V for Vendetta (2005)

V for Vendetta is a protest sign with a budget. Every villain sneers, every news anchor lies right on cue, and John Hurt plays High Chancellor Sutler as a giant angry face yelling from a screen. V introduces himself with a speech crammed with so many words starting with V that it plays like a spelling bee. And yet. Hugo Weaving never shows his face and still makes V funny, creepy and sad, all through a mask that’s stuck grinning. Natalie Portman carries the human side, and Evey’s hardest stretch is the toughest, best part of the movie. Stephen Rea as the worn out inspector slowly piecing it all together is the quiet MVP. Critics landed at 73% on Rotten Tomatoes while IMDb voters went 8.1, and I’m somewhere in the middle. A 7.2 because the ideas are loud and the speeches run long, but the dominoes sequence still goes hard. $178 says you spot a Guy Fawkes mask this Halloween and start explaining the whole plot to someone who never asked.

What works: Hugo Weaving makes a frozen mask feel alive, Natalie Portman sells Evey’s change, and the dominoes sequence is a stunner.

What doesn’t: The villains are cartoonishly evil, the speeches go on forever, and the politics have zero interest in nuance.

Who it’s for: People who like their action movies with a manifesto attached, and anyone who still owns a Guy Fawkes mask.