Vantage Point Review
by tom elce (dr-pepperite AT hotmail DOT com)March 8th, 2008
Vantage Point (2008)
Rating: 2.5 / 5
Reviewed by Tom Elce
Director: Pete Travis
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Sigourney Weaver, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Bruce McGill, Zoe Saldana, Edgar Ramirez, Eduardo Noriega, Said Taghmaoui, James LeGros, Ayelet Zurer, Richard T. Jones, Holt McCallany, Dolores Heredia, Leonardo Nam, Alicia Jaziz Zapien, Shelby Fenner
MPAA Rating: PG-13
BBFC Rating: 12A
"Vantage Point" holds an interesting premise - that of a presidential assassination viewed through seperately through the eight viewpoints of different people - but doesn't come close to delivering on any of its promise. Nor does the tagged promise of eight different points of view ring true, with the non-linear approach to the storytelling ultimately being abandoned following five different viewing angles so that the requisite reveals need be made. As much as the idea behind "Vantage Point" shows initial promise, it alone fails to illuminate a story as old and dusty as they come.
As briefed, director Pete Travis' film aims to analyse the attempted assassination of one President Ashton (William Hurt) by way of alternating between the different vantage points of people president in the Spanish town square in which Ashton, attending a public summit, is gunned down. These include newly reinstated Secret Service Agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), his comrade Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox), news producer Rex Brookes (Sigourney Weaver), camera-in-hand tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) and suspect crowd member Enrique (Eduardo Noriega). Before the 90-minute runtime has passed, "Vantage Point" assures, the answers to the core mystery and the motivations of those involved will be revealed.
Non-conventional up to the point where it switches to a more straightforward manner of storytelling, "Vantage Point" starts off strong before veering dramatically off the rails. The first two times the assassination attempt - and the explosion that follows - is viewed both working a treat. These, seen through the eyes of Rex and Thomas, are adrenaline-charged, fittingly frenetic and panicky, everything that they should be. Therein lies the problem. Worth watching, if without particular rewards, for a brief period, "Vantage Point" becomes too repetetive and beleagueringly so the more events are played over again, each new piece being added to the puzzle ironically leaving the viewer at a loss to care.
The cast - an embarassment of riches for sure - are at a loss to make "Vantage Point" any more valuable. Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox put on their own serious faces, and make for surprisingly enjoyable screen presences in spite of their somewhat wooden portrayals, but don't make events seem any less ludicrous. Sigourney Weaver plays Rex Brooks as a hard-headed woman whose uncaring exterior towards the events she's filming quickly unravels when things take a drastic turn. Eduardo Noriega, still memorable from 2004's "The Devil's Backbone," is the weak link here, looking grumpy and self-defeated for the duration. William Hurt, meanwhile, plays President Ashton very well, only without reward. The stand-out is Oscar winner Forest Whitaker as spectator Howard Lewis, who might hold the key to discovering who's behind the shooting in his very hand.
"Vantage Point" is disappointing and middle-of-the-road, unable to compell or even thrill cinema audiences who would only be generous to regard it as anything beyond a lazy slap in the face. Written by Barry Levy with a sense for realism about as keen as that of those behind "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters," "Vantage Point" goes in dumb directions on a frequent basis as it rides along on clunky storytelling wheels through territory already charted either in the even-worse "Death of a President" or several other films. The approach to the subject matter, then, reveals itself to be nothing beyond a desperate gimmick with which director Travis feebly attempts to imitate originality.
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