Evey (Portman) is a young woman caught up in revolution when she's kidnapped by the masked terrorist V (Weaving), who's unleashing horrible vengeance on London's government. The manipulative dictator Sutler (Hurt) sends both cops (Rea and Graves) and a government henchmen (Pigott-Smith) after both V and Evey. And as things escalate into all-out mayhem, Evey starts to think for herself, realising that V might be a good guy fighting a system that has systematically murdered and lied to the nation.

Yes, this storyline has strikingly resonant political undercurrents, which might strike too-biased ideological notes for some viewers. As a whole, the themes are subtle and clever, but there are razor sharp points along the way, and as the story sweeps to a nicely controlled finale, it becomes edgy and deeply provocative, lingering in our minds and forcing us to thing about terrorism from the other side of the coin--namely, the terrorism that gave us "liberty" to begin with.

The cast is also intriguingly layered, making the most of characters that are simplistically written. Portman and Rea are especially good; Fry is engagingly droll as always. And Weaving does wonders with his role, even though we never see his face. Not only is the mask skilfully designed, but Weaving uses minimalist vocal and bodily inflections to convey the character, never going for obvious miming or theatricality.

There are visual and thematic echoes from Zorro to Phantom, and the plot feels in many ways like a gritty action sequel to Orwell's 1984. And while there's a definite feeling of style over substance, it's still so bracingly original on screen, and grippingly personal in tone, that we can't help but get swept along with it. So when in the end it surprises us with a jolt of raw emotion, and we can actually see the nobility in a horrific terrorist act, the film really gets us thinking. And that's never a bad thing.

themes, violence, language

27.Feb.06