Vantage Point Movie Reviews

Vantage point is a Action and Thriller movie. In this movie use Rashomon effect . Different people have different perception about the same event . US president to deliver speech at a stadium and sign with leaders of 150 countries against terrorism . But he is shoot before he starts his speech and then a boom explored in the stadium. the incident of 23 minute before the boob bust is shown in the perspective of different people .

from the control room to the news channels, audience to the president, from terrorists to the president's bodyguards everyone's point of view has been show. We get to learn from the movie " According to the way in which thoughts come, perceptions and description come accordingly".

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A presidential assassination attempt is told from various angles in directorial debut of Pete Travis, VANTAGE POINT.

U.S. president Ashton (William Hurt) is in Salamanca, Spain, to announce his plans for counter terrorism. But as he stands behind the podium in front of an adoring crowd (with protesters blocked off from the stage), he is shot twice, followed shortly by a small explosion and then a massive blast. Secret Service Agents Barnes (Dennis Quaid), Taylor (Matthew Fox), and Holden (Richard T. Jones) immediately jump into action, trying to find the terrorists responsible amid all the chaos. The thriller first shows the events through the eyes of television news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver), and then the film rewinds, replaying the action from a different point of view. Each perspective reveals a few more clues, then rewinds again, taking the audience through the assassination attempt and its aftermath again.  The all-star cast also includes Forest Whitaker, who gives another fine performance, playing an American tourist recording everything on his video camera.

Movie is presented in parts and movies roll to flashbacks and a new secret is revealed like peels of onion. Whole movie ties viewer to seat and provides a thrilling experience.

But according to me the End of the movie is spoiler and is like a jolt in the ride. But I will not reveal it here in my review.

Tomatometer: 35% [maybe it’s due to termination part of movie]

IMDB: 6.7/10

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The plot of a film decides the audience capture. The word of mouth after the first screening rings in the BO with fortunes!

A film will always have a basic plot and then a story to flesh out the characters and then situations that take you through the tell tale and a conclusion that would be either a message, pure thrill, bad beats good silly and then good beats bad silly, lost siblings kill villain and unite…

Very few films start with an agenda that delivers a modicum which, even if superficial delivers a STRONG MESSAGE! Then there are ways to showcase a script. Thrillers have a lot of close camera work, stead cam work or even car rig cam set up to give you the rush, hush and the thrill of pace! Vantage Point is vintage only in its Camera work, Cast and locations. Beyond that the film doesn’t work at all.

The script is stale: An attack to kill the President of USA! That has been tried and presented so many times!

*SPOILER ALERT: The good guys foil the attempt and get the dogs to justice!

Okay now for the real reason for writing a review on this film. Dennis Quaid is an accomplished actor. He is versatile to have played a comic President in American Dreams, as Jack Hall the scientist in The Day After Tomorrow, as Frank Sullivan a police detective in Frequency or even as Arnie Metzger in Traffic a film dealing on drugs. In fact Dennis was the reason for the DVD to land up on my player! Supported by William Hurt as The President,Forest Whitaker as a tourist andSigourney Weaver **as the restless slave driver on a TV News Channel I just couldn’t resist it!

The Plot:

The assassination of the Prez whiles his speech ceremony on the gala opening of the Anti Terrorism summit in Spain. This is the cliché.

Now, Peter Travis the Director, his first venture, tries to give us a kaleidoscope of the single event and thus succeeds in introducing the thrill of a who-dun-it and at the same time a racy picture of the actual goings on which keeps you rooted to the screen. The entire drama being created and its on screen depiction go to the cinematographer Amir Mokri and the editor duo of Stuart Baird and Sigvaldi Karason. Amir Mokri has to his credit National Treasure – 2 and more popular Coyote Ugly. The editors Stuart have Casino Royale, Superman 2, Maverick and Lethal Weapon 2 amongst others. Sigvaldi has Love Is In the Air, A Little Trip To Heaven and a lot of French films to his credit. Impressive isn’t it?

*Why I wonder then that this magic did not work at the Box Office?

*The reason is the age old cliché of the fascination of Producers and Directors to assassinate the Prez of USA! It just doesn’t seem to vanish. Then the only seemingly classy thing that Peter had going for him is the ace camera man Mokri with his more than amazing Editing team.

Peter presents the happenings of this event from four different views; One the Prez(William Hurt) angle, Thomas Barnes(Dennis) as the Prez protect detail once removed, Enrique(Noriega) as the police officer who detects a movement in the adjacent building and Rex Brooks(Sigourney) the News Channel boss. The film opens very normally and Rex is shouting her directions to the camera crew for maximum coverage of the event. The entire atmosphere is electric, surreal and festive too. There is chaos as people throng the venue and the police have a hard time controlling the crowd. The atmosphere is building up for the moment of truth, two actually; The Prez of USA and His assassination! Suddenly pandemonium breaks loose as we hear explosions and shots ringing and creating panic and havoc at the scene. The Prez has fallen, Barnes is running at full speed to check on the fallen party and his associate shouting on the walkie to seal the area and stop the escape of the perpetrator/s…. These 10 minutes of the film are golden.

Then the kaleidoscope begins from the angles of the Police officer, The Tourist and then Barnes… We are treated to a brilliant screen play edited beautifully to sequence the event from each of these angles. The edit makes the film more than brilliant and the camera work, I am sure the entire coverage was done with at least 6 cameras on ground, two in air on choppers and one on a jib. That’s why the views and the angles from which the perspective of each of these partaking victims is shown give you a new clue to look at….

This type of presentation was also done in a film titled Rashomon.

The whole point being driven here is the x, y and z axis views collated and edited together to complete the picture and give it an end! The end is not much to speak of as you must have realized what it could be! That’s exactly what I mean by clichéd…

Where the plot gives away the conclusion, what remains is only the making to awe you. Peter has the best technicians to do it for him. You are just stumped by the pace, the raciness and the super collating that these guys have done to bring it to the lethal end! This is not a political thriller; this is not a plot that has a definite meaning to end the Prez life and neither is it a drama of a stand off check mate situation. It’s just the event and its unfolding shown in a very brilliant, fast and snazzy kaleidoscopic way!

It has certain ingredients of thrill when Fox One changes the decision of his movement without telling his detail and averts disaster en route! Beyond that the thrill doesn’t exist. It’s a wasted effort in terms of the story. There has to be an element of mystery in a script or a hidden agenda which is much bigger when it really happens on screen. This phenomenon when shown in this sort of pacy way grows in stature and the word of mouth increases by leaps and bounds.

For a film to run successfully the first audience has to be sufficiently impressed with the films story, cast and its presentation. When the story fails little else can save the film. Case in point, Quantum of Solace. If there was a book written by the author and then the picturisation of the film, maybe it would have been a huge hit.It is been dubbed as a mediocre hit and of course Daniel Craig has risen the popularity charts.

*I was impressed with the technicians work but not the script. I would recommend it for one watch for the tech buffs and for the thrill seekers but for real cinema goers who look at entertainment this is a definite no no!

*p.s. The word editor failed me. Sorry for the single paragraph being presented for your reading. This might be a flop review… LOL! FINALLY. Eureka eureka! I did it. Now people please read this review in STYLE! This is in line with my thoughts of the film.

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Aaaah ! I love the way hollywood cinematises the movies , this movie was really really amazing .  I saw this with an average outlook but it surpassed my imaginations.

Its been the first time when I saw a movie like this , with the idea of keeping the movie rolling on , then making it run in flashback , but with a different angle ,  amazing idea. The way every character sees the incident and putting it on the camera with exact timing and frame was a piece of art. I am a big critic when it comes to finding out faults in the making of any movie but I could not find any in this movie. It was made in a superb way.

The lifestyle of Royals and their working plan , the way they can really put their duplicates in public for security reasons , really gave me a food for thought and I thought , how many times have we really seen them in person? Coz if this is shown , it must be happening somewhere , sometime!Superb plot , fantabulous acting , excellent cinematography  and a big hit .My cent percent recommendation to watch this one !

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The speciality of Vantage Point is that the movie starts from the end, and the stylish direction is when the movie rewinds to go to the older situation or scene - wonderful. its something I have never seen before and its very acclaimed, know why?

This is because the director shows every instances 30 minutes before the President is shot, and then the previous 30 mins, wow! This is the thrill, you will wait to know who's being suspected next, and what caused the whole killing spree.

I will not reveal the suspense here, but the ending is very thrilling. You never suspect, but he's the villain, oops! Sorry.

Good movie for action freaks, suspense freaks and W's fans. The President himself is a suspense.

Good movie for a first shot. The Cameras are very good, and the effects are not so immersive, but can do for a very detective intense movie.

Check why the President is being shot, and who's behind the murder? Or does the President die in the movie? Good one.

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Awesome is the word I'd like to start with. FInally a flick for serious thinkers. The rest, please there are other reviews to enjoy. It was cheesing me off to find folk at the theatre being puny & calling it a comedy!  Pop corn and canoodling can be done ouside. Give some due to a well made movie. Well then-If  you get your high from serious documentaries, twists, the dirty game of real politic  &'trust no one" kinda feel, in the form of a movie- then here you are

A year ago agent Barnes(Quaid), one of the best in the US seceret service had taken a bullet for his president. Now spite of nervous seizures, he's back in the line of fire with buddy agent Taylor(Fox), next to the US president , attending a global summit in Spain to address unity and world terrorism. What happens next is a set of bizzaire horrific incidents: The US president is shot dead and a series of bombs explode through the venue, massacring people and creating mayhem among the city dwellers. Barnes manages to detain a Spanish under cover cop who had lunged at the President.

Amid all the chaos and death, secret, nefarious dramas unfold. These happen 15 minutes before and after the assassination. The story evolves on how the incidents are percieved by the people who got sucked into the vortex of unprecedented situations- 15 minuts before and after the occurance. The story thus takes you back and forth from the eyes of each witness.  Agent Barnes goes by his gut instincts to get to the bottom of the consipracy and nab the gunman. The freelancer Lewis(Whttaker) feels he knows enough of the truth and tries to draw attention as he hot persuits those he feels are invloved. It also does not stop him from safe custodying a young girl who gets seperated from her mother after the explosions. Agent Taylor acts smart. The american news team headed by Rex(Weaver) keep rewinding thier films & a lone under cover cop goes further under cover to unravel what he feels is the key to the disaster, and that includes his trecherous girlfirend. People are followed, people are blackmailed, people are conned and misled during the nerve raking set of catastrophies. The story keeps twisting from one mystery to another -one lead to the next. But Old agent Barnes never gives up. Nor does the Spanish cop or Whittaker.

There must be rotten apples in the barrel as Agent Barnes suspects now.

Its is soon understood that the president's decoy was shot while the big man himself was sitting behind protective walls watching the whole masqurade. The spoof incident was supposed to be used by his security adviors as a chance to come down on terrorism strongly and destroy the alleged countries/hideouts using space weapons. But apparantly they are not the only ones with smart ideas. Somehow security is breached. The truth about the president's  double was known long ago by terrorists. While for the world the US prez is dead, a lone gunman breaks into the President's stronghold and kidnaps him- the real president. At this point one has to to sit upright and take notice- The kidnapped and drugged Prez is transferred to another group of terrorists who plan to drive away from the chaotic city and put their loot to good use- They have in their hands the man who rules the world .

Agent Barnes, The unlucky Spanish Cop, Whittaker, US president himself , and the other unlucky paws of the bigger game all play their due part at the end, to save the day. On top of that there is

the elemenet of luck and the unforeseen that tilts the table away from the terrorists.

Fantastic story line, gripping and realistic, I would still say that getting through the world's second best presidential securty is not that easy as they've shown here. But There was never a better movie before. Infact I'd call this a documentary as it does not  not come with the silly frills of a movie. EAch actor has done a great job. While the movie is not character centric, Dennis Quaid and Whttaker surely stand out with their humane elements on the job. Hats off to Director Pete Travis as well for tight direction, and fabulous screenplay and cinematography. A few questions remain about what was the real role of the Spanish Cop? Good guy under pressure? These are just a couple of loose ends.But its all to hot to look for flaws. Heck n damn them thrice:)

THis is one moive that you watch several times by paying yourself and then it goes into your collection.  If we are on the same page, you know what I'm talking about. In my book this is

one of the best movies of 2008. Wow!

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In trying to put together a fast-paced thriller, the makers of this action movie forget that a movie ought to have a point first, that is worth its while. Instead of building real substance around an interesting pivotal idea, they get very lost in the minutiae and very wrapped up with the gloss. As a result, a bulk of the movie comes across as sheer extravagance, of belaboring an under-developed concept from many different vantage points.

Here, director Pete Travis and team, give us a rather botched-up application of the archetypal style of mystery story telling,  now poupularly called the Rashomon-effect. It was first used in the movie Rashomon(1950) by the famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. The original format makes use of subjectivity of perception on recollection, and employs the presentation of multiple reports of the same incident, from different viewpoints. Wherein, new and conflicting information is revealed each time. In Vantage Point, however, let alone conflicting information, but even new light gets to be in somewhat of a short supply with each replay of the central incident. The incident, in this case is the shooting of the President of USA at an anti-terrorism summit being held in Salamanca, Spain, and a subsequent bomb blast within minutes after that. It might appear quite sensational, at the outset, but the entire premise turns rather stale and shallow as the plot lumbers along, sneaking in just a little more of the yarn each time, while offering little or no room for analysis or investigation.  But, mercifully, it gets to be a bit relieving, but only for a little while. It happens just when you are getting a bit too tired of the empty, corny and special-effects laden rewinds, and are about to scream out loud saying ‘be kind, don’t rewind’. At that time, the script comes up with a fleeting moment, of a smidgeon, of mystery, that sounds rather clever and redeeming. And, as unconvincing and cinematic an element of intrigue as that turns out to be, by then, you are only too glad to take it in your stride.  You get ready to watch what happens next with renewed interest. But nothing of substance happens next. Instead, you get presented with a long car chase(dizzy, but rather slick and with an in-your-face feel to it, however), and a lame ending soon after.

Sigourney Weaver in the, rather festooned, role of the anchor of a CNN-like news broadcast clocks in just about as many minutes, or perhaps seconds, as in the movie’s trailer. Dennis Quaid, as the president’s secret service agent acts well, but ends up looking quite abject in a very unflattering role. William Hurt looks quite comfortable in the role of the president. When you link back that little piece of mystery, in your own mind, you like his performance even more, in the opening sequences when something does strike you as being bizzare about his demeanor. Forest Whitaker makes the most of the role, of the befuddled American tourist caught in the middle of the main drama with a camcorder. With his spontaneous expressions, he does the same with the sliver of scope for a sideshow of a quiet and more personal drama, in an otherwise noisy and hectic script.

The movie tries, in vain, to make up for its schlocky  and slim subject matter with a few  sincere touches, of packaging and padding. It is very lavishly mounted and is graphically very colorful.  And, there is a constant effort to make it pulsating - by audio-visual means. But in the absence of compelling content, all of that, sadly, makes only for a lot of sizzle, and very little steak!

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I love mushy romantic

flicks on one side and on the other nail biters and edge of the seat thrillers

that pump up the adrenalin. I do love movies that show multiple perspectives of

the same event, and I love movies that mess around with timelines. When a film

shows something, and then jumps back in time to show it again from a different

point of view, it makes it all the more interesting.

"Vantage Point" does that with a terrorist

bombing, and every time the bomb goes off and the clock resets itself, I

actually smiled. If that is the wrong reaction to have to a terrorist bombing,

then I don't want to be right.

What you get from "Vantage Point" is a lot of vigorous actors -

Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, et al. - doing vigorous work in

the service of a crafty, fast-moving, well-told story. Directed by Pete Travis

and written by Barry L. Levy

The movie starts off, in Salamanca,

Spain, where a

historic anti-terrorism summit is about to be capped off by a speech from U.S.

President Ashton(William Hurt). First our perspective is from the news control

van, where the director(Sigourney Weaver) and her crew fill us in on whatever back-story

we need - including that one of the Secret Service agents guarding Ashton is

Thomas Barnes(Dennis Quaid), who took a bullet for the president last year and

has been a little skittish ever since. The emotions of the on site reporter is

so tangible and when she dies one wants to say to Sigourney….”I told you so”

So it must be deja vu for Barnes when Ashton's speech is interrupted,

violently, by someone pumping two shots into him. Panic fills the crowded plaza

as Barnes and his fellow agent Taylor(Matthew Fox) scramble to get the

president to an ambulance and to find the shooter. Moments later, a bomb goes

off - and the movie pauses, rewinds, and says "23 minutes

earlier."

The story begins anew, this time from Barnes' perspective specifically, and

ending once again with the bomb. Then we go back again and follow a Spanish cop

named Enrique(Eduardo Noriega), then an American tourist(Forest Whitaker),

the president himself, a mysterious local(Saïd Taghmaoui), and so forth. Each

retelling reveals new facts.

As is nearly always the case with these things, the conspiracy as it's eventually

explained is outrageously elaborate, the type of scheme that requires the

evildoers to have some pretty serious foreknowledge and to do an awful lot of

lucky guessing. The dialogues could have been more powerful.

The effects of those deficiencies are offset, however, by the thrilling pace

and by the strength of the cast. Hammier actors might have ruined it; these old

pros take things seriously - a crucial element in getting the audience to

suspend its disbelief, given how implausible the whole story would be in the

real world. The movie's all about how you can see something with your own eyes

and still not know what really happened.

Dennis Quaid is named Bond, but unlike the original Bond his moves are slow

and lethargic and he looks jaded. Can’t believe I had a crush on him at one

time:). Forest Whitaker really suits the part of an American tourist to a T.He

looks dumb but has been recording and following all the events. His

interactions with the little girl, Anna are touching to say the least.

The car chase at the end of the movie really has your heart in your mouth.

But the scene where the villain steps on the brakes to save Anna is what made

it so unrealistic and brings you back to Earth with a bang. How can you digest

that a terrorist who is killing hundreds of people would risk his life to save

a little girl? I lost interest in the movie as soon as the car veers off onto

the pavement and saves the girl.

It seemed like a *ghissi pitti

Bollywood* ending. But then it was slicker than our desi thrillers. So

there!

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The first few scenes and you are ready for the cliched the-american-president-is-shot-and-the-world-is-in-danger movie. Vantage point is a  thriller from start to finsih. The movie has a strong script, good performances and a wonderful director. Even if some portions are half baked you are too absorbed in the story to notice.

The US President is shot while in Spain leading to a series of events involving shootouts, kidnapping, human bombing etc. This is a stroy of terror, betrayal, fanaticism and in the end, friendship and trust- the typical all American mix.

Dennis Quaid looks jaded and puffed, but fits the bill of a security man returning to duty after being shot.

The movie is fashioned as a series of eight accounts of the same incident each removing a layer of the story. The action is fast and leaves you wanting more. The layered storyline leaves you guessing as to what secret will be revealed next.

All characters have a story to tell - from the cop returning on duty to the tourist, the undercover cop, the blackmailed cop, the sacrificing waiter, the moll, the unexpected villain and the little lost girl.

William Hurt plays a strong president, Dennis Quaid fits the bill as the cop willing to put his life in the line of duty. Matthew Fox is a surprise. Forest Whitaker as the typical do-gooder American tourist is good. The vamp and the villain are slightly inefficient but make you hate them;)

All in all, a movie worth a watch. In fact it opened at #1 at the US box office in its first week.

PS- I have kept oblique references to the plot coz I dont believe in spoilers, if you think it would be better if story is there please leave a comment

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For all the Frederick Forsyth fans, who like assassination plots this is the movie for you ! The movie fits the present context of the world which is filled with terror, revenge and back-stabbing. The movie starts off with an epic peace summit at which leaders of 150 nations gather together.  The US President is shot twice just when he is about to begin his speech by a terror group which has made elaborate plans down to the last detail (or so they think! ). The body guard/ Agent Dennis Quaid (Thomas Barnes in the movie) now takes it upon himself to catch the shooter. The terrorists make use of fancy high technology devices like mobile-controlled devices and assemble guns etc. The entire movie seems to happen in real-time and the shooter is caught within 2 hours of the assassination by the end of which the actual movie itself ends.

The movie is shown from the viewpoint of 8 stangers - The Body Guard, The Assasin, The Media, A Tourist, Assasin's Girlfriend, The President, A Local Cop and so on..Each view point gives us new information and guides us towards the actual truth. This movie has its own unique style of story telling (called Rashomon Style ... as another MS reviewer Milind has pointed out). One might have seen this style in the movie 'Hoodwinked' which is a modified version of Little Red Riding Hood.

The first half of the movie is extremely good and makes one glued to the seat ( A tub of pop-corn and pepsi are highly recommended). The second half of the movie becomes a regular cop chase the thug kinds. The car chases in the movie are really thrilling. The terrorists do not live up to the expectations in the second half committing many follies which makes the job easy for the agent Thomas Barnes.

A must watch for people liking some fast-paced action...!

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Director – Pete Travis

Screenplay – Barry Levy

Plot **In the small town of Salamanca in Spain , there is a historical peace summit which is being attended by leaders of 150 countries. When it comes to the point where the president of USA (William Hurt) has to make the speech, 2 bullets are shot from the building and he is assassinated. After that there are a couple of bomb blasts which leave a few people dead and many injured. Vantage point shows the entire scene 6 times, from different perspectives of the characters.

1st version – Rex(Sigourney Weaver) is a news producer who is covering the summit live and is shocked to see the assassination live along with the twin blasts. Her perspective ends when the peson who is doing the live coverage, Angie(Zoe Saldana) dies in the bomb blast.

2nd Version – Secret Service Agent Thomas(Dennis Quaid) and Kent (Thomas Taylor) are on the watchout for any unwanted people or events during the speech when suddenly the president gets shot. Thomas finds out that there is something or someone behind the plot

3rd Version – Enrique(Eduardo Noriega) is a local cop who is assigned to guard the mayor of the city. He suspects his girlfriend Veronica(Ayelet Zurer) may be involved in the plot

4th Version – Howard (Forest Whitaker) is an American Tourist who has captured the entire event live on his handycam and Thomas has found out a key element in this plot.

5th Version – This is the version of the President himself and we get to learn that things aren’t exactly what it seems.

6th Version – This is the version of the terrorists who plot this assassination.

The aftermath is to find the persons behind the plot and the motive.

Critic’s Comments

The famous director Akira Kurosawa directed a movie called Rashomon in 1950 which was about a murder and different people having different versions of the same event. This type of filmmaking and storytelling came to be known as Rashomon style of filmmaking. Vantage Point is one of those films. The plot is very good and the versions are captured brilliantly. The acting is more or less ok but the action scenes and the cinematography by Amir Mokiri is very good. The movie falls after the 6 versions end and seem like your usual run of the mill movies but I would give this movie a 3 star rating just for the unusual style of narrative used.

Psst – 

1) Vantage Point is a position or a condition or a place affording an advantage to the person.2)  Although the actual budget of the movie was never revealed, it earned over $25 million world wide during the opening weekend.*

3)  The filming started way back in June 2006 and was set for an October 2007 release but due to unknown reasons, the movie was postponed and released worldwide on 29th February 2008. 

Quotes

1)  “We must act strong; No, we must be strong.”

2)  “The beauty of American arrogance is that they cannot imagine a world in which  they are not a step ahead..”

3)  “He doesn't even look like me.”   

Oops-

None that I could notice.

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