I need to see this film two or three more times. Only then can I write the review it deserves, but that wouldn't be a review -- it would be critical analysis, bordering perhaps on deconstruction. One thing is certain: this film falls far outside the typical range for comic-book movies. It's not your garden-variety action flick, either. It's deep. Deep and dark. Like a well... one that you're staring up out of from the bottom, not peering into from the top. The story is simple: a masked man is taking on a totalitarian regime, and enlists the unsuspecting help of a beautiful young woman. During the single year of the story they are both changed. Lots of people are killed. At the end of the film there is stuff blowing up. Beneath that simple layer there are piles of backstory, political and religious commentary, and plenty of very artistic dialog. There is symbolism and there is satire. Even the music in the film is laden with meaning. There is probably an English Major's thesis paper waiting to be written about this film. Did I like it? Yes. Did I agree with the message of the film? I'm going to hedge... I believe that the film is actually ambiguous enough on the delivery of its messages that the viewer can come away with reinforcement of whatever belief he or she went in with. That said... I agree with some of what was presented. This is a film you need to see with a group of thinking friends, and after you see it you need to go sit down someplace and talk about what you saw. Engage in a critical discourse. ARGUE. It's possible that's the message of the film right there. But then again, that's a value I went into the theater with, and I came out with it reinforced.
