V for Vendetta (2005)

[Scott]

V FOR VENDETTA (2005) - Wow, great film and so current in it's approach. Really enjoyed this one and I'm not much for superhero's (except Mystery Men). As most of you know it's DC comic style with a "real politic" element. Liked it better than BATMAN. Our hero does some terrible things all for vengence and I guess for a better world. Strange film for our times. The DC comic approach kinda masked some of the edge political stuff that the film implies.

[Ash]

I still haven't seen this yet.
I'll probably rent it next weekend.

One reason I've kind of stayed away from it is because it has Natalie Portman in it.
In my opinion, she is one of the worst actresses working today.
I do not find her attractive one bit and Britney Spears has more acting talent than her.

Still, I want to see it for the action.

[akiratubo]

Then you will be disappointed, Ash.  There are only a couple of action scenes and they are rather short and to the point ... which is good.

Natalie Portman's acting was a revelation to me.  Her acting was literally painful to watch in Star Wars but she is really good in V for Vendetta.  Her performance was excellent.  (And she was f**king HOT in that little pink skirt.)

But it is Hugo Weaving who steals the show as V.  His performance is brilliant.  V is quite clearly not sane, in fact he's nucking futs, but as Weaving plays him it's not hard to believe in him completely.

John Hurt almost manages to steal the show out from under Weaving, though, with nothing more than an extended cameo.  How does the man move his mouth without moving any other part of his face?  His cheeks don't even wiggle.  It's creepy.

[Amanda]

I thought this movie was awesome.  I stayed away from it for awhile too, not entirely sure why.  Could have been Natalie Portman, I guess.  I love Hugo Weaving though, and I was not disappointed.  
The action scenes were a little short, but still.  I loved the overall feel of it.  It was amazing.

[Yaddo 42]

I liked it as a comic book movie, but thought the politics were a little ham-fisted. I would have liked it better if the bad guys weren't all hypocrites. It's too easy to stack the deck that way.

Weaving was very good, especially since he couldn't use his face in his performance at all. Any insight on this front, Peter Johnson or any others with acting experience on this board? Is it different from say radio or animation voice work? You still have motion and gestures to go with your voice, but is it a challenge to work like this in a visual medium?

Portman was good enough, and I learned to tune down my expectations for acting in Lucas films the more of his dialogue I heard. She actually had material to work with here.

It was interesting to see John Hurt (a former Winston Smith) playing the opposite side of the coin as the High Chancellor. Also neat to see how easily his "loyal" underlings would sell him down the river. The Benny Hill parody was great but almost took me out of the movie, since I found it hard to believe Stephen Fry's character would suddenly be so obtuse and arrogant to think he was safe from serious retribution knowing the secrets he kept.

The slow-mo fight was too much of a bad thing, was this meant to be some variation on "Bullet Time"? I would have liked it better to see this in real time, would have drove home just how lethal V was. And the way the troops just stood aside and no one overreacted, went renegade, or panicked was a bit much to believe. Also the faces at the end were just the director laying it on too thick.

[Shadowphile]

I agree the movie had it's flaws but it was still a good movie.  And Hugo Weaving's 'V' speech at the beginning where he's annihilating the 'finger men' took me two watchings to fully catch all the illiteration.

[loyal1]

Wow you really don't like Portman..it never dawned on me that she was bad.  And I never would say Spears better.  I first saw her in The Professional and Beautiful girls...I thought she was great in both.

V for Vendetta I really liked and pleasantly surprised...but may not be your taste.