This adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd marks the full feature debut of James McTeigue, best known for his work as assistant director on the Matrix trilogy. His former collaborators, the Wachowski brothers, also assume writer/producer duties on this thriller set in a near-future totalitarian Britain, where an enigmatically masked vigilante called V (Hugo Weaving) ignites a revolution with the help of unlikely ally Evey (Natalie Portman). It's by turns an audaciously risk-taking and clunky curio, featuring banned Muslim texts, avian flu, Tube-bomb terrorism and pro-gay manifestos, and it has an oddly empty atmosphere reminiscent of TV's The Avengers. Forget Portman's wavering accent, the predictable Brits fleshing out the cast (John Hurt as a Big Brother-style leader, Stephen Fry as a gay TV presenter) and Weaving's unmoving Guy Fawkes mask - McTeigue's preachy, over-serious polemic still delivers a stunningly executed and movingly relevant ending.

In a world in which Great Britain has become a fascist state, a masked vigilante known only as “V” conducts guerrilla warfare against the oppressive British government. When V rescues a young woman from the secret police, he finds in her an ally with whom he can continue his fight to free the people of Britain.