Vantage Point

BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: A top-notch cast including Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt headline this action-packed, political thriller that will have you at the edge of your seat… and keep you there! During an historic counter-terrorism summit in Spain, the President of the United States is struck down by an assassin’s bullet. Eight strangers have a perfect view of the kill but what did they really see? As the minutes leading up to the fatal shot are replayed through the eyes of each of the eyewitnesses, the reality of the assassination takes shape. But just when you think you know the answer, the shattering final truth is revealed.

FILM REVIEW: “Vantage Point” is an effective thriller that manages to give a unique spin on the genre by showing the same event again and again from different points of view. However, before saying it’s Groundhog Day Part 2, “Vantage Point” does something much more clever which is to continue revealing new plot details in the story at the same time as its repeating it; the might sound a bit strange but it is an accurate description. Kudos must be given to director Pete Travis for making the narrative work most of the time, but it is still not without a problem or two, namely the “rewind” effect designed to remind the audience that it’s time to go to someone else’s point of view. The film has an impressive ensemble cast which makes the drama and tension effective throughout the running time, and the action sequences are strong. Except for a cop-out, arbitrary ending which isn’t really believable, “Vantage Point” is a unique, quality action film that deserves points for its original execution.
The event this film is based around is the assassination of the President of the United States before he gives a speech to a group of enthusiastic supporters in a public square in Salamanca, Spain (which is actually Mexico but who would know?). The first 15 minutes are devoted to Sigourney Weaver’s directorial news desk who are covering the event. This is an effective way to start as we get a view of the event the way we would watch it unfold on television. It introduces the major points, and also the shock of seeing the President gunned down. We are also introduced to the usually reliable Dennis Quaid as the shaky secret service agent who is having his first day back on the protective detail after taking a bullet for the President a year before. His look of horror pulls us in completely, not just for the event, but the realisation that he is now involved in a second attempt on the President’s life, but this time it’s fatal.
This first sequence sets the tone for the rest of the film, however, at the end of Sigourney Weaver’s section of the film, the first of a series of annoying effects appears: “the rewind effect”. In essence, the film stops, goes backwards, and starts again, but this time following another character. It is somewhat jarring and after you have seen it three times you either want to start laughing or stop watching. Given how well the narrative unfolds otherwise, this “rewind” effect undoes much of the good work to make this story seem non-repetitive. If it were not for this effect, the film would have been an excellent thrill-ride, especially as each time the narrative re-starts, the film actually throws in some curve-balls and unexpected twists which shed new light on what is actually going on.
The other irritant in this film is the ending; without spoiling it too much, it turns out that Dennis Quaid ends up saving the President through a stroke of luck that one of the other characters in the film just happens to be accidentally in the right place to inadvertently stop the bad guys from getting away with the President. It’s lame, and you’ll know it when you see it.
Aside from the action sequences, the cast in this film is top-notch. Director Travis has assembled a wonderful collection of actors, particularly in Dennis Quaid and William Hurt who lend a strong presence to each and every scene they are in. Forest Whitaker is perhaps the weakest (but not by much) and only because his character isn’t done justice by the script; it is through his character that we get the lame ending. The actors playing the bad guys are very effective, and perhaps make for the most interesting sequences as the film explores their point of view of the events that are unfolding.
Overall, “Vantage Point” is a thoroughly entertaining movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the climax, and then disappoint you with its silly ending. Aside from that and the unfortunate “rewind” effect that happens about seven or eight times, this is a solid film that will keep you guessing as to what is really happening while thrilling you with some great twists and some solid action sequences.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: The movie looks fabulous; the picture is crisp, clean with colours represented brilliantly throughout without any blemishes or artefacts. The sound transfer is spectacular, given the action-orientated nature of the film and will make great use of your surround system, even in the quieter moments. Overall, an excellent transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: There are three main extras on this DVD. There are two documentaries, a 25-minute overall look at the film called “Vantage Point: An Inside Perspective” and a 15-minute look at the script called “Plotting an Assassination”. Both offer insights in to the production but there is an over-emphasis on the cast, almost to the point where these extras feel like promotional pieces, but there is enough extra material in them to make them a bit more than that. The audio commentary from director Pete Travis follows that pattern as well to an extent, although he does offer some personal insights in to his take on the film and the production challenges of shooting in Mexico City. There is a deleted scene, which is more of an out-take with the director himself bursting in to the room and shooting people, much to the amusement of his crew. The DVD contains the following subtitles: English, English Captions, Danish, Dutch, Hindi, Croatian and Serbian. Overall, a decent collection of extras is not to outstanding.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it.

FILM RATING: 7.5/10 -- EXTRAS RATING: 7/10 -- OVERALL DVD RATING: 7.5/10 

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

BOTTOM LINE: A highly effective action-thriller which tells its story in a refreshing, non-traditional plot line.

THE GOOD: There's a lot to like about 'Vantage Point', with perhaps the most obvious being that it lives up to its title. Rather than telling a straight forward political thriller, we get instead the re-telling of the same event from the point of view of eight different strangers, each who end up connected to the main plot point which is the shooting of the President of the United States at a speech in Salamanca, Spain. It would have been easy to make this gimmick, the re-telling of the story over and over again, a contrived and ultimately boring approach but director Peter Travis does an exceptional job of building tension and releasing new angles and information even though we see the same base event over and over again. The strongest revelation of course is that the President's double is actually the one shot, but then it turns out the President gets targeted anyway at his secret base in a hotel several kilometres away, with the terrorists always being one step ahead. In the end, it takes one nervy Secret Service Agent (Dennis Quaid) and an innocent bystander on holiday (Forest Whitaker) to be the unpredictable parts of the equation that bring the terrorists' plot undone. The action is fast and frantic, never letting up for a second, with some razor sharp editing and sound. Perhaps even stronger still is that there is no attempt to explain exactly why the terrorists are doing what they're doing; this is a film about how eight different people react to a catastrophic event and as such there is barely any motivational or political subtext which is actually a refreshing change. The idea that we get thrown in to the situation without much explanation and leave without much explanation is quite a strong, and different turn for a film of this genre to take.

THE BAD: The one aspect of the film that didn't quite gel with the rest of the storylines on offer was the Forest Whitaker, innocent bystander on a holiday story. You can see what the filmmakers were going for there but he at times feels arbitrarily put in, especially in the sequence where he's chasing the bad guys to catch it all on camera for the Secret Service. An otherwise good actor, Whitaker seems like he's over-doing it in some sequences. By extension, his rescue of a young girl in the climax just happened to be fortuitous and miraculously managed to stop the fleeing terrorists with the captured US President just in time for Secret Service Agent Barnes (Quaid) to come to the rescue and declare that the President safe. However, this hardly seems to matter in the frenzy of action and intrigue on offer, still making for a solid and effective action-thriller.

RATING: 8/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net