V for Vendetta

Villainous and vile! That venal Hollywood should take the vanguard masterwork of its genre and create a vapid popcorn vehicle! Those unfamiliar with Alan Moore's writing can expect an above average fantasy thriller with a weighty British cast, but have vexed fans of the graphic novel been vindicated? Yes, their scepticism was valid; the complex story is stripped down with only the basic elements intact. Futuristic Britain is a totalitarian state, enter the mysterious V, wronged superhero in a Guy Fawkes mask bent on vengeance. The screenplay keeps the character of V himself chiefly symbolic, and here as in physics, V represents potential; the potential within society to abandon bread and circuses and stage a revolt through V's updated gunpowder plot. With such a virulent premise, this was a film with great potential and yet vital elements are missing. By reaching for profundity it loses pace and visual panache, and ultimately the conclusion is too neat, the final message confused. However, where the film justifies itself is in the powerful verisimilitude of Evey's (Natalie Portman) detainment. These scenes belong on cinema screens not because this has happened and could happen again, but because somewhere, away from any cameras, it is happening now. [Caroline Hurley]