Some movies get bumped for a good reason

V for Vendetta opens today and there was some early hype that suggested this could be the year's first great movie. But unless you're desperate for political commentary in any form the movie fails to live up to that buzz.

The reviews are generally positive (although a lot of the "better" critics around didn't care for it much), but I found the movie to be a well intentioned bore. It's interesting to see a film that aims to make a statement but the messages here are muddled and so far removed from reality that I'd seriously question anyone eager to draw parallels between the movie's post-WWIII Totalitarian London and our present day existence. That's partly because the filmmakers do such a poor job of showing what it's actually like to live in Vendetta's fictional world—all we really learn is that it's not wise to go out alone at night, it's still tough to be gay and TV has gotten really really bad.

The hero is a generic comicbook creation who happens to be a political terrorist, but that's not enough to make him interesting. Natalie Portman is actually very good as the female lead (and the movie's "name"—good luck drawing crowds on that) but her character is so limited that it doesn't much matter. There's really no visual style to speak of, which is fairly surprising considering how involved the Wachowski Brothers were with this, and despite the action-heavy trailers the film's explosions and fight scenes are kept to a bare minimum. Marketing this movie to teenage boys is a serious mistake (even if the opening is big the second weekend will be brutal), but I'm not even sure what other audience they could possibly go for.

I'm not very well schooled in Alan Moore's graphic novels (I've only read the excellent The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) but just as with From Hell, also adapted from one of Moore's works, I have little doubt that the film doesn't do the source material justice.

V for Vendetta isn't a terrible movie but it's not really worth your moviegoing time either. Honestly if you want truly provocative, and relevant, political commentary wrapped up in a fancy genre package I've got some DVDs for you to check out.