Vantage Point (Single-Disc Edition)
starring: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Bruce McGill, Edgar Ramirez
directed by: Pete Travis
directed by: Pete Travis
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Product Description:
As the president arrives in salamanca gunshots ring out. An american tourist has captured footage of te would-be assassin on videotape & now as the stories of the other four witnesses unfold each piece of the puzzle falls into place. Only when all the stories are told will the shocking truth finally emerge.Studio: Sony Pictures Home EntRelease Date: 12/23/2008Starring: Forest Whitaker William HurtRun time: 90 minutesRating: Pg13
Amazon.com:
Vantage Point, which aspires to be a cunningly twisted thriller, comes equipped with plenty of hurtling action, handheld camerawork, what-was-that? editing, and a plot that has multiple, contradictory agendas writhing like a nest of snakes. It's all set a-boil within a few blocks of a town square in Spain where a U.S. President is targeted for assassination. Although the movie lasts 90 minutes, the events it depicts are mostly over with in a quarter-hour or so--but seen, rewound, and reseen from half a dozen different (you guessed it) vantage points. The first line in the credits reads "Original Film," apparently the name of the production company. "Gimmick Movie" would be more accurate; the opening reel, effectively jolting, affords an initial overview of the events through the eyes, lenses, monitors, and dueling sensibilities of a TV news producer (Sigourney Weaver), her activist-minded reporter (Zoe Saldana) and crew. Everybody's in Salamanca (actually, Mexico City) for the start of an international conference to reaffirm Arab-Western commitment to the fight against terrorism. Terrorism, of course, sees this as an ideal moment to break out. As gunshots and explosions reduce everything to chaos, the clock is reset to zero and we proceed to revisit the scene as experienced by several Secret Service agents (namely Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), an American tourist with camcorder (Forest Whitaker), sundry locals--including three who may be caught up in a love triangle or a conspiracy or both--and even the President himself (William Hurt).
For a while, this is mildly diverting: that guy, or that gesture, so sinister when glimpsed across the plaza in one run-through, now appears harmless in close-up--or vice versa. But there's no real ambiguity (so stop with the careless comparisons to Kurosawa's Rashomon)--this is a shell game in which the peas aren't worth tracking. Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nutjob philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic. There's also a laborious suggestion that they have bloodthirsty, reactionary counterparts among the President's inner circle, which perhaps qualifies as redeeming socio-political comment and prompts a meaningless declaration of deep meaning from the Prez. The whole megilleh finally comes down to an extended car chase through impassably claustrophobic streets that would mark a lurch into unintentional self-parody--if only that point hadn't been passed a couple of rewinds earlier. --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from Vantage Point (click for larger image)
As the president arrives in salamanca gunshots ring out. An american tourist has captured footage of te would-be assassin on videotape & now as the stories of the other four witnesses unfold each piece of the puzzle falls into place. Only when all the stories are told will the shocking truth finally emerge.Studio: Sony Pictures Home EntRelease Date: 12/23/2008Starring: Forest Whitaker William HurtRun time: 90 minutesRating: Pg13
Amazon.com:
Vantage Point, which aspires to be a cunningly twisted thriller, comes equipped with plenty of hurtling action, handheld camerawork, what-was-that? editing, and a plot that has multiple, contradictory agendas writhing like a nest of snakes. It's all set a-boil within a few blocks of a town square in Spain where a U.S. President is targeted for assassination. Although the movie lasts 90 minutes, the events it depicts are mostly over with in a quarter-hour or so--but seen, rewound, and reseen from half a dozen different (you guessed it) vantage points. The first line in the credits reads "Original Film," apparently the name of the production company. "Gimmick Movie" would be more accurate; the opening reel, effectively jolting, affords an initial overview of the events through the eyes, lenses, monitors, and dueling sensibilities of a TV news producer (Sigourney Weaver), her activist-minded reporter (Zoe Saldana) and crew. Everybody's in Salamanca (actually, Mexico City) for the start of an international conference to reaffirm Arab-Western commitment to the fight against terrorism. Terrorism, of course, sees this as an ideal moment to break out. As gunshots and explosions reduce everything to chaos, the clock is reset to zero and we proceed to revisit the scene as experienced by several Secret Service agents (namely Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), an American tourist with camcorder (Forest Whitaker), sundry locals--including three who may be caught up in a love triangle or a conspiracy or both--and even the President himself (William Hurt).
For a while, this is mildly diverting: that guy, or that gesture, so sinister when glimpsed across the plaza in one run-through, now appears harmless in close-up--or vice versa. But there's no real ambiguity (so stop with the careless comparisons to Kurosawa's Rashomon)--this is a shell game in which the peas aren't worth tracking. Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nutjob philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic. There's also a laborious suggestion that they have bloodthirsty, reactionary counterparts among the President's inner circle, which perhaps qualifies as redeeming socio-political comment and prompts a meaningless declaration of deep meaning from the Prez. The whole megilleh finally comes down to an extended car chase through impassably claustrophobic streets that would mark a lurch into unintentional self-parody--if only that point hadn't been passed a couple of rewinds earlier. --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from Vantage Point (click for larger image)
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Great movie - arrived in great condition
Enjoyed the movie and the DVD quality was very high - well packaged and well shipped
Rating: 
- From My Vantage Point, Severely Disappointing
I had high hopes for vantage point, a movie in which Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whitaker play significant roles.It is a very short movie and personally I think the reason they show the movie from 5 different angles is because they did not have enough of a story line to put together a full 90 minute film.
Be ready immediately to watch the first 10 minutes of the movie 5 separate times and then on the 6th time watch it from all the angles until the finish.Honestly none of the so called ... Read More
Rating: - Good But Is As Expected
This is what was expected of this kind of movie. I hate to use the word typical.
Rating: 
- awful, horrible and waste of money
Horrible movie and acting. Horrible story line and worse its political message makes me puke every time I hear about this sorry movie. Forest Whitaker is so bad in this movie I can't believe it. Anti-American BS is all over this movie. Outrageously cheap and bad. Zero Star!
Rating: 
- A Real Stretch, But Entertaining
Well, I doubt anyone will fall asleep watching this film. That's the best feature of this movie: it's very entertaining and once you start it, it's tough to put down. Being only 90 minutes, it's a quick hour-and-a-half. It also helps to know that you are going to get the story told from a handful of angles, so expect to see similar scenes running over and over, each with a few new wrinkles added.
Also, expect a lot of the action scenes that are both fun to view but not very credible. ... Read More
- Great movie - arrived in great conditionEnjoyed the movie and the DVD quality was very high - well packaged and well shipped
- From My Vantage Point, Severely DisappointingI had high hopes for vantage point, a movie in which Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whitaker play significant roles.It is a very short movie and personally I think the reason they show the movie from 5 different angles is because they did not have enough of a story line to put together a full 90 minute film.
Be ready immediately to watch the first 10 minutes of the movie 5 separate times and then on the 6th time watch it from all the angles until the finish.Honestly none of the so called ... Read More
- Good But Is As ExpectedThis is what was expected of this kind of movie. I hate to use the word typical.
- awful, horrible and waste of moneyHorrible movie and acting. Horrible story line and worse its political message makes me puke every time I hear about this sorry movie. Forest Whitaker is so bad in this movie I can't believe it. Anti-American BS is all over this movie. Outrageously cheap and bad. Zero Star!
- A Real Stretch, But EntertainingWell, I doubt anyone will fall asleep watching this film. That's the best feature of this movie: it's very entertaining and once you start it, it's tough to put down. Being only 90 minutes, it's a quick hour-and-a-half. It also helps to know that you are going to get the story told from a handful of angles, so expect to see similar scenes running over and over, each with a few new wrinkles added.
Also, expect a lot of the action scenes that are both fun to view but not very credible. ... Read More
