Following world war, London is a police state occupied by a fascist government, and a vigilante known only as V (Hugo Weaving) uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressors of the world in which he now lives. When V saves a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) from the secret police, he discovers an ally in his fight against England's oppressors.
There are a number of factors that had led to V For Vendetta initially getting some poor reviews. Heavily marketing it as a film written by the Wachowski Brothers was clearly trying to bring in the Matrix fans, but this film is in a completely different genre so marketing in such a way would give a false impression of what to expect. The other big issue that the film had was releasing a film that effectively humanizes a terrorist, and doing so only a few years after 9/11, it was bound to trigger those people that aren't aware of the source material (which was initially published in 1982).
V For Vendetta is a superbly written film. Unlike the Matrix sequels which became an unholy mess when you look at the plot, V For Vendetta has managed to keep that pretentious quality but put it forward in a much more manageable way. With minimal use of special effects, the emphasis has been placed on creating well-developed main characters that each have their own arc, and 13 years later, the film still looks great.
What is quite impressive is the ever-increasing relatability of the storyline. For a film that was made in 2005, based on a graphic novel from 1982, the portrayal of a world victim to an oppressive totalitarian government and a corrupt police force is strikingly relevant in modern-day 2019 where we are readily trading freedom for security, and witnessing the stripping of human rights, left, right and centre in many countries around the world.
The intriguing aspect of V For Vendetta is its portrayal of V; the faceless anarchist. Here we have a personality that has publicly communicated his will to fight those in power. But his motivations are clearly explained and developed, humanizing the character, and showing the bilateral nature of media. We see a freedom fighter, where those in power call him a terrorist. Hugo Weaving does a brilliant job bringing V to life and puts forward a very charismatic performance without being overly ostentatious (ostentatious being an unnecessary synonym for pretentious).
Along with Weaver, Natalie Portman and Stephen Rea have incredibly engaging performances, with strong character development arcs. The film doesn't rely on conventional romance storylines (while there is an obvious affection) and puts forward very thought-provoking ideas. V For Vendetta serves as a reminder that the government and police forces are there to serve us, not the other way around; the masses hold the real power.
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.