This politically charged adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel takes place in an England in which a fascist government has exploited fears of terrorism to put an oppressive vise grip on the nation. Arbitrary imprisonment, military torture, civilian surveillance – it’s all here except for Cheney’s hunting accident. This is ultimately a pulpy parable, though, one whose first order of business is action-movie theatrics. Hugo Weaving plays the masked anti-authoritarian rebel of the title – an ambiguous figure as conflicted as the Israeli avengers in Munich – while Natalie Portman gets her head shaved in the sidekick part.
