V for Vendetta (2005)

V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue from a screenplay by the Wachowskis. It was McTeigue's directorial debut. It is based on the 1988–89 DC Vertigo Comics limited series graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, David Lloyd, and Tony Weare. The cast includes Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea and John Hurt. The film, which is set in a future where a fascist totalitarian regime has subjugated the United Kingdom, centres on V (Weaving), a masked vigilante who attempts to ignite a revolution, and Evey Hammond (Portman), a young woman caught up in V's plot.

Produced by Silver Pictures, Virtual Studios and Anarchos Productions, Inc., V for Vendetta was originally scheduled for release by Warner Bros. Pictures on 4 November 2005—a day before the 400th Guy Fawkes Night—but was delayed; it instead opened in the United States on 17 March 2006. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $134.7 million against a budget of $50–54 million. Alan Moore, who was dissatisfied with the film adaptations of his other works From Hell (2001) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), declined to watch the film and asked not to be credited or paid royalties.

Some political groups have seen V for Vendetta as an allegory of oppression by government; anarchists have used it to promote their beliefs. The film is credited for popularizing the use of the Guy Fawkes mask by anti-establishment political groups and activists.