V for Vendetta (2005)

Director: James McTeigue · Genre: Thriller, Science Fiction, Action

vigilante

In a future fascist Britain, a masked vigilante known as V fights against a tyrannical regime. He rescues a young woman named Evey Hammond, who gradually becomes his ally. Together, they challenge state oppression through planned acts of resistance.

Narrative Score

Experimental 5-axis narrative score — not a critic rating.story8ending8visual8acting9expect7

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Full Plot & Ending Explained

Intro

In a dystopian United Kingdom ruled by the fascist Norsefire regime, Evey Hammond works at the state broadcaster BTN and lives under constant surveillance, curfew, and fear. After her parents were destroyed by the regime years earlier, she becomes entangled with V, a masked vigilante who attacks state power and draws her into his war against the government.

Turning Point 1

On Guy Fawkes Night, Evey is stopped by secret police officers who try to assault her, but V intervenes, kills the attackers, and takes her to his hidden lair, the Shadow Gallery. From there, he blows up the Old Bailey and later hijacks BTN’s broadcast to announce that he destroyed Parliament and that the public should gather outside the Houses of Parliament on November 5 the following year to resist Norsefire.

Turning Point 2

V begins systematically murdering the regime’s key figures, starting with propaganda chief Lewis Prothero and then Bishop Anthony Lilliman, while Evey watches the growing consequences of his campaign. He also kills Dr. Delia Surridge, who had been part of the Larkhill Detention Facility experiments, and Inspector Eric Finch slowly uncovers the truth through Surridge’s journal and the testimony of William Rookwood, who is secretly V in disguise.

Turning Point 3

Flashbacks reveal that V was once a prisoner at Larkhill, where Dr. Surridge and others used prisoners in virus experiments; his cell was marked “V,” he survived the tests, gained unusual resilience, and later escaped after destroying the facility. Finch learns that the regime’s leaders, including Adam Sutler and Peter Creedy, used the resulting chaos and the virus for political power, while V’s own life was shaped by the suffering inflicted there.

Turning Point 4

Peter Creedy eventually turns on Adam Sutler, kills him, and tries to seize control, only for V to continue his assault on the system. Evey, meanwhile, is captured, imprisoned, and tortured, but the ordeal is revealed to be part of V’s plan to break her fear of the regime; she emerges transformed, emotionally free, and no longer intimidated by death or authority.

Turning Point 5

On the eve of the planned uprising, V returns to the Shadow Gallery gravely wounded after confronting Creedy’s men, where he dies in Evey’s arms. Evey chooses to honor his mission by placing his body on an underground train packed with explosives, which she sends toward Parliament as the nation descends into chaos and mass defiance.

Ending

As V’s train destroys the Houses of Parliament, crowds of ordinary citizens wearing Guy Fawkes masks gather and march against Norsefire, while Finch, having learned the full truth, lets Evey proceed instead of stopping her. The film ends with the regime overthrown in spirit and the people reclaiming the streets, leaving V’s identity and sacrifice as the symbol of rebellion.

Cross-checked against Wikipedia and other public film references. View on Letterboxd ↗ The Narrative Score above is an experimental 5-axis rating, not a critic score.