going on.

 9/10: Great 

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