In the space of a few years, nearly every major comic book franchise has been made into a movie. A new Batman series. Two Spider-man films, with a third coming in 2007. Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Sin City, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Hellboy, and lest we forget, the third X-Men film hits theaters in May.

Continuing the surge of comic-based movies is V for Vendetta, based on the Alan Moore’s graphic novel and brought to life by the brothers Wachowski, creators of The Matrix trilogy. However, this film, in a manner similar to Sin City, is not your average superhero movie. This film breaks the rules of comic books, and will surely make some hardcore patriots a little perturbed. Because in this film, the hero is a terrorist.

The year is 2020. America has seen its demise at its own hands (the current war on terror) and Britain is now a corrupt, dictatorial government not unlike that of Orwell’s 1984. On November 4th, the eve of the night that commemorates Guy Fawkes’ attempt to overthrow the government in 1605, Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) is attacked by a couple of crooked cops. Enter V (Hugo Weaving), a vigilante clad in a creepy, smiling Fawkes mask. Believing not in coincidence but fate, V, having rescued the young woman with some insane knife skills, promptly shows her to a rooftop to watch the Old Bailey courtrooms blow up, an act of rebellion for which he is responsible.

After the masked freedom fighter airs a tape warning the public of their government’s corrupt ways at the news channel where she works, Evey hides out in V’s home. As the two of them become friends, V continues to hunt down and kill shady government officials in what will result in the ultimate overthrow of the government, climaxing the next November 5 in the destruction of the British Parliament and likely the assassination of the High Chancellor, who appears on monitors in a very, very Big Brother fashion. As V sequentially hunts down and kills corrupt government officials involved in a concentration camp-like incident and the police investigate the situation, V’s story is revealed, along with the true evil of the government.

V for Vendetta is a gripping tale of corruption, rebellion, and revolution. Weaving’s V is a delightful cross between Batman, the Joker and the Phantom of the Opera, at once human and inanimate, kind and intimidating. The role is executed with exceeding gusto, despite the fact that not once in the film is his face shown and he is left to perform without any facial expressions besides the one on his porcelain mask. This film also shows Natalie Portman in one of her finer roles (here is where I add that even with a buzz cut, she’s still pretty hot.) And for those less concerned with the certain degree of depth that the film offers, there are some pretty sweet action sequences - V is a master of knife-fighting as well as of making things go boom.

However what’s most important about this film is that, somewhat like The Matrix trilogy (okay, the first one), and unlike too much of Hollywood, it makes you think. This movie has been in the works for a few years, pushed back because, you guessed it - it has terrorist themes. There are some very eerie parallels to the way things look like they might be headed in the world today.
The film is bound to piss off some conservatives, and it may provoke you to ask yourself if you’re comfortable rooting for a terrorist. The buzz V for Vendetta’s been getting is not undeserved, whether you agree with the views in it or not.

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