V for Vendetta (***)

V for Vendetta is stylish and challenging, but doesn't quite reach greatness due to an ultra-simplistic third act, and a story, that while timely and worth telling, ultimately fails to engage as much as it should. The movie does raise a number of questions though and it portrays its hero in an ambiguous light at times. We're not sure how we feel about V. He's obviously the good guy, but he's a terrorist and he says things like, "Sometimes you have to blow up a building to get people's attention." This is definitely a step up though for the Wachowski Brothers. The Matrix Revolutions was an abysmal cap to one of the potentially greatest sci-fi trilogies. They only wrote V for Vendetta, but it's a literate and well-written script. I wanted more action, but I guess I should be thankful an action movie has more on its mind than just car chases.