V For Vendetta disappointedly NOT third part of the V mini-series

Okay, once I got over the fact that there was nothing in V FOR VENDETTA to do with Aliens conquering the world and stealing our water supply, despite the fact that the spray-paint graphic V looks anawful like another spray-painted V from the 1984 mini-series, I settled in and enjoyed a great sci-fi mystery action-flick. Set in the not-so-distant and not-so-impossible repressively conservative future, V FOR VENDETTA finds a nation who have given up much of their basic freedoms in exchange for safety. The Lord High Chancellor uses fear tactics and the media to bully the citizens into believing what is politically appropriate at the time. It can't happen here right? And in fact, in one of the funniest things about the movie, it doesn't. It happens in England. America is referred to as in civil war with too many different 'undesirables' allowed to live inside its borders. England has avoided that by kicking out the jews, the muslims, you get the picture.

And then comes V, donning a Guy Fawkes mask and blowing up the Old Bailey. V sounds strangley like Elrond, lord of Rivendale, but since you never see his face or his elfen ears, I don't really know who was behind that mask. I guess it could have been Hugo Weaving. Or just a double the whole time and Hugo could have layed all his dialogue down during ADR looping. Anyway, on the fateful night (V doesn't beleive in coincidences) he stumbles across Evey (Natalie Portman) being sexually harrassed by the curfew patrol, and she becomes entangled in his plot to bring down the government.

V FOR VENDETTA is a satisfying sci-fi, a an exciting mystery and full of fighting and explosions to please those with limited attention spans. Natalie Portman is wonderful as usual. She appears to have come through the Star Wars debacle unscathed. The rest of the cast is also strong. John Hurt as the dictator Sutler somewhat reminiscent of an Ian McKellen Richard III is especially effective - he mainly appears on television screens throughout the movie. Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry seem to be a package deal in movies, though they have no scenes together, and acquit themselves nicely as Portman's co-worker and the detective investigating V. THe movie is, according to their own spin cycle, the first 'must-see' movie of the year, and it may be (for me, apparently, it was, as this is the first movie I saw this year). It also clears the pallete from any taste leftover from the the last two installments of the MATRIX trilogy. One of the main reasons for the movie's success may be that the Wachowski brothers only wrote and produced V FOR VENDETTA and give directing duties to James McTiegue, who served as first assistant director on the Matrix movies as well as Star Wars Attack of the CLones. It is rare now days that someone arrives at directing by that route, but he brought the perfect amount of menace to the film and kept me guessing at the mystery behind the mask for much of the film.

The one flaw of the film is its reliance on that mask. THis is the same issue I had for the SPIDERMAN movie and that is there is nothing less exciting than looking at an unmoving mask and hearing dialogue. THe Green Goblin is hardly a frightening villian with that ridiculous mask, and there is nothing less exciting than watching the rooftop 'dialogue' of Spidey and the Goblin when neither one has lips or mouths to movie. (the worst part is when the mask itself seems to be called WIllem Dafoe from the chair - but thats also just bad plotting as well). ANyway, what works in a comic book does not alays translate well to the big screen. V FOR VENDETTA avoids many of the pitfalls by keeping the shots of V alone on screen to a minimum, and Hugo (or his body double) gives V a flourish with hands, hat and head shifts that keep the screen from being static. But still, would it have been that hard to just create a mask with open lips for the mouth... My only other qualm is that they shave Natalie Portman's beautiful hair off (it is very important plotwise) and that, even though she has enough time in the film time to grow it back, she doesn't... I like my heroines with hair. Especially Natalie Portman who has been the cutest button on the jacket since she was 11 and in THE PROFESSIONAL.

V FOR VENDETTA is recommended from anyone who thinks it can't happen here, anyone thinks it can happen here and anyone who thinks it is happening here, fans of sci-fi, Natalie Portman, and the first Matrix movie, and historians of the James I reign. RICK'S RATING: A-