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: 
- The Presiden't Been Shot ...Again and Again and Again and Again and Again!
The problem with VANTAGE POINT is that it doesn't take into consideration two very important things: the point of view of the watcher, and a believable storyline. Let me explain...
Seeing a situation/crime/etc. from different points of view might be interesting to some. But if you're going to do that, you need to make sure that there are engaging points that aren't repeated ad nauseam. You might think that four or five points of view would be the maximum allowable for something like ... Read More
Rating: - Ground Hog Day meets The French Connection
This film recycles the same event over and over, each time adding a tiny plot twist burried in repetitive material.Each recycle starts with a clock dispay a la Ground Hog Day - all that's missing is the radio playing "I've Got You, Babe" and a little entertainment value.After they have recycled the same event to death and you are ready to hit the stop button if they show that darned clock one more time, they move on to a car chase that just goes on, and on, and on, as the excitement gradually ... Read More
Rating: 
- Political Thriller with a Gimmick
"Vantage Point" is not a boring way to spend ninety minutes.It has an excellent cast featuring a couple of Academy Award winners, and it has special effects that harken back to the days when car chases really looked hazardous and explosions looked like they happened to buildings rather than in a computer.
That being said, all the characters are two-dimensional, and the plot is as well.It just finished raining for about 15 minutes and the puddle outside my door is deeper than this ... Read More
Rating: - It was good
I watched this movie at my sister's and I've kind of liked it. Going back home I decided to buy it just for fun. My family and I watch this movie ocasionally when we have nothing else to do, and still enjoy it.
Rating: - 2.5 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
Vantage Point doesn't have much going for it aside from the fact that it's not actually that bad; it's very forgettable and certainly doesn't offer any deep political insights, but it's a watchable thriller with a neat gimmick so you could do worse.
- The Presiden't Been Shot ...Again and Again and Again and Again and Again!The problem with VANTAGE POINT is that it doesn't take into consideration two very important things: the point of view of the watcher, and a believable storyline. Let me explain...
Seeing a situation/crime/etc. from different points of view might be interesting to some. But if you're going to do that, you need to make sure that there are engaging points that aren't repeated ad nauseam. You might think that four or five points of view would be the maximum allowable for something like ... Read More
- Ground Hog Day meets The French ConnectionThis film recycles the same event over and over, each time adding a tiny plot twist burried in repetitive material.Each recycle starts with a clock dispay a la Ground Hog Day - all that's missing is the radio playing "I've Got You, Babe" and a little entertainment value.After they have recycled the same event to death and you are ready to hit the stop button if they show that darned clock one more time, they move on to a car chase that just goes on, and on, and on, as the excitement gradually ... Read More
- Political Thriller with a Gimmick"Vantage Point" is not a boring way to spend ninety minutes.It has an excellent cast featuring a couple of Academy Award winners, and it has special effects that harken back to the days when car chases really looked hazardous and explosions looked like they happened to buildings rather than in a computer.
That being said, all the characters are two-dimensional, and the plot is as well.It just finished raining for about 15 minutes and the puddle outside my door is deeper than this ... Read More
- It was goodI watched this movie at my sister's and I've kind of liked it. Going back home I decided to buy it just for fun. My family and I watch this movie ocasionally when we have nothing else to do, and still enjoy it.
- 2.5 stars out of 4The Bottom Line:
Vantage Point doesn't have much going for it aside from the fact that it's not actually that bad; it's very forgettable and certainly doesn't offer any deep political insights, but it's a watchable thriller with a neat gimmick so you could do worse.
