“V For Vendetta” (Warner Brothers)
T Is For Terrorism
Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving star in the new action thriller from the Wachowski Brothers titled “V For Vendetta.” These are the guys who brought you “The Matrix Trilogy” so they know their way around action flix, but in this one they get too political for their own good and it turns off the broad audience.
The film opens in 1605 with Guy Fawkes trying to blow up London’s Parliament building with gunpowder. He is not successful. The film then jumps forward four hundred and eight years and London again is under attack from a man who thinks the government is corrupt. He calls himself V (Weaving) and he wears a Guy Fawkes mask.
V stumbles upon a young woman named Evey (Portman) being accosted by the local police. He rescues her and takes her home with him. There he gives her a lesson in why he is opposed to the government and what he plans to do about it. He thinks the head of the government, Adam Sutler (John Hurt), is a fanatic who must be destroyed. Evey is bewildered by all he says and leaves.
Later V is investigated by a man named Finch (Stephen Rea) who is the head of the police. Finch is a fair-minded man but he is tenacious in his pursuit of V. V, however, has almost super powers and can’t seemingly be harmed. Still his fondness for Evey may be his downfall.
Both Portman and Weaving are good in their roles but the overall advocacy of violence to make a point is off-putting. With so many terroristic threats in the world today, to see someone actually blowing up buildings and saying it is a good thing seems to definitely send the wrong message.
The film is also uneven. Some of V’s tirades are unintentionally funny, as are some of Evey’s reactions to them. Also on the one hand the audience is supposed to take the portrayal of V seriously, but in places he is so free from harm he appears to be no more than a comic book character.
There is a certain shock value in seeing futuristic governments linked to current events. And there is a horror at seeing a government so oppressive in power. These are things the audience should digest. But to show that violence is the only answer to those problems is to be playing with fire.
The film is rated R for profanity and violence.
“V For Vendetta” is a political thriller that sends out a dangerous message. It is not to be taken lightly and its influence though subliminal could be potent. It might be easier to just sit through “V For Vendetta” if you didn’t have to also think that “T Is For Terrorist.”
I scored “V For Vendetta” a political 4 out of 10.
