The 2000s’ Best Dystopian Sci-Fi Thriller Officially Invades Paramount+

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Adam Sutler (John hurt) talking heatedly at a podium in 'V for Vendetta' Image via Warner Bros.

Published Oct 6, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT

Shrishty is a decade-old journalist covering a variety of beats between politics to pop culture, but movies are her first love, which led her to study Film and TV Development at UCLAx. She lives and breathes cinema and sometimes wakes up with the close-up shot of Ryan Gosling's hands playing piano in La La Land, in her head.

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It has been two decades since one of the best sci-fi movies of the 2000s came out, but its relevance has grown by the year. In parts the movie is so brilliantly made that it has great rewatch value, but in the greater scheme of things, the themes it addresses, like battling surveillance, propaganda, fear, and the erosion of freedom, have become increasingly relevant across the globe and thus provide a brilliant rewatch value.

Based on Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s comic of the same name, the feature is directed by James McTeigue and is unlike any other comic book movie one can find. Set in a dystopian future, London is a police state occupied by a fascist government. A vigilante simply known as V (Hugo Weaving) uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressors of the world in which he now lives. When he saves a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) from the secret police, he discovers an ally in his fight against oppressors, while a detective leads a desperate quest to stop the vigilante.

Written by the Matrix-fame Wachowskis, V for Vendetta was a commercial success, grossing $134.7million worldwide. The feature has an illustrious cast supporting Weaving as V and Portman as Evey Hammond. It also casts compelling performers like Stephen Rea as Inspector Eric, Stephen Fry as Gordon, John Hurt as Adam, Tim Pigott-Smith as Peter, and Rupert Graves as Dominic. As much as for its performances, V for Vendetta is remembered for its themes of standing up to oppression, dissent, revolution, and anarchy, which still ring true to date. Fans and critics alike praised it for its stunning cinematography, thought-provoking writing, and a thrilling plot line. The movie has a huge cultural impact and made the Guy Fawkes mask a symbol of anti-establishment groups. The movie has a 73 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating while the audience score sits as high as 90 percent.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

✊Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

FIND YOUR HERO →

01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.

AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.

APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.

AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.

AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.

APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.

AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?

AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.

ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.

REVEAL MY HERO →

Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

  • You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
  • You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
  • Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
  • That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

  • You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
  • Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
  • Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
  • That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.

  • You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
  • You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
  • Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
  • That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

  • You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
  • Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
  • You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
  • When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

  • You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
  • Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
  • Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
  • That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'V For Vendetta' Has a New Home

This year, the movie is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and to celebrate the makers are bringing it back to theatres as well as a new streaming home. V for Vendetta is now available to stream on Paramount+. The feature will soon have exclusive theatrical shows as well. However, fans who’d love to revisit the film can see it at their leisure.

Check out V for Vendetta on Paramount+ and stay tuned to Collider for more such updates.

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Release Date February 23, 2006

Runtime 132 minutes

Director James McTeigue

Producers Grant Hill, Joel Silver, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, Lorne Orleans
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