The title character in “V for Vendetta” wears a mask modeled after the visage of Guy Fawkes, a 17th-century radical who attempted to blow up the houses of Parliament, and, in doing so, destroy the English monarchy. More than 400 years later, the loquacious, theatrically inclined freedom fighter/terrorist V (Hugo Weaving) has also decided that blowing up buildings is the most viable strategy for bringing about a change in government—in this case, a ruthless fascist government that uses fear, intimidation and religious zealotry to control the population. Any parallels to the current state of American politics are purely coincidental, of course.

While V gallivants around totalitarian London, he meets Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), a low-level lackey at the state-run television station. V rescues Evey from a run-in with the secret police and in short order enlists her in his crusade against the government. Finch (Stephen Rea), a tenacious police detective, is hot on their trail; however, he soon realizes that the full scope of V’s plan is much more than simple revenge.

“Vendetta” is really two types of movies. First, it’s a dystopian sci-fi action thriller and, in this way, a fitting follow-up to the Wachowski brothers’ break-out hit “The Matrix” (that is, if you forget about the inferior “Matrix” sequels). The Wachowskis ease up on the slow motion effects, instead sticking to fast-paced, well crafted action scenes and dark, nicely photographed urban landscape. V leaps across rooftops, slings knives and riles up the downtrodden citizens of London with aplomb, and during these moments, the movie is lots of fun. And later on, when Evey is captured and tortured by some nefarious government thugs, Portman is given a chance to display serious acting talent that really gives the film its emotional core.

 “Vendetta” is also a political movie. But unlike the knives V wields, there’s no sharp-edge to its politics, no nuance. V and Evey go to great pains to reassure us that fascism is bad, that religious extremism and fearmongering are dangerous and deplorable. But don’t we know this already? And as though spying on citizens and putting minorities in undocumented concentration camps isn’t bad enough, just to be sure it’s clear that V’s motives are pure, the Wachowskis lay blame for all sorts of further evil deeds at the feet of this fictional government (these revelations figure into the film’s final act).

“Vendetta” is based on a graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. In the lead up to the celluloid release, a lot of ink was devoted to Moore’s displeasure with the film and with Hollywood in general. This has to do, in part, with the fact that Moore’s graphic novel is a stridently pro-anarchy work whose “hero” is actually labeled as a villain from the moment he’s introduced. In the book, it’s anarchy, not democracy, that is the polar opposite of fascism, and, despite his obvious affinity for anarchy, Moore is still not entirely happy with the destructive methods anarchy entails.

Things are much simpler in the film, though. The obvious solution to London’s problems, according to V, is to tear down the government and replace it with… democracy, maybe? Or just some kind of mob rule? The solution isn’t really clear. Through various means, V manages to incite the populous into riots, although, by the film’s climax, it’s not really clear how he got the people on his side in the first place. Once the people, clad in Guy Fawkes masks themselves, take to the streets, we can’t discern whether they’re ready for freedom or just a new figurehead to rally behind.