V for Verbose?

I shall begin by saying that I was never particularly interested in 'V', not in the graphic novel, not in the movie, and mostly not in the Wachowski brothers. Their cataclysmic sequels to The Matrix had put me off of their work for what I felt was life. A friend leant me the film and when I finally sat down to watch it, I did so with trepidation and at a push, nothing enticed me into the storyline and nothing appealed to me about a kook in a Guido Fawkes mask. Maybe it was my very very low expectations that gave me a surprise.

The initial scripting is well paced, well written, and well directed. The dialogue rattles along without so much as a pause for breath and runs rich with dry humour and tongue in cheek pomp that imbues the characters with a sense of false regality. The rhythm and the dexterity of the script is done justice by a fantastic voice over from Hugo Weaving and the beginning of the Movie holds a subtle appeal you cannot tear yourself away from.

Saturated with reds & blacks, choreographed fight scenes, and Natalie Portman's breaking accent; The whole film exudes a sense of surrealism and in my own opinion allows the viewer to become detached from the proceedings, this is a shame because for the most part the film could be seen to be as touching as it is tragic.

One of my favourite pieces of casting is the inclusion of Stephen 'Legendary' Fry who is fantastic, as expected, and who somehow manages to reconnect the viewer with the emotion hidden within the story. The scene I am referring to is where he makes it clear to Portman that he is in the closet because of the government; a scene that is clearly drawing from his own life experience which only Fry could carry off without an agenda or motive.

After this scene, I feel the film loses it's way a little bit and the Wachowski's finally lose their long running battle with 'Sonorous Cuntus' and get ravelled up in their own ego's. That's not to say it ruins the film because enough ground work has been laid by Weaving, Fry and (strangely) Portman to convey a very good visual and aural display of a forgotten DC hero. After this the film finds it's feet again and continues to deliver some smatterings of genius scripting and a few action sequences to keep it ticking over.

The political message that inevitably accompanies a pretentious Wachowski Bro. production rears its ugly head again, but luckily it is not sharp enough to penetrate your enjoyment. Overall this makes for a decent film, not ground breaking, and not as revolutionary as the plot suggests, but definitely watchable. Now all we can hope is that Andy and Larry will be able to stop tossing each other off for long enough to start writing another classic like The original Matrix.

7/10