V For Vendetta Review

So this movie has high acclaim, many high ratings, my friends are raving about it, and is even in imdb as the top 250 movies of all times... yet... I'm still not so sure about this!

Plot
This movie is placed in Great Britain during a time of oppression. Evey stays out past curfew and almost gets caught. A man in a mask, who calls himself V, comes along to save her. He takes her to see the best performance she will ever see, which turns out to be a fireworks and musical bombing of a statue in Britain. V is out for vengeance, the reason will be explained as the film progresses. He talks as if he is out to relieve the society of the oppression it has been put under, but at the same time he is killing people and causing mass chaos. Is he out to do good? or evil? and how does Evey fall into all of this? I guess you will have to see!

Actors
There are only 2 that really matter.

V (Hugo Weaving) - V speaks in poetry, music and loves art and plays. But although he's into all that sappy stuff, he's not sappy at all when he fights. I was thrown off at first by not being able to see his lips move while he talks. I also had a hard time understanding him from the start b/c of the lyrical way he was speaking.

Evey (Natalie Portman) was excellent. She really makes the movie. She has to go through so much, and I really can't explain it but she was just very good! The way she survives various things in the movie is amazing because you see her and you think that if it were me, I would be completely insane. Yet the way she survives these things is very believable and you really feel for her character.

My Random Thoughts
As I write this, I still haven't decided on a rating for it! I'm really not sure how much I liked it. I know that it was good to an extent, but was it the 5 stars that a lot of people say it is? I have to say no, 4 stars at most. The truth is, although I got the plot, and I understood that this "terrorist" was out to bring back freedom, I don't think I can ever really feel for a guy that goes around killing people. No matter how fancy he spoke, or how many lovely things he may have said and thought, he still made me kind of mad.

Yet since I did understand the point of the movie, it was still pretty good. I see what they were getting at and they did a good job of showing how too much control and oppression can only lead to everyone feeling scared and no one feeling free. I don't know what I would do if I were living in a society where everything I loved was banned... but I guess I'll never know so I can never truly relate!

Ok, so outside of the plot, there were other reasons I can't give this five stars. One thing had to be the way a lot of things were spoken in riddles or poems, or just in quiet English accents that I couldn't really understand. There were a lot of parts like that, where the characters were just talking about things - talking about the past, the future, what had happened, or what may happen. All these parts made the movie kind of slow for me as I sat and waited for something to happen.

When there was action, it was very good (and very bloody) swordplay. This V guy certainly knew his way around a sword and they did some cool shots where they'd slow it down and you'd see a path from where the swords were. However, I could definitely live without the blood gushing out of people afterward. I'm all for realism, but I still could live without the blood! I'm sure other less squeamish people probably thought all that was great.

Conclusion
I've settled on 4 stars because I can't imagine giving the movie less, but I wouldn't be comfortable giving it 5. I really don't see why everyone thought it was so completely must-see. It was good, but I've enjoyed other movies better. It made me think, but I've seen movies that made me think even more. Overall I found it kind of scary to think of either a society where oppression is wide-spread... OR even to think of a society where a terrorist like this would come out to play. Some call him a "freedom fighter" but overall, V seemed to me like a terrorist because he scared people, and killed people, and that's why the character didn't sit well with me. I'll finish with saying it's a solid 4 star film if you are looking for great effects and a completely unique plot - however if the thought of this kind of terrorist stuff bothers you, you might want to pass. Enjoy if you can!!