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'V for Vendetta' loses the war it wages with itself

"V for Vendetta" is the sort of movie that elicits passionate debate on the Internet among people with user names like Lord Asriel, Killdozer, Rant Breath and DocPazuzu.

It is also the sort of movie that appeals to the inner teenage nerd/romantic in all of us. Think a swashbuckling "1984."

Warner Brothers Pictures 'V for Vendetta' C The verdict: V for vivid. V for vacuous. Director: James McTeigue Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt Run time: 132 minutes Release date: March 17, 2006 Rating: R for strong violence and some language. See showtimes Behind the scenes •  What's with the mask? •  Departures from the book •  Natalie Portman speaks out •  Other memorable Portman performances On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'V for Vendetta'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Adapted by the Wachowski brothers of "The Matrix" fame and directed by James McTeigue, who's been the first assistant director on most of their films, "V for Vendetta" is based on a celebrated graphic novel written in the late 1980s by Alan Moore. A thumb of the nose at Britain's Thatcher government, the story line embraced violence as a legitimate venue for revolution. Moore was eerily prescient in some of his specifics: bombs inside the London Underground, symbolic buildings blown to smithereens.

For the movie, the action has been moved to a dystopian future, circa 2020. England has become a totalitarian state, presided over by the Big Brother-ish Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt). Sporting a Lenin-esque goatee and surrounded by Nazi-like iconography, Sutler rules an empire where art and religion are banned (possession of the Quran can get you killed). Where gays and lesbians are carted off to concentration camps. And where only the politically connected are granted the option of staying out after curfew or the chance to say what they think. As a character who works at the state-run TV station says, "Our job is to report the news, not to fabricate it. That's the government's job."

Out after curfew in London one night, a shy young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) is cornered and threatened with rape (and worse) by some government thugs known as Fingermen. She's rescued by V (Hugo Weaving), a mysterious figure in a flowing cape and Guy Fawkes mask who enlists her in his one-man (at first) campaign to topple Sutler's fascist regime. His blowing up the city's courthouse, the Old Bailey, to the tune of the "1812 Overture" makes for a nicely dramatic first step.

He later whisks her away to his secret underground lair, which is jampacked with forbidden treasure like John William Waterhouse's "The Lady of Shalott," a bust of Nefertiti and a classic '50s jukebox with 872 songs — one of which must be "Music of the Night," if you get my drift. ... Meanwhile, up above, dogged police inspector Finch (a drolly hangdog Stephen Rea) combs London for the pair.

The picture's earnest politics are often as golly-gee cheeseball as its plot and characters. The attempts at humor are adolescently ham-handed. Forced to act behind an elaborate mask that combines Zorro, Jack Nicholson as the Joker and Johnny Depp in "The Libertine," Weaving is further saddled with grandiose dialogue that suggests Cyrano de Bergerac trash-mashed with Gilbert and Sullivan. When Evey asks him who he is, he grandiloquently replies, "Who is just the form following the function of what!"

Please.

Thankfully, "V for Vendetta" never traffics in the queasy quasi-spirituality of "The Matrix" films. Further, despite its many flaws, it never sinks into the what-were-they-thinking sludge of "Reloaded" and "Revolution," the trilogy's last two pictures. There are moments of genuine power — such as Sinéad Cusack as an elderly woman with a dark past who becomes one of V's victims. When she seeks some sort of forgiveness, we're truly moved. So is V, who nonetheless tells her, "I've not come for what you wanted to do. I've come for what you did."

The action set pieces are fewer than in most comic-book movies, but they're expertly executed. And the film earns a daring post-Sept. 11 shudder — controversy? — when V proclaims, "With enough people, blowing up a building can change the world."

It's also refreshing to see a movie of this genre with a strong female protagonist. Portman carries the picture, not Weaving (who does the best he can under the circumstances). Coming on the heels of "Closer," her work here shows she's likely to overcome the stigma of the second "Star Wars" trilogy. She's the kind of actor who draws us to her effortlessly, even in a simplistic role.

But the movie undercuts itself with its garishly adolescent tone. Evey escapes her pursuers by hiding under a bed (twice!). A right-wing TV pundit who enjoys watching images of himself on video while taking a shower is surprised when V's reflected face appears among them (we're not). And a character actually says, "God is in the rain"; if a fanboy creates godisintherain.com, I may have to hurt somebody.

"V for Vendetta" deserves credit for its kinetic kick. And for being eons better than Hollywood-ized crud like "Daredevil" and "The Punisher." At the very least, this film takes itself seriously.

Even when we don't.