Vantage Point (C or 2/4 stars)
From MY vantage point, 'Vantage Point', a drama/thriller directed by Pete Travis, is only so-so. Witnesses to an attempted assassination of the Pres. of the U.S. come away with differing impressions of who the bad guy(s) may be. Aside from the 1st few exciting vantage points & a cool car chase, I found little to be interesting in this film. A film technique is employed which sends us (the viewer) back over & over again to watch the same event from a different witness/stand point. After subsequent re-tellings of the assass. attempt, the effect starts to wear off (as any rude, snickering member of the audience would vouch for).
Salamanca, Spain: Pres. Ashton (a stellar William Hurt) is attending a global war on terror summit. Barnes & Taylor (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox) are 2 of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect him. Barnes had taken a bullet for the President some 6 months ago, so this summit is his 1st day back on the job. Just after Pres. Ashton takes to the podium to make a speech in the Salamanca plaza, he is shot twice by a rifle from a window of a building that was supposed to have been cleared out. Chaos reverberates throughout the huge crowd in attendance. Within moments, a bomb explodes, seriously injuring and/or killing many. SPOILER: By the end of this thing, almost everybody dies (good and bad). END SPOILER. It's not deal-breaking, but just a little too much for me.
The 1st 30 minutes show this entire situation from the vantage points of several witnesses: a news crew led by Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver); a police officer named Enrique (Eduardo Noriega); and an American tourist with a camcorder, Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker). Howard thinks he has (on film) a shot of the man who shot the President. Agent Barnes doesn't recognize the man. And so, each individual witness/segment reveals small things about the event that took place.
The truth behind the assass. attempt isn't clever or interesting enough to warrant the big-to-do before it's reveal. Still, individual aspects of 'Vantage Point' impress: 1) the pace of the film is brisk & involving. 2) The ensemble cast 'assumes' a great picture is in store. 3) The behind-the-scenes look at newscasts gone wrong. 4) Glimpses of overlooked clues which soon become pivotal to the plot. 5) Tongue-in-cheek look at how ridiculous the American media can be regarding censorship, etc. 6) You're eager to find out who's the villain(s) and WHY. But it's all so flimsy in the end; a shadow of what the 'Bourne' franchise is built on. And the mystery behind it all is neither surprising nor inspired. The political angles, motives of the villains, & police procedural aspect of the film is underdeveloped.
Dennis Quaid is perpetually corny in these types of roles. Weaver leaves almost no impression. And Whitaker's performance as the nonsensical man scurrying around Salamanca with his camcorder is way overacted. As for suspense, I find more of it in weekly episodes of Lost. I wasn't on the edge of my seat during the hectic, plausibility-bending car chase because I could almost predict its choreography & the inevitable outcome. Sure, the various stunts are executed with GREAT skill, but that's all I got from it. The set-up for the film is riveting, certain parts enthrall, but while the energy remains high, the intrigue of the 'plot' dissipates. I expect and demand a more thorough context to support the action aspect of a movie like this. I've seen it before, and enjoyed it before.
Salamanca, Spain: Pres. Ashton (a stellar William Hurt) is attending a global war on terror summit. Barnes & Taylor (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox) are 2 of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect him. Barnes had taken a bullet for the President some 6 months ago, so this summit is his 1st day back on the job. Just after Pres. Ashton takes to the podium to make a speech in the Salamanca plaza, he is shot twice by a rifle from a window of a building that was supposed to have been cleared out. Chaos reverberates throughout the huge crowd in attendance. Within moments, a bomb explodes, seriously injuring and/or killing many. SPOILER: By the end of this thing, almost everybody dies (good and bad). END SPOILER. It's not deal-breaking, but just a little too much for me.
The 1st 30 minutes show this entire situation from the vantage points of several witnesses: a news crew led by Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver); a police officer named Enrique (Eduardo Noriega); and an American tourist with a camcorder, Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker). Howard thinks he has (on film) a shot of the man who shot the President. Agent Barnes doesn't recognize the man. And so, each individual witness/segment reveals small things about the event that took place.
The truth behind the assass. attempt isn't clever or interesting enough to warrant the big-to-do before it's reveal. Still, individual aspects of 'Vantage Point' impress: 1) the pace of the film is brisk & involving. 2) The ensemble cast 'assumes' a great picture is in store. 3) The behind-the-scenes look at newscasts gone wrong. 4) Glimpses of overlooked clues which soon become pivotal to the plot. 5) Tongue-in-cheek look at how ridiculous the American media can be regarding censorship, etc. 6) You're eager to find out who's the villain(s) and WHY. But it's all so flimsy in the end; a shadow of what the 'Bourne' franchise is built on. And the mystery behind it all is neither surprising nor inspired. The political angles, motives of the villains, & police procedural aspect of the film is underdeveloped.
Dennis Quaid is perpetually corny in these types of roles. Weaver leaves almost no impression. And Whitaker's performance as the nonsensical man scurrying around Salamanca with his camcorder is way overacted. As for suspense, I find more of it in weekly episodes of Lost. I wasn't on the edge of my seat during the hectic, plausibility-bending car chase because I could almost predict its choreography & the inevitable outcome. Sure, the various stunts are executed with GREAT skill, but that's all I got from it. The set-up for the film is riveting, certain parts enthrall, but while the energy remains high, the intrigue of the 'plot' dissipates. I expect and demand a more thorough context to support the action aspect of a movie like this. I've seen it before, and enjoyed it before.