lan Moore may not have liked the script he originally read, but at least the finished V for Vendetta happily gets a lot more right than it does wrong. Adapting Moore’s dystopian vision of a futuristic, fascist Britain, the creators of the Matrix trilogy have delivered a stylish, dramatic and well-crafted film.

With director James McTeigue at the helm, Hugo Weaving strapping on the mask, and Natalie Portman as the idealistic Evey Hammond, the plot is boiled down to the basics – V’s campaign to make the population rise up against their corrupt government. Weaving breathes real life into the antihero – despite never showing his face, his theatrical tones are perfect for V. Portman has a lot less to do, but nevertheless shines as a woman caught up in events she finds spiralling out of control. Maintaining the dark tone of the comic, V For Vendetta never quite settles into being either a drama or an action film, but it’s still a superior comic book flick.

There’s no commentary to be found, and predictably the Wachowski brothers are nowhere to be seen either, but the extras cover just about any aspect of the movie’s creation you could hope to explore. Freedom! Forever! charts the production progress, including a look at the miniatures used in the explosive scenes and V’s mask. Designing The Future goes deeper into the movie’s design. A pack of experts fills us in on the history of Guy Fawkes in Remember, Remember: The Gunpowder Plot, while England Prevails is an interesting look back at the original comic’s mid-’80s impact on the art form.