Vantage Point Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)February 23rd, 2008
VANTAGE POINT
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ****
Ignore all of the critics who are lining up to tell you how awful VANTAGE POINT is. I'm here to tell you that VANTAGE POINT is an absolutely terrific thriller, which is as intelligent as it is high action. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat for all of its lightning fast ninety minutes. It's not just merely good -- it's nothing less than one of the best pictures of the year. I've got a spot reserved for it now on my 2008 top ten list.
Using some of the time sequence tricks that MEMENTO most recently popularized, the structure of VANTAGE POINT is based on a rewind scheme. We witness the assassination of a president, played skillful as always by William Hurt, and then see it again and again, each time setting the clock back to noon. But each replay, which takes ten to twenty minutes, shows the events from a different character's perspective. This technique was first used, as far as I know, back in 1950 in director Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON, a film every critic likes to reference but probably few modern viewers have probably ever seen. While VANTAGE POINT certainly isn't in the classic league of RASHOMON, it is, nonetheless, absolutely great in its own right.
One might guess that the story's telling and retelling would reduce its power, but it doesn't. I had cold chills going up and down my spine the whole time. An extremely intense movie, it features some great foot and car chases, but it's the quality of the script and the acting that keeps you glued to your seat. The terrific cast, including even the most minor characters, is used to maximum effect by director Pete Travis.
As the movie opens, the world is watching Salamanca, Spain. After another terrorist bombing, the world leaders have had enough. They are all there in Salamanca to sign a joint pact to work together against the "global terror" threat. As you might guess, the terrorists are ready with an elaborate -- but quite believable -- plan to bring down the U.S. president and, with him, the effective ability of the world to fight back. In addition to the assassination by a lone sniper, there are also bombings to add to the confusion and mayhem.
Sigourney Weaver plays Rex Brooks, who works behind the scenes as a television news producer who directs the camera operators and the newscasters who are trying their best to follow the fast moving events. At first calm and collected, Rex becomes as shocked by the horror as everyone else but quickly regains her composure, trying from her trailer to keep this breaking story on the air.
Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) gives a particularly poignant performance as Howard Lewis, a tourist with a camcorder who happens to be in the right spot at the right time. Brave and resourceful, Howard helps out the Secret Service, as well as a little Spanish girl he happens to meet just before the disaster strikes.
Best of all is the real star of the show, Dennis Quaid, who plays veteran Secret Service Agent Thomas Barnes. Just back on duty after literally taking a bullet for the chief in a previous assassination attempt, Thomas is still shell-shocked and, some believe, not quite ready for action again. Assisting Thomas is his friend and co-worker Secret Service Agent Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox, "Lost"). Together they will stand beside the president on the podium with their eyes scanning the large crowd and the supposedly emptied buildings in front of them.
The script wastes no time in getting to the disaster, and, as I said previously, it comes back to it, again and again, shocking us each time in the process. Along the way, there are many well-executed twists and turns. And, with one notable and needless exception, all of the twists come as real surprises. I'm at a loss to explain why one important twist is so recklessly telegraphed in advance, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment.
I liked the way too that the action was frantic and the chases fast, but the movie avoids the use of the shaky-cam that drives me literally up the wall. Never did I get seasick, as I have done in so many other high profile action films.
By the time the film was over way, I was exhausted. Scary and realistic, this was a movie that really got to me. It literally gave me goose bumps.
VANTAGE POINT runs 1:30. It is rated PG-13 for "sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
My son Jeffrey, age 18, gave it ****, saying it was "the first great film of 2008." He found it riveting from beginning to end. He said watching it reminded him of how he felt when he first saw DIE HARD. He liked just about everything about the film, including its intensity, the way the script used technology effectively and realistically, and the way all of the rewinds were different. His girlfriend Yasmin, also 18, gave it **** too. Her one-word review captured it best -- "Wow!" She went on to say that she found it totally unpredictable and filled with high action. She said that she was on the edge of her seat the entire time, with the exception being the times the movie had her literally jumping.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, February 22, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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