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Changed line(s) 50 (click to see context) from:
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Britain is free of the Dictatorship that had been ruling the country, but V lost his life in the process, and we don't know how well Britain will be able to take care of itself without a government in charge. The comic also ends with Evey possibly training the future government as the second V, potentially leaving the identity to a third party.]]
to:
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Britain is free of the Dictatorship Ddictatorship that had been ruling the country, but V lost his life in the process, and we don't know how well Britain will be able to take care of itself without a government in charge. The comic also ends with Evey possibly training the future government as the second V, potentially leaving the identity to a third party.]]
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* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. V even mentions he'll kill all the guards before they have time to reload.
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* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. V even mentions he'll kill all that when the guards mooks are out of ammo, they'll be dead before they have time to can reload.
Changed line(s) 78 (click to see context) from:
* TheDogBitesBack: Creedy killing Adam Sutler, with V being involved in causing the trope to happen.
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* TheDogBitesBack: Creedy killing Adam Sutler, with V being involved in causing the trope purposefully arranging for increased surveillance on Creedy precisely to happen.foster these feelings.
Changed line(s) 93 (click to see context) from:
* FallenStatesOfAmerica: Prothero claims that the 'Ulcered Sphincter of Arse-erica' has become the world's biggest leper colony, and what remains of its government is desperately petioning Britain to provide them with humanitarian aid and medical supplies. It's not clear whether or not this is true or [[UnreliableNarrator fascist propaganda]].
to:
* FallenStatesOfAmerica: Prothero claims that the 'Ulcered Sphincter of Arse-erica' has become the world's biggest leper colony, and what remains of its government is desperately petioning petitioning Britain to provide them with humanitarian aid and medical supplies. It's not clear whether or not this is true or [[UnreliableNarrator fascist propaganda]].
* AGlassInHand: Sutler does this with his glass of milk after watching Gordon's unscripted show thoroughly mocking him.
* GenreBlind: Gordon. [[spoiler:He thinks his reputation is enough to shield him from Sutler's wrath. It is not.]]
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* NeoconNewscaster: Prothero, a talk show host who staunchly supports the Norsefire regime's Nazi-esque policies and calls out its opponents with a lot of macho bluster. Likely a Radio/GlennBeck/Radio/RushLimbaugh satire.
to:
* NeoconNewscaster: Prothero, a talk show host who staunchly supports the Norsefire regime's Nazi-esque policies and calls out its opponents with a lot of macho bluster. Likely a Radio/GlennBeck/Radio/RushLimbaugh Radio/GlennBeck[=/=]Radio/RushLimbaugh satire.
Changed line(s) 177,178 (click to see context) from:
* SuperReflexes / SuperStrength: V has these abilities.
* TheStarscream: Creedy.
* TheStarscream: Creedy.
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* SuperReflexes / SuperStrength: SuperReflexes[=/=]SuperStrength: V has these abilities.
* TheStarscream:Creedy.Creedy, as engineered by V.
* TheStarscream:
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* TooDumbToLive: So you live in a totalitarian society, where your Chancellor is a bigot, a zealot, and a complete monster. People disappear for so much as having an opinion. You media is completely controlled and censored by law, your stories manufactured. In short, your government can kill you whenever he (and I do mean He) see's fit. Knowing all this, you see fit to mock your Chancellor on live television and you think the worst that will happen is you will be fined, and forced to write a letter of apology?
** Oh, and your also a closeted homosexual, which will get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
** Oh, and your also a closeted homosexual, which will get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
to:
* TooDumbToLive: So you live in a totalitarian society, where your Chancellor is a bigot, a zealot, and a complete monster. People disappear for so much as having an opinion. You The media is completely controlled and censored by law, your stories manufactured. In manufactured; in short, your government can kill you whenever he (and I do mean He) see's sees fit. Knowing all this, you see fit to mock your Chancellor on live television and you think the worst that will happen is you will be fined, and forced to write a letter of apology?
** Oh, andyour you're also a closeted homosexual, which will get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
** Oh, and
Changed line(s) 196 (click to see context) from:
* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Mostly averted (like V saying "lift" instead of "elevator") but not always -- several uses of "cop" which is generally an Americanism (Brits prefer "copper"), Finch pronouncing lever as leh-ver instead of lee-ver, Portman's accent (although YMMV on that last one.)
to:
* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Mostly averted (like V saying "lift" instead of "elevator") but not always -- several uses of "cop" which is generally an Americanism (Brits prefer "copper"), Finch pronouncing lever as leh-ver instead of lee-ver, Portman's accent (although YMMV on that last one.)one).
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** Subverted however, in that after killing Creedy, V is mortally wounded.
to:
** Subverted however, in that after killing Creedy, while the initial salvo may not have ''stopped'' him, V is mortally wounded.
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\"My turn\" isn\'t a boast.
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* BadassBoast: "My turn." And before that:
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* BadassBoast: "My turn." And before that:BadassBoast:
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* BulletproofVest: V wears one. [[spoiler:Subverted at the end, however. After taking several handgun magazines to the chest, V pulls together enough HeroicResolve to kill every one of his attackers, but he pulls off his bloody, bullet-riddled armor and dies of his wounds shortly thereafter.]]
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Changed line(s) 41,42 (click to see context) from:
* BadassBoast: "My turn." *
-->'''Creedy:''' we have guns\\
-->'''Creedy:''' we have guns\\
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* BadassBoast: "My turn." *
" And before that:
-->'''Creedy:'''we You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns\\guns.\\
-->'''Creedy:'''
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* BadassLongHair: V. Even if it's a wig ([[spoiler:His real hair was burned off in his escape from the testing facility in his backstory.]].
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* BadassLongHair: V. Even if it's a wig wig. ([[spoiler:His real hair was burned off in his escape from the testing facility in his backstory.]].]]
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* ExactWords: Sutler gives us this:
-->'''Sutler:''' Tonight, I give you my most solemn vow: that justice will be swift, it will be righteous, and it will be ''without mercy.''
** It was.
-->'''Sutler:''' Tonight, I give you my most solemn vow: that justice will be swift, it will be righteous, and it will be ''without mercy.''
** It was.
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It was a wrench not a shovel
Changed line(s) 104 (click to see context) from:
* GoryDiscretionShot: When the Fingerman who shot the little girl is cornered by angry citizens, one of the men swings a shovel at the Fingerman's face. The shot cuts away before it connects but it's easy to imagine what happened.
to:
* GoryDiscretionShot: When the Fingerman who shot the little girl is cornered by angry citizens, one of the men swings a shovel wrench at the Fingerman's face. The shot cuts away before it connects but it's easy to imagine what happened.
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* FallenStatesOfAmerica: Prothero claims that the 'Ulcered Sphincter of Arse-erica' has become the world's biggest leper colony, and what remains of its government is desperately petioning Britain to provide them with humanitarian aid and medical supplies. It's not clear whether or not this is true or [[UnreliableNarrator fascist propaganda]].
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Changed line(s) 178 (click to see context) from:
** Oh, and your also a closeted homosexual, which get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
to:
** Oh, and your also a closeted homosexual, which will get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
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* TooDumbToLive: So you live in a totalitarian society, where your Chancellor is a bigot, a zealot, and a complete monster. People disappear for so much as having an opinion. You media is completely controlled and censored by law, your stories manufactured. In short, your government can kill you whenever he (and I do mean He) see's fit. Knowing all this, you see fit to mock your Chancellor on live television and you think the worst that will happen is you will be fined, and forced to write a letter of apology?
** Oh, and your also a closeted homosexual, which get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
** Oh, and your also a closeted homosexual, which get you on the wrong side of a firing squad. Ooh ooh, and you have a collection of illegal artifacts including a copy of the Holy Qua-ran, which ensures that when the police do in fact kick your door in, you will be properly executed without even being interrogated.
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Changed line(s) 4,5 (click to see context) from:
-> ''People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people..''
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-> ''People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people..people.''
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-> ''People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people..''
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Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* ApocalypseHow: Class 0 -- Societal Disruption or Collapse on a Regional or Continental scale.
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* ApocalypseHow: Class 0 1 -- Societal Disruption or Collapse on a Regional or Continental scale.
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* BrokenAesop: The movie goes for a pretty unambiguous Aesop about the importance of individual freedom and thinking for yourself, even making V a "freedom fighter" instead of an anarchist and nixing the book's post-apocalyptic setting to make his bombing campaign seem more heroic. Fine...but his crusade against Norsefire still relies on kidnapping and torturing an innocent girl to make her more sympathetic to his cause, and it ends with him being hailed as a martyr by a mob of his devoted supporters, who proceed to show their devotion by [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything donning identical black outfits and marching in lockstep towards the nation's capital]]. You know...for freedom.
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* VillainsOutShopping: "Creepy" Creedy loves his botany and Sutler still enjoys a glass of warm milk.
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* NeoconNewscaster: Prothero, a talk show host who staunchly supports the Norsefire regime's Nazi-esque policies and calls out its opponents with a lot of macho bluster. Likely a Radio/GlennBeck/Radio/RushLimbaugh satire.
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Changed line(s) 2,3 (click to see context) from:
[[caption-width-right:326:]]
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[[caption-width-right:326:some caption text]]
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[[quoteright:326:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2006_v_for_vendetta_poster_004_7457.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:326:some caption text]]
[[caption-width-right:326:some caption text]]
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Changed line(s) 162 (click to see context) from:
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: The revolution against the government is seen as completely positive. They kinda handwaved the fact that depending on your position a "revolutionist" is either a "freedom fighter" or a "terrorist".
to:
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: The revolution against the government is seen as completely positive. They kinda handwaved the fact that depending on your position a "revolutionist" is either a "freedom fighter" or a "terrorist"."terrorist", and there can be no argument whatsoever against the fact that Norsefire is a corrupt and oppressive regime that is guilty of terrible crimes against humanity. But there's also no argument that the comic's deliberately ambiguous morality is replaced in the movie with a much more black-and-white version of the conflict.
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Changed line(s) 154 (click to see context) from:
* PunchClockVillain: Eric Finch, arguably.
to:
* PunchClockVillain: Eric Finch, arguably.Finch qualifies, at least at the start. Finch says he's been a party member for twenty-seven years, but it's probably not unfair to assume that joining Norsefire was the only way to have anything resembling a career in law enforcement, and it's certainly clear that Finch thinks of himself as a copper first and foremost.
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* ForensicAccounting: After the Norsefire bureaucracy stonewalls his investigation when it treads too close to the uncomfortable secrets surrounding Larkhill, Inspector Finch goes to the tax office to look through ''their'' records.
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Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:
* BadassBoast: "My turn."
to:
* BadassBoast: "My turn."" *
-->'''Creedy:''' we have guns\\
'''V:''' No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'll no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
-->'''Creedy:''' we have guns\\
'''V:''' No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'll no longer be standing, because if I am you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
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Changed line(s) 113 (click to see context) from:
* LifeImitatesArt: Oh so very much. Many members of the Anonymous online community enjoy wearing Guy Fawkes masks in the style of this movie.
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* LifeImitatesArt: Oh so very much. Many members of the Anonymous online community enjoy wearing Guy Fawkes masks in the style of this movie. Ironically, that mask design is copyrighted by WarnerBrothers, so the symbol of rebellion is actually owned by a large corporate entity similar to the ones that Anonymous occassionally target.
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Changed line(s) 125 (click to see context) from:
* NoNameGiven: V. He states: "I do not have a name. You can call me V."
to:
* NoNameGiven: V. He states: "I do not have a name. You can call me V." Even Delia Surridge doesn't know his real name, calling him just "the subject" or "the man from room five", and recalls that during her experiments, "The subject stated he could no longer remember his name, or where he was from."
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Changed line(s) 100 (click to see context) from:
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The film did this for Guy Fawkes, even though that was never Moore's intent. In reality, his "hero" status is highly dubious. The Gunpowder Plot wasn't really to strike a blow for freedom, they simply wanted to replace the Protestant king with a Catholic one. Further, they packed in so much gunpowder that hundreds (possibly thousands) of innocent civilians would have been killed, including many children -- the only thing the plotters worried about was whether too many Catholics would be taken out (which was what caught them up, since they sent a letter to warn the Catholic Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament on that day, who then told the authorities). By modern standards they were depraved terrorists.
to:
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The film did this for Guy Fawkes, even though that was never Moore's intent. In reality, his "hero" status is highly dubious. The Gunpowder Plot wasn't really to strike a blow for freedom, they simply wanted to replace the Protestant king with a Catholic one. Further, they packed in so much gunpowder that hundreds (possibly thousands) of innocent civilians would have been killed, including many children -- the only thing the plotters worried about was whether too many Catholics would be taken out (which was what caught them up, since they sent a letter to warn the Catholic Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament on that day, who then told the authorities). By modern standards they were depraved terrorists.terrorists, and just to put the cherry on top, Fawkes wasn't even a core member of the conspiracy, but a mercenary[[hottip:*: of course, he ''was'' also Catholic, and sympathetic to the plotter's cause, but still...]] hired for his experience with gunpower.
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* EvilLaugh: More crazy than evil, but V's maniacal laughter in the beginning as the Old Bailey explodes comes close.
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* OlderThanTheyLook: A rough estimate of V's age puts him at anywhere from 30s to 60s. However, due to the experiments conducted on him, V can still move like an Olympic athlete.
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Added Cool Mask, Pre-mortem One-liner, Latex Perfection, Gory Discretion Shot
* CoolMask: This movie is one of the main reasons why people still know what a Guy Fawkes mask is.
Changed line(s) 72 (click to see context) from:
* DualWielding: V's main weapons are multiple knives. The version has a coat full of 'em.
to:
* DualWielding: V's main weapons are multiple half a dozen knives. The version has a coat full of 'em.
* GoryDiscretionShot: When the Fingerman who shot the little girl is cornered by angry citizens, one of the men swings a shovel at the Fingerman's face. The shot cuts away before it connects but it's easy to imagine what happened.
** Particularly since there's a metallic impact sound when the scene shifts.
** Particularly since there's a metallic impact sound when the scene shifts.
Changed line(s) 104 (click to see context) from:
* KnifeNut: V.
to:
* KnifeNut: V. He keeps 6 on his belt in case [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks he needs to throw them.]]
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* LatexPerfection: On close inspection in daylight, V's William Rookwood mask is pretty easily seen to be plastic. However, in the dark, partially covered by glasses, a fake beard, and a hat, it's enough to fool Mr. Finch.
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** The General in charge of defending Parliament at the end when he sees just how many V's are showing up.
--> ''"Jesus bloody Christ"''
** The look on every one of Creedy's men when V's cutting his way through them.
--> ''"Jesus bloody Christ"''
** The look on every one of Creedy's men when V's cutting his way through them.
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** The Fingerman who shoots the little girl just for spray-painting graffiti.
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* PreMortemOneLiner: V gets two within a few minutes, first against Creedy's men then Creedy himself.
--> ''V:'' "[[OhCrap My turn]]"
--> ''V:'' "Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof."
--> ''V:'' "[[OhCrap My turn]]"
--> ''V:'' "Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof."
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from V For Vendetta
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* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: The revolution against the government is seen as completely positive. They kinda handwaved the fact that depending on your position a "revolutionist" is either a "freedom fighter" or a "terrorist".
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extracted from V For Vendetta
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''V for Vendetta'' is a 2006 film based on [[ComicBook/VForVendetta the comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd]].
The title character is V (HugoWeaving), a government experiment GoneHorriblyWrong. Armed with extraordinary intellect and fighting skills, along with some home-made high explosives, he escapes from the facility that created him and sets about committing terrorist attacks against the fascist government of Britain. He is TheFaceless throughout the film, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in order to conceal his true identity. The fact that Guy Fawkes was arrested for trying to blow up the king has something to do with it, of course.
Evey Hammond (NataliePortman) is rescued from rapist policemen by V, and this act of kindness starts the film. She is taken to his ElaborateUndergroundBase, and, although scared by V at first, she decides to join his campaign to bring down the Government, replacing it with an anarchist society.
Where the original comic was influenced by Creator/AlanMoore's fears of [[MargaretThatcher Thatcherite]] Britain becoming a repressive dictatorship, the film owes more to critics of the second [[GeorgeWBush Bush]] administration along with several other changes with the characters and plot to condense the story and reconfigure it to resemble a more standard superhero tale, complete with super powers for V.
----
!!This film provides examples of:
* ActorAllusion:
** Creator/StephenFry plays an erudite gay man in the entertainment industry, which he is.
** JohnHurt [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour in a movie about a totalitarian London?]] Notably, Hurt's presence is a sort of ''inversion.'' In the 1984 version of... well, ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', John was portraying the protagonist, Winston Smith, and thus was a ''victim'' of the totalitarian government. In the film version of ''V for Vendetta'', meanwhile, he portrays High Chancellor Adam Sutler, and thus became the ''leader'' of such a government.
** In a similar manner, HugoWeaving is in [[Film/TheMatrix a movie about totalitarianism]]. However, like Hurt, Weaving is an inversion: In the first ''Matrix'', Weaving played the antagonist, Agent Smith, who had a role in the totalitarian government [[TheStarscream (initially)]]. In ''V'', however, he plays the protagonist who is fighting against the totalitarian government.
* AdaptationalBadass: Inverted with Gordon Dietrich. The movie turns him into a chubby, middle-aged comedian (played by StephenFry, no less) when he was a younger, more physically imposing career criminal in the book. Then again, the film also has him defying the Party's laws by hiding banned books and films in his house, and openly mocking Chancellor Sutler on his show [[spoiler:(which he is eventually executed for)]], which is ''far'' more badass than anything the character did in the book.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal:
** V's opening monologue to Evey involves 50 [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness words that begin with V]].
-->'''V: V'''oilà! In '''V'''iew, a humble '''V'''audevillian '''V'''eteran, cast '''V'''icariously as both '''V'''ictim and '''V'''illain by the '''V'''icissitudes of fate. This '''V'''isage, no mere '''V'''eneer of '''V'''anity, is a '''V'''estige of the '''V'''ox populi, now '''V'''acant, '''V'''anished. However, this '''V'''alorous '''V'''isitation of a bygone '''V'''exation stands '''V'''ivified, and has '''V'''owed to '''V'''anquish these '''V'''enal and '''V'''irulent '''V'''ermin '''V'''anguarding '''V'''ice and '''V'''ouchsafing the '''V'''iolently '''V'''icious and '''V'''oracious '''V'''iolation of '''V'''olition! The only '''V'''erdict is '''V'''engeance; a '''V'''endetta held as a '''V'''otive, not in '''V'''ain, for the '''V'''alue and '''V'''eracity of such shall one day '''V'''indicate the '''V'''igilant and the '''V'''irtuous. '''V'''erily, this '''V'''ichyssoise of '''V'''erbiage '''V'''eers most '''V'''erbose, so let me simply add that it's my '''V'''ery good honour to meet you and you may call me '''V'''.
** "'''V'''i '''v'''eri '''v'''eniersum '''v'''ivus '''v'''ici".[[note]]Translates to: By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe[[/note]]
* AfterTheEnd: At least according to the Government.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: Some contemporary reviewers find the idea of "concentration camps" for homosexuals, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28 eradicate homosexuality even as an abstract concept]], etc. to be sort of an invocation of GodwinsLaw by comparing Thatcher's England to Nazi Germany. However, in the early 1980s MargaretThatcher did indeed make the suggestion, as a public health policy, that all gay men should be put into quarantine in closed institutions as a strategy to stop the spread of HIV infections. Alan Moore's {{Word of God}} says this aspect of the dystopia was a direct commentary on the implications of such proposals. It should also be noted it was Christopher Monckton, one of Thatcher's advisors, who was really proposing the AIDS quarantine, not so much Thatcher herself. The idea never took off.
* AntiHero: V. The movie softens him to a [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Anti-Hero]].
* ApocalypseAnarchy: {{Invoked}} by V, who's trying to bring about the end of a fascist system by increasing the amount of disorder. He inspires the population to more acts of violence and vandalism, which causes the government to crack down, which leads to more uprising...
** Inverted in the backstory, in which a minor apocalypse brings about not anarchy, but fascism.
* ApocalypseHow: Class 0 -- Societal Disruption or Collapse on a Regional or Continental scale.
* ArcWords: The repeated V/Five motif.
* AttemptedRape: V meets Evey when he saves her from a police gang-rape.
* AudibleSharpness: Whenever V breaks out his knives expect lots of "cutting the air" noises. In V's grand battle they even have ''visible'' sharpness.
* AuthorFilibuster: There's still technically the question of is this right or is this mad, but the film ''really really'' wants you to cheer on the anarchists. In the montage, as narrated by Mr. Finch, where V's plan involving the masks and the train cars is coming to fruition, a quick exchange takes place as such:
-->'''Mr. Finch:''' This is what he wants.\\
''(cut to convenience store being robbed)''\\
'''Fawkes-masked robber:''' ANARCHY IN THE UK!\\
''(cut back to Mr. Finch)''\\
'''Mr. Finch:''' Chaos.
* BadassBoast: "My turn."
* BadassLongHair: V. Even if it's a wig ([[spoiler:His real hair was burned off in his escape from the testing facility in his backstory.]].
* BadassLongRobe: V.
* BatmanGambit: V's entire plan involves manipulating the government heads into national collapse.
* BeardOfEvil: Invoked by V's mask.
* BewareTheSuperman: V, if you consider him a villain. His backstory is basically the archetypal superhero origin story in its most distilled form (downtrodden man is injected with experimental chemicals that give him peak-human abilities, dons a costume and goes off to fight evildoers) but his experiences also drive him insane, leading him to become an anarchist terrorist instead of a crime fighter.
* BigBad: Adam Sutler is the movie's obvious antagonist.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Britain is free of the Dictatorship that had been ruling the country, but V lost his life in the process, and we don't know how well Britain will be able to take care of itself without a government in charge. The comic also ends with Evey possibly training the future government as the second V, potentially leaving the identity to a third party.]]
* BlackMarketProduce: On Evey's first morning in the Shadow Gallery, she is given toast with her breakfast and is astonished to find real butter. V explains that he stole it from the Chancellor's supplies.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: V does this to two of [[spoiler:Creedy's]] guards '''with thrown knives''' in the film's climax.
* BodyHorror: The descriptions of what happened to the people tested are enough to make you want to smack the lead scientist, Delia Surridge, [[AntiVillain but MAYBE not kill her]].
* BombThrowingAnarchists: V, though he certainly has some goals beyond simply blowing stuff up.
* BookEnds: The 1812 Overture. The film opens with the first notes and ends with the crescendo.
* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. V even mentions he'll kill all the guards before they have time to reload.
* BulletproofHumanShield: V uses this tactic to outmaneuver the constables in Jordan Tower.
* BulletTime: Well, Throwing Knife Time in this case.
* BuryYourGays: Gordon Dietrich, who in the comic is a petty criminal (but still NiceGuy) who sleeps with Evey before getting stabbed to death by a Scottish gangster, is in the film a closeted gay television host and comedian. He ends up being arrested for making fun of the BigBad on TV, then executed when they find out he's gay and has a Koran.
* ByronicHero: V, perhaps moreso in the comic than the movie.
* CaptainObvious:
-->'''Evey:''' I don't see any instruments.\\
'''V:''' Your powers of observation continue to serve you well.
* CastingGag: JohnHurt as the Leader.
* CoatHatMask: V.
* ColdBloodedTorture: From ''both'' sides, although opinions vary on whether V was justified with his.
* CorruptPolitician: Norsefire were corrupt bastards.
* CrapsackWorld: It's a post-nuclear wasteland, the second coming of the Nazis has taken power over Britain, and the only person who dares to stand up to them is an apparently insane terrorist who wants to replace them with... nothing. Though it mainly focuses on Britain, the movie also frequently hints at the chaos breaking out in the rest of the world. Apparently, America is now in the middle of a second civil war, it's described as "the world's biggest leper colony," and its leaders beg for humanitarian aid from the UK, sparking Lewis Prothero's rant about how they should blow up the Statue of Liberty as revenge for TheAmericanRevolution.
* CrazyPrepared: V
* DarkMessiah: V can be interpreted as this.
* DemotedToExtra: Conrad Heyer, the head of The Eye, briefly appears near the beginning when Sutler's advisors are assembled, but the subplot about his wife manipulating him into trying to usurp the government is cut.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:In Evey's case, she did not get the guy, since he died in the end.]]
* DisasterDominoes: V sets this in motion for Norsefire. Scenes of the effects are interspersed with him setting up and toppling a massive number of dominoes shaped as his logo.
* DissonantSerenity: V's rampage at the very end can come across as this, probably because of that mask. Also, massive explosions set to gorgeous music.
* TheDogBitesBack: Creedy killing Adam Sutler, with V being involved in causing the trope to happen.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Subverted, when V broadcasts his communiqué over BTN's network.
* DoomedMoralVictor: As a part of the ThanatosGambit.
* DragonAscendant: Creedy.
* DualWielding: V's main weapons are multiple knives. The version has a coat full of 'em.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The Shadow Gallery.
* EnemyRisingBehind: V does this in the climax of the film.
* EvilOverlord: Sutler.
* EvilSoundsDeep: V.
* ExpressiveMask: V's mask never moves, but it still manages to convey emotion through shadow and angles.
* TheExtremistWasRight: The film presents V as more of a good guy and Norsefire and 100% evil, resulting in a more black and white view.
* FastForwardGag: Complete with [[Series/TheBennyHillShow "Yakety Sax"]].
* FictionalPoliticalParty: [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Norsefire]]. In the film, the party came to power after a democratic election.
* FootFocus
* GagDub: MyWayEntertainment does this for the first meeting of V and Evey in "V for Vocabulary". Randy Hayes did his [[MotorMouth long-winded version]] entirely on the fly.
* GambitRoulette: Everyone is manipulating everyone else. V is, more often than not, the puppet master, though.
* GenreSavvy
** Evey knows a reporter is lying because she has a habit of blinking when she's reporting a false story.
** Invoked by Finch when he speculates what will happen at Parliament.
--->'''Dominic:''' What do you think will happen?\\
'''Finch:''' What usually happens when people without guns stand up to people '''with''' guns.
* AGoodWayToDie: [[spoiler:V's]] death.
-->'''[[spoiler:Evey:]]''' I don't want you to die!\\
'''[[spoiler:V:]]''' That is the most beautiful thing you could have ever given me...
* HarmfulToMinors: One of the police spots a young girl in a V mask, and shoots her. This kicks the revolution into full swing.
* HeldGaze: Happens twice between V and Evey, at one time verging upon an AlmostKiss. Somewhat subverted in that the film shows that V is always wearing his mask which conceals even his eyes but the romantic tension created is still clear.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:V himself]] goes through an anti-heroic sacrifice.
* HeroicWillpower: V manages to hold off on any penalty to attack or agility for what looks like several minutes after [[spoiler:being pumped full of bullets that penetrated a metal chestplate in at least two dozen places]]. Since the entire scene is in slow-motion, it's probably only about thirty seconds, but that's still more than most people would be likely to manage. Ten fingermen, all armed with Beretta Inoxes with 15 round magazines, and Creedy with his magnum, empty their magazines into him... he takes ''at least'' [[UpToEleven a hundred-fifty]] bullets and still manages to kill them all. However, after that... [[HeroicRROD he's spent.]]
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The film did this for Guy Fawkes, even though that was never Moore's intent. In reality, his "hero" status is highly dubious. The Gunpowder Plot wasn't really to strike a blow for freedom, they simply wanted to replace the Protestant king with a Catholic one. Further, they packed in so much gunpowder that hundreds (possibly thousands) of innocent civilians would have been killed, including many children -- the only thing the plotters worried about was whether too many Catholics would be taken out (which was what caught them up, since they sent a letter to warn the Catholic Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament on that day, who then told the authorities). By modern standards they were depraved terrorists.
* IconOfRebellion: Guy Fawkes masks and the letter V in general.
* IronicEcho: "Spare the rod..."
* KickTheDog: Initially, it's made apparent the government makes people disappear for "crimes" such as protesting (e.g. Evey's parents), but it's later done again harder when Gordon is detained simply for mocking Sutler, and V says after they found a Quran in his house, they ordered him shot. So apparently being a Muslim or possessing articles of Islamic faith is a capital crime.
* KillThePoor: Along with other "undesirables", the homeless are rounded up and placed in death camps.
* TheKindnapper: V kidnaps Evey twice, both times motivated by some form of benevolent intentions. The first time, he saves her from being raped by the government's secret police. The second time, he is testing her -- albeit in a horrible way -- to see if she is worthy of being his successor.
* KirkSummation: It's scarily reminiscent of the trope-naming HannibalLecture, except that [[GreyAndBlackMorality the guy he's delivering it to is so much worse]].
* KingpinInHisGym: There's one scene in which V has some fun fencing with a suit of armour. As he exists somewhere in the fuzzy border between AntiHero and AntiVillain, he's probably villain enough to count.
* KnifeNut: V.
* KnightInSourArmor: Eric Finch.
* LandslideElection: Norsefire came to power with 87% of the vote.
* LibertyOverProsperity: One of V's points during his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to all England (and/or humanity in general) is that they have accepted trading their freedoms in exchange for security. He does mention that he doesn't mean that they should go back to the Stone Age, but that they need to stop stagnating.
* LifeImitatesArt: Oh so very much. Many members of the Anonymous online community enjoy wearing Guy Fawkes masks in the style of this movie.
* LipstickAndLoadMontage: Evey does this while V gets his gear ready to fight.
* LiveActionAdaptation
* LivingLegend: V deliberately invokes this so that he can inspire people.
* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: Give the Man in Room Five a garden plot, he'll grow roses. Give the Man in Room Five some gardening chemicals, he'll make napalm and mustard gas.
* MeaningfulEcho: Evey's rebirth is meant to echo V's "birth"; the movie makes this abundantly clear by using the footage of V at Larkhill merged into Evey on the roof.
* MirrorScare: The murder of Lewis Prothero.
* MoreDakka: V finds himself at the apex of a ten-way full-auto firing squad.
* MortalWoundReveal: A subtle one in the great big showdown, where [[spoiler:V appears to survive a NoOneCouldSurviveThat, but]] turns out to be only human after all -- albeit something of a {{Determinator}}.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: It's against a country's best interests to elect a man named ''[[AdolfHitler Adam Sutler]]''.
* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: V takes revenge on those involved in the concentration camp and the experiments which created him.
* NoEndorHolocaust: At the climax of the movie [[spoiler:the Houses of Parliament are destroyed by a massive bomb on a tube train beneath them. An explosion of such size would devastate a wide area around it, but miraculously the thousands of be-masked V supporters watching the show from only a few metres away are completely unharmed, rather than being shredded by flying debris]]. Also, the fact that the government no longer exists is seen as very positive with no drawbacks.
* NoNameGiven: V. He states: "I do not have a name. You can call me V."
* NoPlaceForMeThere
* NotHisSled:
** Subverted in one scene, where it briefly looks like they're actually going to reveal V's identity. [[spoiler:Finch sets up a meeting with a mysterious informant named William Rockwood, who turns out to be played by an unmasked HugoWeaving. At first, we're led to believe that V has finally been unmasked...but then "William Rockwood" turns out to be a pseudonym, and the face that looks like Hugo Weaving turns out to be another of V's masks]].
** Played straight with [[spoiler:V and Sutler's]] deaths. [[spoiler:In the book, V was killed by Finch, and Sutler ("Susan" in the book) was killed by Rosemary Almond, the disgruntled widow of the first head of The Finger. In the movie, V and Sutler are both killed by Creedy's troops]].
* OhCrap: The security guard's reaction to seeing V's rather incendiary undershirt.
-->"Fuckin' 'ell."
* OneLetterName: V
* OrangeBlueContrast: A rare non-advertising, non-simultaneous example for cinema, Evey's "awakening" takes place in a ''very'' blue rain storm and it is interspersed with images V's "awakening", which took place in a raging inferno.
* PairTheSpares: Implied with [[spoiler:Evey and Finch]], during [[spoiler:Finch's monologue about everything being connected]].
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler:Evey ''becomes'' V.]]
* PayEvilUntoEvil: V does this to Prothero, Lilliman and Creedy. While his torture is undoubtedly cruel, their deaths are nothing short of a relief.
* PetTheDog: Unlike his other targets, V ''doesn't'' violently kill Delia Surridge, but instead chooses to inject her with a lethal poison while she sleeps. He even seems sorry that he had to do so.
* PlayingWithSyringes: V's origin. This is more overt in the movie since the tests apparently gave him SuperStrength and possibly other powers.
* PoliceBrutality: Norsefire Fingermen make a habit of it, and the regular police gun down an innocent man (admittedly he was disguised as V) when V takes over a news studio.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Norsefire. ''All'' of Norsefire.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: [[spoiler:Creedy kills Sutler]] with one.
* PromotedToLoveInterest: Inverted with Gordon. He and Evey were explicitly attracted to each other in the book (Evey even fantasizes about having sex with him at one point). In the movie, he's gay.
* PunchClockVillain: Eric Finch, arguably.
* PuttingOnTheReich[=/=]ANaziByAnyOtherName: Norsefire are Neo-Nazis, so it's not too odd.
* PsychoSerum: The testing V endures while at Larkhill, drives him a little insane.
* RageAgainstTheReflection
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: V gives one to [[spoiler:''the entire country'' by taking over the Norsefire equivalent of TheBBC]].
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Delia Surridge]], who tells V she's sorry for what she's done to him. V shows mercy to her, and gives her a quick, painless death.
* RedemptionInTheRain: Evey after her "birth".
* RefugeInAudacity: Gordon's last-minute script-change to his show, assuming that he was too famous to just be disappeared. [[spoiler:[[TemptingFate He was wrong]]]].
* SociopathicHero: V. Literally. Finch describes him as being a clinical psychopath.
* SubText: [[spoiler:During Finch's monologue about everything being connected, there is a brief shot of future-Evey with her hair grown back, next to a vase of Scarlet Carsons. The mirror on the wall shows a reflection of a relaxed-looking Finch drinking some wine]].
* SuperReflexes / SuperStrength: V has these abilities.
* TheStarscream: Creedy.
* SyntheticPlague: The St. Mary's Virus.
* ThoseWackyNazis: The Head's name was changed from Adam Susan in the book to Adam Sutler in the film. Truly, there never was a [[IncrediblyLamePun subtler pun on Hitler]].
* ThouShaltNotKill: Evey
* TranquilFury: Vengeance with a smile.
* TraumaticHaircut: Evey's torture.
* TrophyRoom: The Shadow Gallery.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The film was made in 2006 and is set in the 2030s.
* {{Undercrank}}: Gordon uses this in his comedy show when he throws out the approved script, right down to playing [[Series/TheBennyHillShow "Yakety Sax"]].
* TheUnReveal: The identity of V is [[spoiler:now simply "V"]]. He removes his mask once, but his face remains unseen by the audience.
* VikingFuneral: [[spoiler:V gets a modern take on one; laid to rest on the train that delivers his bomb to Parliament.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Creedy suffers a nasty one after V rips his henchmen to shreds and is still strong enough to send Creedy to hell before expiring.
* VoiceOfTheLegion
* WallSlump
* WaterSourceTampering: Norsefire released the virus into a water treatment plant, in addition to a tube station and [[WouldHurtAChild St. Mary's School]], from which it got its name.
* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Mostly averted (like V saying "lift" instead of "elevator") but not always -- several uses of "cop" which is generally an Americanism (Brits prefer "copper"), Finch pronouncing lever as leh-ver instead of lee-ver, Portman's accent (although YMMV on that last one.)
* WellIntentionedExtremist: V himself is a rare {{Anti Hero}}ic example.
* WesternTerrorists: {{Deconstructed}}.
* WhamEpisode: It's implied that the key formative event in the Man in Room Five's transformation into V isn't the experiments upon him, or the cruel and indifferent treatment he received from the prison camp's staff. It's [[spoiler: the note from Valerie, which he delivers to Evey exactly as he received it himself. It has a similar effect upon her]].
* WhatTheHellAreYou: Creedy's reaction after V survives a hailstorm of bullets and proceeds to kill every last one of the men shooting at him.
** Subverted however, in that after killing Creedy, V is mortally wounded.
* WhatTheHellHero: Evey's initial reaction to [[spoiler: V's torture of her and when he kills the Bishop]]. She forgives him for both times, though.
* WhyWontYouDie: Because beneath his mask is more than flesh, beneath his mask there is an idea, and ''[[CantStopTheSignal ideas are bulletproof]]''. [[spoiler:Also: an armor breast plate. Which is not entirely bulletproof, but does stop V from dying where he stands, instead allowing him to slowly bleed out as he stumbles his way back to his lair]]. What, you thought they'd pull the [[spoiler:OnlyAFleshWound card?]]
* YouAreNumberSix: Played straight. The camp dehumanized V to the point where nobody knew him as anything but the Man in Room Five, so he took it as his new identity.
* ZergRush: V sends everyone in London Guy Fawkes costumes so they could overwhelm Norsefire troops by sheer numbers.
----
''England prevails.''
----
The title character is V (HugoWeaving), a government experiment GoneHorriblyWrong. Armed with extraordinary intellect and fighting skills, along with some home-made high explosives, he escapes from the facility that created him and sets about committing terrorist attacks against the fascist government of Britain. He is TheFaceless throughout the film, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in order to conceal his true identity. The fact that Guy Fawkes was arrested for trying to blow up the king has something to do with it, of course.
Evey Hammond (NataliePortman) is rescued from rapist policemen by V, and this act of kindness starts the film. She is taken to his ElaborateUndergroundBase, and, although scared by V at first, she decides to join his campaign to bring down the Government, replacing it with an anarchist society.
Where the original comic was influenced by Creator/AlanMoore's fears of [[MargaretThatcher Thatcherite]] Britain becoming a repressive dictatorship, the film owes more to critics of the second [[GeorgeWBush Bush]] administration along with several other changes with the characters and plot to condense the story and reconfigure it to resemble a more standard superhero tale, complete with super powers for V.
----
!!This film provides examples of:
* ActorAllusion:
** Creator/StephenFry plays an erudite gay man in the entertainment industry, which he is.
** JohnHurt [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour in a movie about a totalitarian London?]] Notably, Hurt's presence is a sort of ''inversion.'' In the 1984 version of... well, ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', John was portraying the protagonist, Winston Smith, and thus was a ''victim'' of the totalitarian government. In the film version of ''V for Vendetta'', meanwhile, he portrays High Chancellor Adam Sutler, and thus became the ''leader'' of such a government.
** In a similar manner, HugoWeaving is in [[Film/TheMatrix a movie about totalitarianism]]. However, like Hurt, Weaving is an inversion: In the first ''Matrix'', Weaving played the antagonist, Agent Smith, who had a role in the totalitarian government [[TheStarscream (initially)]]. In ''V'', however, he plays the protagonist who is fighting against the totalitarian government.
* AdaptationalBadass: Inverted with Gordon Dietrich. The movie turns him into a chubby, middle-aged comedian (played by StephenFry, no less) when he was a younger, more physically imposing career criminal in the book. Then again, the film also has him defying the Party's laws by hiding banned books and films in his house, and openly mocking Chancellor Sutler on his show [[spoiler:(which he is eventually executed for)]], which is ''far'' more badass than anything the character did in the book.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal:
** V's opening monologue to Evey involves 50 [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness words that begin with V]].
-->'''V: V'''oilà! In '''V'''iew, a humble '''V'''audevillian '''V'''eteran, cast '''V'''icariously as both '''V'''ictim and '''V'''illain by the '''V'''icissitudes of fate. This '''V'''isage, no mere '''V'''eneer of '''V'''anity, is a '''V'''estige of the '''V'''ox populi, now '''V'''acant, '''V'''anished. However, this '''V'''alorous '''V'''isitation of a bygone '''V'''exation stands '''V'''ivified, and has '''V'''owed to '''V'''anquish these '''V'''enal and '''V'''irulent '''V'''ermin '''V'''anguarding '''V'''ice and '''V'''ouchsafing the '''V'''iolently '''V'''icious and '''V'''oracious '''V'''iolation of '''V'''olition! The only '''V'''erdict is '''V'''engeance; a '''V'''endetta held as a '''V'''otive, not in '''V'''ain, for the '''V'''alue and '''V'''eracity of such shall one day '''V'''indicate the '''V'''igilant and the '''V'''irtuous. '''V'''erily, this '''V'''ichyssoise of '''V'''erbiage '''V'''eers most '''V'''erbose, so let me simply add that it's my '''V'''ery good honour to meet you and you may call me '''V'''.
** "'''V'''i '''v'''eri '''v'''eniersum '''v'''ivus '''v'''ici".[[note]]Translates to: By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe[[/note]]
* AfterTheEnd: At least according to the Government.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: Some contemporary reviewers find the idea of "concentration camps" for homosexuals, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28 eradicate homosexuality even as an abstract concept]], etc. to be sort of an invocation of GodwinsLaw by comparing Thatcher's England to Nazi Germany. However, in the early 1980s MargaretThatcher did indeed make the suggestion, as a public health policy, that all gay men should be put into quarantine in closed institutions as a strategy to stop the spread of HIV infections. Alan Moore's {{Word of God}} says this aspect of the dystopia was a direct commentary on the implications of such proposals. It should also be noted it was Christopher Monckton, one of Thatcher's advisors, who was really proposing the AIDS quarantine, not so much Thatcher herself. The idea never took off.
* AntiHero: V. The movie softens him to a [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Anti-Hero]].
* ApocalypseAnarchy: {{Invoked}} by V, who's trying to bring about the end of a fascist system by increasing the amount of disorder. He inspires the population to more acts of violence and vandalism, which causes the government to crack down, which leads to more uprising...
** Inverted in the backstory, in which a minor apocalypse brings about not anarchy, but fascism.
* ApocalypseHow: Class 0 -- Societal Disruption or Collapse on a Regional or Continental scale.
* ArcWords: The repeated V/Five motif.
* AttemptedRape: V meets Evey when he saves her from a police gang-rape.
* AudibleSharpness: Whenever V breaks out his knives expect lots of "cutting the air" noises. In V's grand battle they even have ''visible'' sharpness.
* AuthorFilibuster: There's still technically the question of is this right or is this mad, but the film ''really really'' wants you to cheer on the anarchists. In the montage, as narrated by Mr. Finch, where V's plan involving the masks and the train cars is coming to fruition, a quick exchange takes place as such:
-->'''Mr. Finch:''' This is what he wants.\\
''(cut to convenience store being robbed)''\\
'''Fawkes-masked robber:''' ANARCHY IN THE UK!\\
''(cut back to Mr. Finch)''\\
'''Mr. Finch:''' Chaos.
* BadassBoast: "My turn."
* BadassLongHair: V. Even if it's a wig ([[spoiler:His real hair was burned off in his escape from the testing facility in his backstory.]].
* BadassLongRobe: V.
* BatmanGambit: V's entire plan involves manipulating the government heads into national collapse.
* BeardOfEvil: Invoked by V's mask.
* BewareTheSuperman: V, if you consider him a villain. His backstory is basically the archetypal superhero origin story in its most distilled form (downtrodden man is injected with experimental chemicals that give him peak-human abilities, dons a costume and goes off to fight evildoers) but his experiences also drive him insane, leading him to become an anarchist terrorist instead of a crime fighter.
* BigBad: Adam Sutler is the movie's obvious antagonist.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Britain is free of the Dictatorship that had been ruling the country, but V lost his life in the process, and we don't know how well Britain will be able to take care of itself without a government in charge. The comic also ends with Evey possibly training the future government as the second V, potentially leaving the identity to a third party.]]
* BlackMarketProduce: On Evey's first morning in the Shadow Gallery, she is given toast with her breakfast and is astonished to find real butter. V explains that he stole it from the Chancellor's supplies.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: V does this to two of [[spoiler:Creedy's]] guards '''with thrown knives''' in the film's climax.
* BodyHorror: The descriptions of what happened to the people tested are enough to make you want to smack the lead scientist, Delia Surridge, [[AntiVillain but MAYBE not kill her]].
* BombThrowingAnarchists: V, though he certainly has some goals beyond simply blowing stuff up.
* BookEnds: The 1812 Overture. The film opens with the first notes and ends with the crescendo.
* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. V even mentions he'll kill all the guards before they have time to reload.
* BulletproofHumanShield: V uses this tactic to outmaneuver the constables in Jordan Tower.
* BulletTime: Well, Throwing Knife Time in this case.
* BuryYourGays: Gordon Dietrich, who in the comic is a petty criminal (but still NiceGuy) who sleeps with Evey before getting stabbed to death by a Scottish gangster, is in the film a closeted gay television host and comedian. He ends up being arrested for making fun of the BigBad on TV, then executed when they find out he's gay and has a Koran.
* ByronicHero: V, perhaps moreso in the comic than the movie.
* CaptainObvious:
-->'''Evey:''' I don't see any instruments.\\
'''V:''' Your powers of observation continue to serve you well.
* CastingGag: JohnHurt as the Leader.
* CoatHatMask: V.
* ColdBloodedTorture: From ''both'' sides, although opinions vary on whether V was justified with his.
* CorruptPolitician: Norsefire were corrupt bastards.
* CrapsackWorld: It's a post-nuclear wasteland, the second coming of the Nazis has taken power over Britain, and the only person who dares to stand up to them is an apparently insane terrorist who wants to replace them with... nothing. Though it mainly focuses on Britain, the movie also frequently hints at the chaos breaking out in the rest of the world. Apparently, America is now in the middle of a second civil war, it's described as "the world's biggest leper colony," and its leaders beg for humanitarian aid from the UK, sparking Lewis Prothero's rant about how they should blow up the Statue of Liberty as revenge for TheAmericanRevolution.
* CrazyPrepared: V
* DarkMessiah: V can be interpreted as this.
* DemotedToExtra: Conrad Heyer, the head of The Eye, briefly appears near the beginning when Sutler's advisors are assembled, but the subplot about his wife manipulating him into trying to usurp the government is cut.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:In Evey's case, she did not get the guy, since he died in the end.]]
* DisasterDominoes: V sets this in motion for Norsefire. Scenes of the effects are interspersed with him setting up and toppling a massive number of dominoes shaped as his logo.
* DissonantSerenity: V's rampage at the very end can come across as this, probably because of that mask. Also, massive explosions set to gorgeous music.
* TheDogBitesBack: Creedy killing Adam Sutler, with V being involved in causing the trope to happen.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Subverted, when V broadcasts his communiqué over BTN's network.
* DoomedMoralVictor: As a part of the ThanatosGambit.
* DragonAscendant: Creedy.
* DualWielding: V's main weapons are multiple knives. The version has a coat full of 'em.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The Shadow Gallery.
* EnemyRisingBehind: V does this in the climax of the film.
* EvilOverlord: Sutler.
* EvilSoundsDeep: V.
* ExpressiveMask: V's mask never moves, but it still manages to convey emotion through shadow and angles.
* TheExtremistWasRight: The film presents V as more of a good guy and Norsefire and 100% evil, resulting in a more black and white view.
* FastForwardGag: Complete with [[Series/TheBennyHillShow "Yakety Sax"]].
* FictionalPoliticalParty: [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Norsefire]]. In the film, the party came to power after a democratic election.
* FootFocus
* GagDub: MyWayEntertainment does this for the first meeting of V and Evey in "V for Vocabulary". Randy Hayes did his [[MotorMouth long-winded version]] entirely on the fly.
* GambitRoulette: Everyone is manipulating everyone else. V is, more often than not, the puppet master, though.
* GenreSavvy
** Evey knows a reporter is lying because she has a habit of blinking when she's reporting a false story.
** Invoked by Finch when he speculates what will happen at Parliament.
--->'''Dominic:''' What do you think will happen?\\
'''Finch:''' What usually happens when people without guns stand up to people '''with''' guns.
* AGoodWayToDie: [[spoiler:V's]] death.
-->'''[[spoiler:Evey:]]''' I don't want you to die!\\
'''[[spoiler:V:]]''' That is the most beautiful thing you could have ever given me...
* HarmfulToMinors: One of the police spots a young girl in a V mask, and shoots her. This kicks the revolution into full swing.
* HeldGaze: Happens twice between V and Evey, at one time verging upon an AlmostKiss. Somewhat subverted in that the film shows that V is always wearing his mask which conceals even his eyes but the romantic tension created is still clear.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:V himself]] goes through an anti-heroic sacrifice.
* HeroicWillpower: V manages to hold off on any penalty to attack or agility for what looks like several minutes after [[spoiler:being pumped full of bullets that penetrated a metal chestplate in at least two dozen places]]. Since the entire scene is in slow-motion, it's probably only about thirty seconds, but that's still more than most people would be likely to manage. Ten fingermen, all armed with Beretta Inoxes with 15 round magazines, and Creedy with his magnum, empty their magazines into him... he takes ''at least'' [[UpToEleven a hundred-fifty]] bullets and still manages to kill them all. However, after that... [[HeroicRROD he's spent.]]
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The film did this for Guy Fawkes, even though that was never Moore's intent. In reality, his "hero" status is highly dubious. The Gunpowder Plot wasn't really to strike a blow for freedom, they simply wanted to replace the Protestant king with a Catholic one. Further, they packed in so much gunpowder that hundreds (possibly thousands) of innocent civilians would have been killed, including many children -- the only thing the plotters worried about was whether too many Catholics would be taken out (which was what caught them up, since they sent a letter to warn the Catholic Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament on that day, who then told the authorities). By modern standards they were depraved terrorists.
* IconOfRebellion: Guy Fawkes masks and the letter V in general.
* IronicEcho: "Spare the rod..."
* KickTheDog: Initially, it's made apparent the government makes people disappear for "crimes" such as protesting (e.g. Evey's parents), but it's later done again harder when Gordon is detained simply for mocking Sutler, and V says after they found a Quran in his house, they ordered him shot. So apparently being a Muslim or possessing articles of Islamic faith is a capital crime.
* KillThePoor: Along with other "undesirables", the homeless are rounded up and placed in death camps.
* TheKindnapper: V kidnaps Evey twice, both times motivated by some form of benevolent intentions. The first time, he saves her from being raped by the government's secret police. The second time, he is testing her -- albeit in a horrible way -- to see if she is worthy of being his successor.
* KirkSummation: It's scarily reminiscent of the trope-naming HannibalLecture, except that [[GreyAndBlackMorality the guy he's delivering it to is so much worse]].
* KingpinInHisGym: There's one scene in which V has some fun fencing with a suit of armour. As he exists somewhere in the fuzzy border between AntiHero and AntiVillain, he's probably villain enough to count.
* KnifeNut: V.
* KnightInSourArmor: Eric Finch.
* LandslideElection: Norsefire came to power with 87% of the vote.
* LibertyOverProsperity: One of V's points during his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to all England (and/or humanity in general) is that they have accepted trading their freedoms in exchange for security. He does mention that he doesn't mean that they should go back to the Stone Age, but that they need to stop stagnating.
* LifeImitatesArt: Oh so very much. Many members of the Anonymous online community enjoy wearing Guy Fawkes masks in the style of this movie.
* LipstickAndLoadMontage: Evey does this while V gets his gear ready to fight.
* LiveActionAdaptation
* LivingLegend: V deliberately invokes this so that he can inspire people.
* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: Give the Man in Room Five a garden plot, he'll grow roses. Give the Man in Room Five some gardening chemicals, he'll make napalm and mustard gas.
* MeaningfulEcho: Evey's rebirth is meant to echo V's "birth"; the movie makes this abundantly clear by using the footage of V at Larkhill merged into Evey on the roof.
* MirrorScare: The murder of Lewis Prothero.
* MoreDakka: V finds himself at the apex of a ten-way full-auto firing squad.
* MortalWoundReveal: A subtle one in the great big showdown, where [[spoiler:V appears to survive a NoOneCouldSurviveThat, but]] turns out to be only human after all -- albeit something of a {{Determinator}}.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: It's against a country's best interests to elect a man named ''[[AdolfHitler Adam Sutler]]''.
* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: V takes revenge on those involved in the concentration camp and the experiments which created him.
* NoEndorHolocaust: At the climax of the movie [[spoiler:the Houses of Parliament are destroyed by a massive bomb on a tube train beneath them. An explosion of such size would devastate a wide area around it, but miraculously the thousands of be-masked V supporters watching the show from only a few metres away are completely unharmed, rather than being shredded by flying debris]]. Also, the fact that the government no longer exists is seen as very positive with no drawbacks.
* NoNameGiven: V. He states: "I do not have a name. You can call me V."
* NoPlaceForMeThere
* NotHisSled:
** Subverted in one scene, where it briefly looks like they're actually going to reveal V's identity. [[spoiler:Finch sets up a meeting with a mysterious informant named William Rockwood, who turns out to be played by an unmasked HugoWeaving. At first, we're led to believe that V has finally been unmasked...but then "William Rockwood" turns out to be a pseudonym, and the face that looks like Hugo Weaving turns out to be another of V's masks]].
** Played straight with [[spoiler:V and Sutler's]] deaths. [[spoiler:In the book, V was killed by Finch, and Sutler ("Susan" in the book) was killed by Rosemary Almond, the disgruntled widow of the first head of The Finger. In the movie, V and Sutler are both killed by Creedy's troops]].
* OhCrap: The security guard's reaction to seeing V's rather incendiary undershirt.
-->"Fuckin' 'ell."
* OneLetterName: V
* OrangeBlueContrast: A rare non-advertising, non-simultaneous example for cinema, Evey's "awakening" takes place in a ''very'' blue rain storm and it is interspersed with images V's "awakening", which took place in a raging inferno.
* PairTheSpares: Implied with [[spoiler:Evey and Finch]], during [[spoiler:Finch's monologue about everything being connected]].
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler:Evey ''becomes'' V.]]
* PayEvilUntoEvil: V does this to Prothero, Lilliman and Creedy. While his torture is undoubtedly cruel, their deaths are nothing short of a relief.
* PetTheDog: Unlike his other targets, V ''doesn't'' violently kill Delia Surridge, but instead chooses to inject her with a lethal poison while she sleeps. He even seems sorry that he had to do so.
* PlayingWithSyringes: V's origin. This is more overt in the movie since the tests apparently gave him SuperStrength and possibly other powers.
* PoliceBrutality: Norsefire Fingermen make a habit of it, and the regular police gun down an innocent man (admittedly he was disguised as V) when V takes over a news studio.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Norsefire. ''All'' of Norsefire.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: [[spoiler:Creedy kills Sutler]] with one.
* PromotedToLoveInterest: Inverted with Gordon. He and Evey were explicitly attracted to each other in the book (Evey even fantasizes about having sex with him at one point). In the movie, he's gay.
* PunchClockVillain: Eric Finch, arguably.
* PuttingOnTheReich[=/=]ANaziByAnyOtherName: Norsefire are Neo-Nazis, so it's not too odd.
* PsychoSerum: The testing V endures while at Larkhill, drives him a little insane.
* RageAgainstTheReflection
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: V gives one to [[spoiler:''the entire country'' by taking over the Norsefire equivalent of TheBBC]].
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Delia Surridge]], who tells V she's sorry for what she's done to him. V shows mercy to her, and gives her a quick, painless death.
* RedemptionInTheRain: Evey after her "birth".
* RefugeInAudacity: Gordon's last-minute script-change to his show, assuming that he was too famous to just be disappeared. [[spoiler:[[TemptingFate He was wrong]]]].
* SociopathicHero: V. Literally. Finch describes him as being a clinical psychopath.
* SubText: [[spoiler:During Finch's monologue about everything being connected, there is a brief shot of future-Evey with her hair grown back, next to a vase of Scarlet Carsons. The mirror on the wall shows a reflection of a relaxed-looking Finch drinking some wine]].
* SuperReflexes / SuperStrength: V has these abilities.
* TheStarscream: Creedy.
* SyntheticPlague: The St. Mary's Virus.
* ThoseWackyNazis: The Head's name was changed from Adam Susan in the book to Adam Sutler in the film. Truly, there never was a [[IncrediblyLamePun subtler pun on Hitler]].
* ThouShaltNotKill: Evey
* TranquilFury: Vengeance with a smile.
* TraumaticHaircut: Evey's torture.
* TrophyRoom: The Shadow Gallery.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The film was made in 2006 and is set in the 2030s.
* {{Undercrank}}: Gordon uses this in his comedy show when he throws out the approved script, right down to playing [[Series/TheBennyHillShow "Yakety Sax"]].
* TheUnReveal: The identity of V is [[spoiler:now simply "V"]]. He removes his mask once, but his face remains unseen by the audience.
* VikingFuneral: [[spoiler:V gets a modern take on one; laid to rest on the train that delivers his bomb to Parliament.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Creedy suffers a nasty one after V rips his henchmen to shreds and is still strong enough to send Creedy to hell before expiring.
* VoiceOfTheLegion
* WallSlump
* WaterSourceTampering: Norsefire released the virus into a water treatment plant, in addition to a tube station and [[WouldHurtAChild St. Mary's School]], from which it got its name.
* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Mostly averted (like V saying "lift" instead of "elevator") but not always -- several uses of "cop" which is generally an Americanism (Brits prefer "copper"), Finch pronouncing lever as leh-ver instead of lee-ver, Portman's accent (although YMMV on that last one.)
* WellIntentionedExtremist: V himself is a rare {{Anti Hero}}ic example.
* WesternTerrorists: {{Deconstructed}}.
* WhamEpisode: It's implied that the key formative event in the Man in Room Five's transformation into V isn't the experiments upon him, or the cruel and indifferent treatment he received from the prison camp's staff. It's [[spoiler: the note from Valerie, which he delivers to Evey exactly as he received it himself. It has a similar effect upon her]].
* WhatTheHellAreYou: Creedy's reaction after V survives a hailstorm of bullets and proceeds to kill every last one of the men shooting at him.
** Subverted however, in that after killing Creedy, V is mortally wounded.
* WhatTheHellHero: Evey's initial reaction to [[spoiler: V's torture of her and when he kills the Bishop]]. She forgives him for both times, though.
* WhyWontYouDie: Because beneath his mask is more than flesh, beneath his mask there is an idea, and ''[[CantStopTheSignal ideas are bulletproof]]''. [[spoiler:Also: an armor breast plate. Which is not entirely bulletproof, but does stop V from dying where he stands, instead allowing him to slowly bleed out as he stumbles his way back to his lair]]. What, you thought they'd pull the [[spoiler:OnlyAFleshWound card?]]
* YouAreNumberSix: Played straight. The camp dehumanized V to the point where nobody knew him as anything but the Man in Room Five, so he took it as his new identity.
* ZergRush: V sends everyone in London Guy Fawkes costumes so they could overwhelm Norsefire troops by sheer numbers.
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''England prevails.''
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