So...
I just got back from a sneak preview of "V for Vendetta" show on the UCLA campus. I've haven't read the graphic novel (have I ever been into non-Japanese comics? XD) So there are no spoilers. Feel free to read.
First, V for Vendetta has been selling itself as an action movie. It is NOT an action movie. If you're looking for Matrix-style cool knife fights, you're in for disappointment. What it is, is another trite take on rebellion against an Orwellian-style totalitarian government. It has heavy overtones (so heavy they're like a nailbat to the head) of today's society and has cheesy lines and a kitschy ending that only the Wachowski brothers could have written.
If you're looking for a next "The Matrix" this is not your movie. This movie will not start any sort of revelation or revolution, but it will kinda make you ambivalent about the last two hours you just spent watching the film. It's an interesting film, told in an interesting way. It is paced poorly--slow most of the time and at other times too fast--and whatever plot twists its has are quickly washed away by time progression (not plot progression, sadly) and forgotten.
Natalie Portman's British accent is a little bit off. Really. If they wanted somebody Natalie Portman-like who had a real British accent they could've asked for Keira Knightley. She's still pretty hot with her head shaven though. Hugo Weaving is amazing, but unfortunately I was praying and praying throughout the film that I'd magically wake up in the Matrix, cause that would have been a relief.
The film tries to be powerful and meaningful, but all it can manage is to half-ass both, and you're left wondering how something with such a cool concept---oh wait, nevermind.
That said, the pros of the movie are:
1) What knife fights it does have are kinda awesome
2) Natalie Portman
3) Lesbians kissing
4) Hugo Weaving in a mask kickin' ass
5) The 1812 Overture and Beethoven's Vth Symphony (harhar)
6) Dominos. I really hope they did that scene on the computer, cause it would have TOTALLY SUCKED to set that up and screw up in the middle.
One would think that #3 makes up for everything...but no. It doesn't.
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