All Critics (233)
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Top Critics (38)
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Fresh (180)
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Rotten (64)
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DVD (41)
By the movie's midpoint, the Wachowski brothers' screenplay has gotten so bogged down in back story that it takes 40 minutes for director James McTiegue to get back to the explosions that his 16-year-old target audience assumes will solve everything.
The swashbuckling first hour is superior to the second, which bursts at the seams with backstory, but a rousing climax makes this the most potent piece of agitpop in years.
Feels far too starched and clean to do its source material justice.
A welcome blast of pop subversion.
This is not the movie, and these are not the times, for sophisticated arguments.
Richly satisfying entertainment the way movies are at their best, when they prod you to think.
Tn its ambition to weld a political message onto a comic-book movie it falls rather pitifully between two stools.
In adapting Moore's sprawling narrative into a workable screenplay, the Wachowski Brothers have come up with a balance of thoughtful philosophy and all-out action that feels more natural and organic than it did in their Matrix films.
Alan Moore may be greatest victim of Hollywood's comic book adaptation craze.
Daredevil in agitator garb
You have to really credit Hugo Weaving for pulling in a strong performance, helping to carry the film over his back, and never really reveal his face.
Moore and Lloyd posed this paradigm in a Cold War era and it never came to pass. Leave it to the Wachowski Brothers to update it for the War on Terror, or rather its aftermath.
Better than the original comic. Seriously.
V for Vendetta is a milestone. Maybe not a big marker, but a milestone nonetheless.It is anti-establishment redux.
Forget the faux accent, it's the raw emotion [Portman] displays, especially in the film's latter stages, that's positively Streep-like and most captivating.
Contentious, pretentious but with a great last 20 minutes.
Complex but heavy-handed action film. Adults only.
The details of V's beef with society are hazy, but the film has a certain purity of spirit.
...an exciting, thoughtful, old-timey romantic-adventure story that shows up well in high-definition picture and sound. (Blu-ray Edition)
Major studio pictures can certainly be more creative, but they're rarely as bold as this.
blends modern-day politics with good old-fashioned derring-do to explore the grey areas (in a very grey-looking London) between freedom, justice, dissidence and retribution.
When the script sticks close to Alan Moore, it works best. Which, sadly, is seldom.
Every time Mr. Weaving is on screen the spirit of Mr. Moore's character comes alive. Those moments, at least, are worth fighting for.
The Wachowski Brothers have delivered another feast for the eyes and mind with this multilayered story of vengeance and honor.
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